Came looking for a fun vibe generator, surprised with a very intelligent experiment in non-euclidean gameplay and discovery.
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Like nearly every game I play at this point (I am 6 months to 6 years behind on almost every release) Mu Cartographer has been sitting around in the periphery of my library as something Im Pretty Certain Ill Like Once I Get Around To It. But I could have never guessed in a million years the experience that was actually waiting for me.
This is like exactly my kind of shit.
A disclaimer: I think basically all the value in Mu Cartographer lies in playing it. Theres no way I could talk about this game that wouldnt dissolve the point of playing it. If youre gonna play it at all, you should play it before you read about it. I disclaim this cuz I think the ruin-able parts are the most interesting parts to talk about and this needle only moves in one direction. Not to oversell it or anything, just trying to be…. articulate.
Anyway.
- Mu Cartographer is a game about interfacing. I have no clue how on purpose this is, but Mu contextualizes what everyone already does for every game theyve ever played: they figure out the controls. This is a universal experience, anyone who has ever tried to play a game must interface with that game somehow, figure out what their means of input are and what the results of that will be so that they can perform actions with intent. This process is usually subconscious and mechanical but Mu makes this the gameplay —
— and the thing that makes that cool and smart is that: it actually works. The game starts out completely incomprehensible, with wordless knobs and dials and a wiggling wobbling shifting circle of terrain in the middle. Bit by bit, players can coax and tease out what these controls signify, until players are able to thoughtfully navigate the game and complete its objectives. This is likely the part thatll make or break some players depending on how theyre extrinsically motivated, as the games only intrinsic motivator here is intrigue and discovery (and I wouldnt blame anyone not being immediately sold on that)
- More philosophically, Mu Cartographer is about exploring. Its in the name (cartographer, a person charting a map) and in the subject (youre looking at funky terrain). If you were paying attention, youll also notice I used words like “navigate” to describe how players figure out the controls, you explore the controls, you navigate the game. This is that cheeky “ludonarrative harmony” you might hear some nerds talk about (not me) and I think its almost always a good thing a game should try to do if possible. Themes of exploration almost always resonate well in video games just by their nature of being learning experiences.
- Much less high concept but I think the narrative is cute in its, you know, slightly unsettling depiction of explorers getting lost in a shifting landscape. Theres an “Abnormal Object” type vibe to the experience and I eat that shit up.
- I also, in general, like the sleek colorful presentation. Heres my one gripe tho: if your game primarily features alot of bright white backgrounds, give that shit a Dark Mode. Theres some legibility issues with searching through bright ass yellows and greens to locate a blinking white pin and thats kind of harsh on the eyes also. Hard to complain about anything else tho, very stimulating game for your reptile brain.
v
v
v
v
v
Like nearly every game I play at this point (I am 6 months to 6 years behind on almost every release) Mu Cartographer has been sitting around in the periphery of my library as something Im Pretty Certain Ill Like Once I Get Around To It. But I could have never guessed in a million years the experience that was actually waiting for me.
This is like exactly my kind of shit.
A disclaimer: I think basically all the value in Mu Cartographer lies in playing it. Theres no way I could talk about this game that wouldnt dissolve the point of playing it. If youre gonna play it at all, you should play it before you read about it. I disclaim this cuz I think the ruin-able parts are the most interesting parts to talk about and this needle only moves in one direction. Not to oversell it or anything, just trying to be…. articulate.
Anyway.
- Mu Cartographer is a game about interfacing. I have no clue how on purpose this is, but Mu contextualizes what everyone already does for every game theyve ever played: they figure out the controls. This is a universal experience, anyone who has ever tried to play a game must interface with that game somehow, figure out what their means of input are and what the results of that will be so that they can perform actions with intent. This process is usually subconscious and mechanical but Mu makes this the gameplay —
— and the thing that makes that cool and smart is that: it actually works. The game starts out completely incomprehensible, with wordless knobs and dials and a wiggling wobbling shifting circle of terrain in the middle. Bit by bit, players can coax and tease out what these controls signify, until players are able to thoughtfully navigate the game and complete its objectives. This is likely the part thatll make or break some players depending on how theyre extrinsically motivated, as the games only intrinsic motivator here is intrigue and discovery (and I wouldnt blame anyone not being immediately sold on that)
- More philosophically, Mu Cartographer is about exploring. Its in the name (cartographer, a person charting a map) and in the subject (youre looking at funky terrain). If you were paying attention, youll also notice I used words like “navigate” to describe how players figure out the controls, you explore the controls, you navigate the game. This is that cheeky “ludonarrative harmony” you might hear some nerds talk about (not me) and I think its almost always a good thing a game should try to do if possible. Themes of exploration almost always resonate well in video games just by their nature of being learning experiences.
- Much less high concept but I think the narrative is cute in its, you know, slightly unsettling depiction of explorers getting lost in a shifting landscape. Theres an “Abnormal Object” type vibe to the experience and I eat that shit up.
- I also, in general, like the sleek colorful presentation. Heres my one gripe tho: if your game primarily features alot of bright white backgrounds, give that shit a Dark Mode. Theres some legibility issues with searching through bright ass yellows and greens to locate a blinking white pin and thats kind of harsh on the eyes also. Hard to complain about anything else tho, very stimulating game for your reptile brain.