Well.. Not great! Super good music though... and the visuals are very nice... and it certainly builds up tension well... AND THEN IT ENDS. Well no, it has one mediocre jump-scare then a walking section THEN it ends with some text-on-page. Then it's over for real! And you'll be wondering the whole time if it's trying to fake you out... it isn't - it's over. Promise.
So yeah Paratopic is a game with PS1 graphics about some weird narrative shit going down with possibly multiple characters in multiple timelines that intersect... somehow? Someway? Who gives a shit it isn't a real story or theme to be found anywhere here. It's cool ass visuals and music in a nothingburger of two neat scenes. I mean actually there are several solid parts of building up unease and dread but the game doesn't capitalize on those at all except once really. And this is I think my issue with Observation from last year - an almost complete lack of any attention to detail or explanation. Not ANSWERS per se, but EXPLANATION. What's the difference? I'm making up my definitions here but I think answers are the media going "And here's exactly what is going on, minus maybe one or two things for a sequel" - explanations are evidence/facts the audience can put together to make a THEORY of what is happening, hopefully many theories, but none of them with any real confirmation. Not that I mind answers of course (hi Resident Evil!!) but I do need to have some kind of idea of what the fuck is going on, even if there's no actual concrete anything to hold onto.
There are some great parts of Paratopic I don't really want or need to be explained - what was that thing we found in the woods? What do the VCR tapes do, and why are some people able to 'use' them? What greater meaning is there behind the different protagonists? However there's a lot I DO want to know - why is this story told out of order? (we don't know, basically nothing is revealed of any kind of plot or information because of the order) Who even ARE these people? (we learn basically nothing about any of them, or even necessarily that they are different people or how to tell them apart) How did we get here and where do they end up because of what happens in the story? (there is basically no PLOT whatsoever leading these characters from A to B to C. We don't even know who is going where or when!)
Now, is this style of... storytelling... bad? Absolutely not. In a weird way it is very charming and if you go in knowing that none of this will make a damn bit of sense ever then I imagine it would be a fun roller coaster ride. But after playing some damn good horror stuff the past month this kind of weird pointless shit is losing a lot of its charm. If it ever had any.
So yeah Paratopic is a game with PS1 graphics about some weird narrative shit going down with possibly multiple characters in multiple timelines that intersect... somehow? Someway? Who gives a shit it isn't a real story or theme to be found anywhere here. It's cool ass visuals and music in a nothingburger of two neat scenes. I mean actually there are several solid parts of building up unease and dread but the game doesn't capitalize on those at all except once really. And this is I think my issue with Observation from last year - an almost complete lack of any attention to detail or explanation. Not ANSWERS per se, but EXPLANATION. What's the difference? I'm making up my definitions here but I think answers are the media going "And here's exactly what is going on, minus maybe one or two things for a sequel" - explanations are evidence/facts the audience can put together to make a THEORY of what is happening, hopefully many theories, but none of them with any real confirmation. Not that I mind answers of course (hi Resident Evil!!) but I do need to have some kind of idea of what the fuck is going on, even if there's no actual concrete anything to hold onto.
There are some great parts of Paratopic I don't really want or need to be explained - what was that thing we found in the woods? What do the VCR tapes do, and why are some people able to 'use' them? What greater meaning is there behind the different protagonists? However there's a lot I DO want to know - why is this story told out of order? (we don't know, basically nothing is revealed of any kind of plot or information because of the order) Who even ARE these people? (we learn basically nothing about any of them, or even necessarily that they are different people or how to tell them apart) How did we get here and where do they end up because of what happens in the story? (there is basically no PLOT whatsoever leading these characters from A to B to C. We don't even know who is going where or when!)
Now, is this style of... storytelling... bad? Absolutely not. In a weird way it is very charming and if you go in knowing that none of this will make a damn bit of sense ever then I imagine it would be a fun roller coaster ride. But after playing some damn good horror stuff the past month this kind of weird pointless shit is losing a lot of its charm. If it ever had any.