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Priceless Play - 8 February 2020Breaking down and building up
Breaking down and building up
To say that there’s a lot going on in the world right now would be an understatement. I recently played Studio Oleomingus’s The Indifferent Wonder Of An Edible Place, which destroyed me (in the best possible way). I wrote about it here, but it didn’t come easy. For a couple of hours, I walked around my apartment in a daze, wondering how I could possibly put it into words when everything seemed too big, too much, and too heavy. Even so, I knew I wanted to write about it. So, I went for a walk. I graded papers. I talked to my partner. I pet my cat. I came back.
Here are a collection of free games: one that destroyed me, and four that built me back up again.
The Indifferent Wonder Of An Edible PlacefromStudio Oleomingus
The game ends with a note from the author, who writes that their “country has become a coloniser of its own people.” The game’s page on itch makes clear that the game was made “in solidarity with the protests against the draconian actions of [their] government.” While it’s never explicitly stated, I assume that most recent actions from India’s sitting government, which include theCitizenship Act, sparked the note from the studio. I lack the time, space, and expertise to dissect India’s current government, the widespread protests, and the police/state response to those protests. Frankly, it is hard to read about without feeling an overwhelming sense of global dread. In The Indifferent Wonder Of An Edible Place, Studio Oliomengus manage to ask poignant questions about what it means to be a part of erasing history, and what can be done - if anything - to intervene. It is particularly heart-wrenching. Where do you go from there?
Untitled Shirt GamefromViji Rajaratnam
Poco A PocofromKlaiis
In Poco A Poco, you both conduct and are the world’s most famous small frog boy choir. You travel the world, healing individual ailments through the power of coordinated song, and Guitar-Hero-style rhythm minigames. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I’m normally terrible at rhythm games. The rhythm games in Paco A Paco, however, have been babied just enough that even I, a complete rhythm game failure, can complete the whole thing with admirable results. The game is small, gentle, and twee without being grating. It’s accomplishable in just a few minutes, and a good antidote to whatever might ail you.
Tiny Worlds In FlasksfromFi da Silva
Fi da Silva is the same dev who madeA Bright Light In The Middle Of The Ocean. Tiny Worlds In Flasks came a bit earlier and is no less charming. Like many of the bestlittle building games, Tiny Worlds In Flasks is exactly what it says on the tin: build a little diorama in a jar, or a dish, or under a cloche. Building something from nothing, even when it is small, is the greatest restorative act I can think of. In my small garden dish, I have patches of grass and a small circle of rocks.
The world is full of difficult, contradictory, complex, painful things. Rather than turning away from it, I hope I can build something in it.
What The DuctfromNils Gawlik
Sometimes the best thing we can do is try to fix things with too much duct tape. An effort was made.
