Confusing but such a cool game concept, I'll take 10 more please. And a VR port?
Perfect for those who want a cheap acid trip.
This painted Yume Nikki has it's moments, but I really feel it doesn't go far enough in adapting the art pieces or creating an experience of more or even equal value to just looking through the picture gallery at the end, which to me was the best part. I've played through several interactive art galleries, (Kid A/Mnesia, Mango, Fuzz Dungeon, Hypnagogia) that embody their interactivity either through bringing gaming conventions to the gallery or playing it safe as a walking simulator. Cuccchi choses to be the worst type of walking simulator, an often intangible labyrinth, meaning I was spending more time focused on my objective than getting immersed. In terms of narrative, I don't know what it was trying to do other than look weird and be a walking tour of Cucchi's general motifs. There's a feeling of innocence, isolation and possibly sickness to the worlds Enzo Cucchi creates, based on what I've seen from the actual paintings. While the soundscape is incredibly artistic in it's own right, the gaminess and aimlessness unfortunately actively detract from translating the art in a meaningful way.
a meander through surrealist pacman mazes of indiscernible emotions. exploration-focused games are by far my favorite, and using the medium simply to express art and create vague experiences is what I want to see more of. also the skulls make silly noises
Despite being an artist myself for most of my life, I actually have never heard of or have ever seen Enzo Cucchi's art. This feels a little blasphemous as he seems kind of important. On the other hand, I got to experience this nice little homage to his work in isolation, so I suppose its not all that bad.
Cuccchi is a slow-paced and surreal walk through Enzo Cucchi's repertoire of art. Endlessly colorful, every pixel trying its damnedest to replicate the texture and implications of the original piece it's based on. Managing to intertwine several seemingly unrelated works to create an area that makes cohesive sense replicates the feeling of walking around an art exhibit, albeit a kind of stressful one.
Ive seen a lot of reviews on this game mention that, because the game is not linear, it was frustrating trying to find a path to the next area. I can sort of understand, but the game itself is so small you would have to really miss the mark to end up wandering around lost for that long. The unique experience of traversing different worlds of someone's art rather than a more gallery-like exhibit is what makes this game special.
It is a little bit too stressful, though. Looking for the eye collectables so I could unlock the actual images of Enzo's art kept me from fully being immersed in what I was seeing. And there were one too many mazes, the ideal number of mazes in any given video game being 0. And I used to think that a video game could never make me motion sick, but wow, Cuccchi put me in my place there. With the environments constantly shifting and there being no floor or ceiling to ground my eyes to, I did feel on the edge of having to turn the game off a few times. The point is to be dreamlike, and maybe its alright that some games make you have to close your eyes every 10 seconds to get through it, but the stress of having to look out for collectables + the weird motion made this a less enjoyable experience than it could of been for me.
Overall, Enzo Cucchi makes kind of scary and beautiful art and I feel as though the game did a great job showcasing that. Lots of ships and houses and melty faces. If you dont mind a little motion sickness, I would definitely recommend checking it out. Italian artists are still very threatening to me.
Cuccchi is a slow-paced and surreal walk through Enzo Cucchi's repertoire of art. Endlessly colorful, every pixel trying its damnedest to replicate the texture and implications of the original piece it's based on. Managing to intertwine several seemingly unrelated works to create an area that makes cohesive sense replicates the feeling of walking around an art exhibit, albeit a kind of stressful one.
Ive seen a lot of reviews on this game mention that, because the game is not linear, it was frustrating trying to find a path to the next area. I can sort of understand, but the game itself is so small you would have to really miss the mark to end up wandering around lost for that long. The unique experience of traversing different worlds of someone's art rather than a more gallery-like exhibit is what makes this game special.
It is a little bit too stressful, though. Looking for the eye collectables so I could unlock the actual images of Enzo's art kept me from fully being immersed in what I was seeing. And there were one too many mazes, the ideal number of mazes in any given video game being 0. And I used to think that a video game could never make me motion sick, but wow, Cuccchi put me in my place there. With the environments constantly shifting and there being no floor or ceiling to ground my eyes to, I did feel on the edge of having to turn the game off a few times. The point is to be dreamlike, and maybe its alright that some games make you have to close your eyes every 10 seconds to get through it, but the stress of having to look out for collectables + the weird motion made this a less enjoyable experience than it could of been for me.
Overall, Enzo Cucchi makes kind of scary and beautiful art and I feel as though the game did a great job showcasing that. Lots of ships and houses and melty faces. If you dont mind a little motion sickness, I would definitely recommend checking it out. Italian artists are still very threatening to me.
Playable museum, abstracted and scattered like detonated with dynamite and reassembled. It's beautiful, stressful, directionless, and gorgeous to look at. Like a museum, your mileage will vary, but the last level made me shed a few tears from the familiar feeling of seeing a painting or sculpture that will stay with me forever. So I found Cuccchi well worth the price of admission. I've paid more for far less impactful museums.
Stopped playing after the stressful maze finished and there was another even more stressful maze.
If you can't make video games into art, make art into video games...
I have long held the opinion that the vast majority of video games are toys you play with while shoving popcorn in your face, the likes of a James Cameron film at best and degenerate slush at worst. Little throwaway experiences that aren't worth thinking about beyond liking or disliking the time you spent with them. "Not art," if you will (not that Cameron films "aren't art," Avatar rules). Cuccchi didn't make me completely reconsider that opinion per se, I do still think most of the medium doesn't deserve the merit it's given, but it did show me how silly and shallow it is to try and define capital A Art.
