Dear Future, developed by the straightforwardly named Dear Future Production committee, is in short an interactable internet archive in which you take photos of ones own surroundings and leave notes for the future players to come and see, and if you choose to perceive this game as simply that there would be no way in which to deny this shorthanded take upon it. However, to look further into the games meaning and its portrayal is to recognize it as more than that, and instead, as I perceive it to be, as a time capsule and a microcosm of the internet and life itself.
The game itself takes less than half an hour to complete, tutorial lasting about 5-7 minutes to get you into the swing of things and then your limited time upon its barren lands begins its 12 minute cycle, giving you just enough time to walk around and explore but always less time than you wish you had. The world itself is a dark and abandoned land overshadowed by a pillar off in the distance, overlooking the long forgotten hot pot of the city and its cultures, surrounded with messages from its own residents from a time long past.
In modern day internet archives are no unknown resource, many sites and online places have set themselves to these roles in order to preserve what is and was in order to to develop the future and continue to reserve the knowledge of life. To give a bigger scale in terms of the universe itself in 1977 Voyager 1 was launched into space, along with it a disk named the Golden Record, a message to the universe and to any life that may be out there that we were here; messages written to these otherworldly beings giving a friendly greeting, from one life in this world to another. Dear Future I believe is to be not only a microcosm of life in itself, but especially an archive and preservation of life to say that we were here, to give thanks and a pat on the back to simply 'being'. This preservation of life isn't just a focus point within its gameplay but its main message, I believe, to anyone and everyone that happens to stumble upon it. Just as videos, reviews, and websites like Backloggd are logs and messages of your life and your activities, constantly stating your place upon this world and your likings within it, this game in itself is a message of life and our place within it.
Whenever conversations of games pop up, mainly in a mainstream sense, the value of replayability is always brought up as if to assume anything you can infinitely replay instantly means it's better than another. I myself can agree with this sentiment to a certain degree, however some games I believe that this focus upon needing to go back again can simply ruin the experience. I highly doubt I'll ever replay Dear Future (or Before Your Eyes, another game I have this same feel towards), and that's perfectly okay, it's better than okay, it's better that way.
I would highly recommend this game towards anyone with time to spare.
There is no set goal for you, only a promise of an end to come and what you wish to do with your time.
The game itself takes less than half an hour to complete, tutorial lasting about 5-7 minutes to get you into the swing of things and then your limited time upon its barren lands begins its 12 minute cycle, giving you just enough time to walk around and explore but always less time than you wish you had. The world itself is a dark and abandoned land overshadowed by a pillar off in the distance, overlooking the long forgotten hot pot of the city and its cultures, surrounded with messages from its own residents from a time long past.
In modern day internet archives are no unknown resource, many sites and online places have set themselves to these roles in order to preserve what is and was in order to to develop the future and continue to reserve the knowledge of life. To give a bigger scale in terms of the universe itself in 1977 Voyager 1 was launched into space, along with it a disk named the Golden Record, a message to the universe and to any life that may be out there that we were here; messages written to these otherworldly beings giving a friendly greeting, from one life in this world to another. Dear Future I believe is to be not only a microcosm of life in itself, but especially an archive and preservation of life to say that we were here, to give thanks and a pat on the back to simply 'being'. This preservation of life isn't just a focus point within its gameplay but its main message, I believe, to anyone and everyone that happens to stumble upon it. Just as videos, reviews, and websites like Backloggd are logs and messages of your life and your activities, constantly stating your place upon this world and your likings within it, this game in itself is a message of life and our place within it.
Whenever conversations of games pop up, mainly in a mainstream sense, the value of replayability is always brought up as if to assume anything you can infinitely replay instantly means it's better than another. I myself can agree with this sentiment to a certain degree, however some games I believe that this focus upon needing to go back again can simply ruin the experience. I highly doubt I'll ever replay Dear Future (or Before Your Eyes, another game I have this same feel towards), and that's perfectly okay, it's better than okay, it's better that way.
I would highly recommend this game towards anyone with time to spare.
There is no set goal for you, only a promise of an end to come and what you wish to do with your time.
"We fall to hunger, thirst, and exposure as we beg for scraps to a sovereign who promises a better life.
Are the great works of great figures measured by that which they trample?"
Are the great works of great figures measured by that which they trample?"
The real tragedy of this game is that it wasn't ambitious enough.
This seems like a really great concept. A timed photo shoot in an abandoned, decayed, weird sci-fi city? Sign me up. The problem is that it completely stumbles over its own feet in the execution of that idea.
