This review contains spoilers
“Sometimes I do stupid stuff, and I don’t even know why… as if my body were being controlled by some demented, sadistic puppet-master…”
Inside is an extremely hard to explain experience. In a lot of ways it's similar to what Journey did for me as a video game, but something about Inside feels different. It's bleak, it's dark, it's abstract, but most of all it's unnerving. The lack of explanation and the Metropolis-esque environment clearly paints a picture of a depraved world overruled by the horrors of capitalism and class divisions. Freedom is an unknown concept. Everyone is a soulless, dehumanized slave marching forward step by step as robots, doing exactly what they are told and being disposed of whenever deemed useless. They lack what many of us take for granted, choice.
Timing is what makes this game tick. The score plays a huge part here. There are so many moments that give you an idea of Inside's abstract world and its apparent meaning, highlighted by the game's impeccable atmosphere. For instance, when the boy uses a headgear to control a body, the player at one point has to control another body with that same body. The utter silence during this moment is immediately overwhelmed by this almost serene yet ominous soundtrack.
Everyone is a puppet.
You can also go meta with this idea and assume that even the boy lacks freewill as he is controlled by us, the player. Throughout his entire journey in pursuit of freedom and shelter from the harsh world around him. Until the very end, where he ends up on a shore, a ray of light shining down at his blob of a body, where true freedom is finally granted to him, as we, the player, can no longer control him. His future is uncertain to us, but so long as he is in control of it, freedom shall remain.
Another idea that kept popping up in my head during my playthrough was that none of the characters, except the guards and researchers seemed "human". So maybe these were clones made for labour, and the kid seemed to have gained sentience. But this idea doesn't seem to work well with what the story is trying to convey.
Inside is fascinating. It's simple, it's linear, and it almost feels like too simple of a game at times. But somehow, out of every game I have ever played nothing has made me think this much about its cryptic world and ideas since Journey and NieR:Automata.
And I still can't nail down what exactly Inside is about. Especially the ending dawg WHY THE FUCK DOES HE FUSE WITH A FUCKING BLOB OF MEAT 😭😭😭
"It may be that we are puppets-puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception, with awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation."
9/10
Inside is an extremely hard to explain experience. In a lot of ways it's similar to what Journey did for me as a video game, but something about Inside feels different. It's bleak, it's dark, it's abstract, but most of all it's unnerving. The lack of explanation and the Metropolis-esque environment clearly paints a picture of a depraved world overruled by the horrors of capitalism and class divisions. Freedom is an unknown concept. Everyone is a soulless, dehumanized slave marching forward step by step as robots, doing exactly what they are told and being disposed of whenever deemed useless. They lack what many of us take for granted, choice.
Timing is what makes this game tick. The score plays a huge part here. There are so many moments that give you an idea of Inside's abstract world and its apparent meaning, highlighted by the game's impeccable atmosphere. For instance, when the boy uses a headgear to control a body, the player at one point has to control another body with that same body. The utter silence during this moment is immediately overwhelmed by this almost serene yet ominous soundtrack.
Everyone is a puppet.
You can also go meta with this idea and assume that even the boy lacks freewill as he is controlled by us, the player. Throughout his entire journey in pursuit of freedom and shelter from the harsh world around him. Until the very end, where he ends up on a shore, a ray of light shining down at his blob of a body, where true freedom is finally granted to him, as we, the player, can no longer control him. His future is uncertain to us, but so long as he is in control of it, freedom shall remain.
Another idea that kept popping up in my head during my playthrough was that none of the characters, except the guards and researchers seemed "human". So maybe these were clones made for labour, and the kid seemed to have gained sentience. But this idea doesn't seem to work well with what the story is trying to convey.
Inside is fascinating. It's simple, it's linear, and it almost feels like too simple of a game at times. But somehow, out of every game I have ever played nothing has made me think this much about its cryptic world and ideas since Journey and NieR:Automata.
And I still can't nail down what exactly Inside is about. Especially the ending dawg WHY THE FUCK DOES HE FUSE WITH A FUCKING BLOB OF MEAT 😭😭😭
"It may be that we are puppets-puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception, with awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation."
9/10