Describing Cuccchi is difficult. An interactive tribute to Enzo Cucchi? An arthouse first-person adventure game? To try and encapsulate it is to miss the point entirely, but you have to convey some sort of idea to your friend who you’re begging to play it. Still, I don’t really care to. I had no formal introduction, just a feeling that I wanted to see what exactly was going on. Cuccchi fell into my lap while perusing the eShop recent releases tab one day, the cover was intriguing so I decided to check it out. I had no clue about the experience I was about to have, the world that was about to be unveiled to me.
If you've never heard of Enzo Cucchi (I hadn't before playing) that's ok, the game is a phenomenal introduction to his work. You are thrusted into an explorable space with little direction, all of its mechanics are left for you to make sense of. I can see how some are turned off by this, your set lives and unclear enemies can feel frustrating at first. Cuccchi is not your run-of-the-mill DevolvApurna “prestige” indie game, it often feels unconcerned with your understanding or enjoyment of the experience. But just because it feels careless doesn’t mean it is, so much love and detail is poured into the game, its adoration of the semi-titular artist is clear (and infectious). I admire Cuccchi’s trust in you to figure it out, the enemies add a sense of looming risk while meandering through its worlds, further explanation would distract. Why explore a painting if you can’t feel its living presence?
Like many I loathe the term “liminal space,” at this point it’s a label slapped onto any eerie uninhabited built environment. I’ll spare you the whole define-a-word-for-emphasis shtick and just say Cuccchi frequently occupies the liminal. A hazy forest fades into a corn stalk labyrinth. A slurry of hailing brushstrokes becomes a small farmstead. Despite its leveled structure your traversal is never halted, your playthrough is essentially one long transition. One way in and one way out, Cuccchi is fundamentally an art exhibit, one unlike anything you’ll ever experience.
Upon finishing the game for the first time (a nearly effortless task, it can be seen in as little as 45 minutes) I realized my previous notions of the medium had been directly challenged. Here was an experience that impacted me as much as my first trip to an art museum. I was actively feeling my horizons being broadened, my black-and-white outlook growing grayer. Cuccchi was an instrumental work in growing my late-teenage art nuance (LTAN, I like to call it, patent pending), comparable with Duchamp’s “Fountain” in that it points out the frivolity of categorizing art from not-art. Sure, anything can be art, but is it even worth discerning? I have played this game four times and hope to play it hundreds more, my gratitude to the devs and to Cucchi himself is infinite. If you want something more out of video games, something that blurs the line between physical and digital mediums, Cuccchi will be here- waiting to show you a space you never knew existed.
I have long held the opinion that the vast majority of video games are toys you play with while shoving popcorn in your face, the likes of a James Cameron film at best and degenerate slush at worst. Little throwaway experiences that aren't worth thinking about beyond liking or disliking the time you spent with them. "Not art," if you will (not that Cameron films "aren't art," Avatar rules). Cuccchi didn't make me completely reconsider that opinion per se, I do still think most of the medium doesn't deserve the merit it's given, but it did show me how silly and shallow it is to try and define capital A Art.
Describing Cuccchi is difficult. An interactive tribute to Enzo Cucchi? An arthouse first-person adventure game? To try and encapsulate it is to miss the point entirely, but you have to convey some sort of idea to your friend who you’re begging to play it. Still, I don’t really care to. I had no formal introduction, just a feeling that I wanted to see what exactly was going on. Cuccchi fell into my lap while perusing the eShop recent releases tab one day, the cover was intriguing so I decided to check it out. I had no clue about the experience I was about to have, the world that was about to be unveiled to me.
If you've never heard of Enzo Cucchi (I hadn't before playing) that's ok, the game is a phenomenal introduction to his work. You are thrusted into an explorable space with little direction, all of its mechanics are left for you to make sense of. I can see how some are turned off by this, your set lives and unclear enemies can feel frustrating at first. Cuccchi is not your run-of-the-mill DevolvApurna “prestige” indie game, it often feels unconcerned with your understanding or enjoyment of the experience. But just because it feels careless doesn’t mean it is, so much love and detail is poured into the game, its adoration of the semi-titular artist is clear (and infectious). I admire Cuccchi’s trust in you to figure it out, the enemies add a sense of looming risk while meandering through its worlds, further explanation would distract. Why explore a painting if you can’t feel its living presence?
Like many I loathe the term “liminal space,” at this point it’s a label slapped onto any eerie uninhabited built environment. I’ll spare you the whole define-a-word-for-emphasis shtick and just say Cuccchi frequently occupies the liminal. A hazy forest fades into a corn stalk labyrinth. A slurry of hailing brushstrokes becomes a small farmstead. Despite its leveled structure your traversal is never halted, your playthrough is essentially one long transition. One way in and one way out, Cuccchi is fundamentally an art exhibit, one unlike anything you’ll ever experience.
Upon finishing the game for the first time (a nearly effortless task, it can be seen in as little as 45 minutes) I realized my previous notions of the medium had been directly challenged. Here was an experience that impacted me as much as my first trip to an art museum. I was actively feeling my horizons being broadened, my black-and-white outlook growing grayer. Cuccchi was an instrumental work in growing my late-teenage art nuance (LTAN, I like to call it, patent pending), comparable with Duchamp’s “Fountain” in that it points out the frivolity of categorizing art from not-art. Sure, anything can be art, but is it even worth discerning? I have played this game four times and hope to play it hundreds more, my gratitude to the devs and to Cucchi himself is infinite. If you want something more out of video games, something that blurs the line between physical and digital mediums, Cuccchi will be here- waiting to show you a space you never knew existed.