The biggest struggle is that there's just not a lot to see. This is a very large world, and was somehow surprisingly empty. Because the game uses the same assets over and over, any time you find something really interesting in the world, if you walk a few feet, you're guaranteed to see the same thing repeated twenty times over. I remember coming upon a strange, Greek temple on a shoreline, and thought, "wow, what an interesting design," only to see the same temple copy-pasted 3 more times past the next building. It's because of this reuse of assets, and very minimal amounts of unique variety, that makes this a bother. Very rarely does the world offer interesting vistas, and even then, it's a chore to find them.
There's also the fact of the mechanics. Again, a timed photo adventure seems really appealing. Get in, get out, and only take what you find important. The problem is that the mechanics are a deliberate wrench in your fun. First, why is there a sprint button? I'm already limited by the time of day, so why should I be further limited by my ability to navigate the world? Perhaps the idea was to force people to choose paths, and come up with unique experiences. But when everything looks the same, and there's only a smattering of narrative bubbles, that you're not guaranteed to see, this mechanic isn't serving its intended purpose. The time also doesn't stop when you're taking pictures. The game seems to relish in you playing with your lenses, exposure, and grain. But you're not really given the time to explore the artistic process, because you're on the clock like a wage-slave.
Then there's the narrative. It's steeped in mystery, which is kind of cool. But again, because a player can wander any direction their heart desires, the odds of them finding a collection of good narrative bubbles is low, and this is exacerbated by the size of the world, which is large. The note feature helps, allowing you to place Dark Souls style notes on the ground for other players to find. But again, it's hard to find something creative to say with a note when the world is just the same buildings ad infinitum. And, if you choose to write a note, that's precious in-game minutes spent forming the perfect sentence and not taking photos.
It's best to compare this game to other photo games. Umurangi succeeds by giving you infinite time, a clear objective, but allowing for artistic freedom. Pokémon Snap gives you limited time, a clear objective, and reduces artistic freedom for the sake of gameplay. Dear Future, by contrast, gives you limited time, no objectives, and restricts artistic freedom through its mechanics. And that's just a shame, because there are the bones of a really interesting game here. But the bones are scattered on the ground like the assets in this world. Maybe you can find beauty in those bones. But I did not.
This seems like a really great concept. A timed photo shoot in an abandoned, decayed, weird sci-fi city? Sign me up. The problem is that it completely stumbles over its own feet in the execution of that idea.
The biggest struggle is that there's just not a lot to see. This is a very large world, and was somehow surprisingly empty. Because the game uses the same assets over and over, any time you find something really interesting in the world, if you walk a few feet, you're guaranteed to see the same thing repeated twenty times over. I remember coming upon a strange, Greek temple on a shoreline, and thought, "wow, what an interesting design," only to see the same temple copy-pasted 3 more times past the next building. It's because of this reuse of assets, and very minimal amounts of unique variety, that makes this a bother. Very rarely does the world offer interesting vistas, and even then, it's a chore to find them.
There's also the fact of the mechanics. Again, a timed photo adventure seems really appealing. Get in, get out, and only take what you find important. The problem is that the mechanics are a deliberate wrench in your fun. First, why is there a sprint button? I'm already limited by the time of day, so why should I be further limited by my ability to navigate the world? Perhaps the idea was to force people to choose paths, and come up with unique experiences. But when everything looks the same, and there's only a smattering of narrative bubbles, that you're not guaranteed to see, this mechanic isn't serving its intended purpose. The time also doesn't stop when you're taking pictures. The game seems to relish in you playing with your lenses, exposure, and grain. But you're not really given the time to explore the artistic process, because you're on the clock like a wage-slave.
Then there's the narrative. It's steeped in mystery, which is kind of cool. But again, because a player can wander any direction their heart desires, the odds of them finding a collection of good narrative bubbles is low, and this is exacerbated by the size of the world, which is large. The note feature helps, allowing you to place Dark Souls style notes on the ground for other players to find. But again, it's hard to find something creative to say with a note when the world is just the same buildings ad infinitum. And, if you choose to write a note, that's precious in-game minutes spent forming the perfect sentence and not taking photos.
It's best to compare this game to other photo games. Umurangi succeeds by giving you infinite time, a clear objective, but allowing for artistic freedom. Pokémon Snap gives you limited time, a clear objective, and reduces artistic freedom for the sake of gameplay. Dear Future, by contrast, gives you limited time, no objectives, and restricts artistic freedom through its mechanics. And that's just a shame, because there are the bones of a really interesting game here. But the bones are scattered on the ground like the assets in this world. Maybe you can find beauty in those bones. But I did not.
I be taking photographs in this hoe