There's a long list of faults I have with Umurangi. The staticness of the levels, a timer that's best left ignored, a generally very poor sense of polish and quality of life features, and an unlock system for parts that i'd say is outright awful.
But everything else, I pretty much adore. A dystopian sci-fi tale told entirely through it's environments, where the gameplay - which consists of simply exploring and taking pictures of objectives, compliments perfectly. It's a really simple conceit for the game and there's really not much depth to anything you need to do - but it gets you looking closely at the environments - and then those environments grab hold of you and don't let go.
The atmosphere here is absolutely nailed. The lo-fi beats and visual style contribute greatly to the story trying to be told here - and the story, which is basically just a slow descent into the truth of the game's world in what is a very blatant allegory for our own - and despite never saying more than a few words, it really does hit hard for me. Fortunately, the game also just works as a really neat sci-fi adventure even taking that into account.
Oh and fuck me does this game know how to do a Wham moment, with great use of music, gameplay and environments to shock the player - but never cheaply. It's honestly reminiscent of the sort of thing Hideo Kojima would do at times, and I mean that in the kindest way possible.
Finally, a word on the DLC - it's good. It's a lot more pointed and less subtle than the base game, and really gives the impression as something made with anger. It might not have worked if it weren't for its last level in particular being unbelievably strong.
The faults I mentioned at the start do frustrate to some extent. But I hope i've captured in the rest of these scatterbrain thoughts that this experience is so special they barely even matter in the grand scheme of things. Highly reccomended.
But everything else, I pretty much adore. A dystopian sci-fi tale told entirely through it's environments, where the gameplay - which consists of simply exploring and taking pictures of objectives, compliments perfectly. It's a really simple conceit for the game and there's really not much depth to anything you need to do - but it gets you looking closely at the environments - and then those environments grab hold of you and don't let go.
The atmosphere here is absolutely nailed. The lo-fi beats and visual style contribute greatly to the story trying to be told here - and the story, which is basically just a slow descent into the truth of the game's world in what is a very blatant allegory for our own - and despite never saying more than a few words, it really does hit hard for me. Fortunately, the game also just works as a really neat sci-fi adventure even taking that into account.
Oh and fuck me does this game know how to do a Wham moment, with great use of music, gameplay and environments to shock the player - but never cheaply. It's honestly reminiscent of the sort of thing Hideo Kojima would do at times, and I mean that in the kindest way possible.
Finally, a word on the DLC - it's good. It's a lot more pointed and less subtle than the base game, and really gives the impression as something made with anger. It might not have worked if it weren't for its last level in particular being unbelievably strong.
The faults I mentioned at the start do frustrate to some extent. But I hope i've captured in the rest of these scatterbrain thoughts that this experience is so special they barely even matter in the grand scheme of things. Highly reccomended.