Inside is one of those games that I feel like everyone should play at least once in their life. It is a perfect game that fits so much content into just 3-4 hours.
The most impressive part of this game to me was its atmosphere and mastery of environmental storytelling. Not a single word is spoken throughout the entire game, yet the story is so cleverly told through the world around you. Inside's story will stick with you. More games need to utilize environmental storytelling because I find it so fun because I get to piece together what's going on around me and look at the pretty backgrounds.
I want to talk a little bit about the movement and physics for this game, because I found them to be incredibly smooth and satisfying. The animations on the MC are so satisfying and feel so fluid. He'll do little rolls when you jump far distances, his arms will flail as you jump towards a ledge, he stumbles forward when he jumps forward while running, sometimes he takes a little tumble, all of his movements look so cool and feel so satisfying.
I know I mentioned this earlier, but the environment in this game is absolutely amazing. I love this take on a dystopian society, every level has so much love put into it and all of the backgrounds are just so cool! I want to give all the artists who worked on this a cookie.
The level design and puzzles are also very good. I admit I did get stumped a couple times and had to look up the answer for a couple puzzles, but that's on me, all of the puzzles are well-made and well-integrated into the story.
This kind of fits into the environment, but the tone for this game is so well refined it fully immerses you into this world right from the start of the game. It masterfully transitions between dread, relaxation, stealthy (but like a relaxed stealthy, if that makes sense), fear, and even joy, if you can find it.
I also appreciate the level of brutality here. Now, I'm not saying that "oooh a game isn't mature unless it has a bunch of gore," but for this game, brutality goes a long way to showcase how inhuman the people who are hunting you really are. Ironically, it's the people who are meant to be lifeless husks that end up making a stronger emotional connection with the player than the real humans, who are just as ruthless and devoid of emotion as those spotlight robots. Your character can get shot, strangled, ripped apart by dogs, drowned, cut in half, etc. However, by showcasing the level of brutality this world shows to a child, it helps drive home to player just how inhuman this world has become.
Also, the sound design and soundtrack for this game, while not super memorable, fits the game's atmosphere perfectly. PLEASE play this game with headphones, it will add so much more to the experience.
Also, the ending for this game is absolutely incredible. Just wow.
Everyone go play this game so you can absolutely own anyone who tells you games can't be social commentary.
The most impressive part of this game to me was its atmosphere and mastery of environmental storytelling. Not a single word is spoken throughout the entire game, yet the story is so cleverly told through the world around you. Inside's story will stick with you. More games need to utilize environmental storytelling because I find it so fun because I get to piece together what's going on around me and look at the pretty backgrounds.
I want to talk a little bit about the movement and physics for this game, because I found them to be incredibly smooth and satisfying. The animations on the MC are so satisfying and feel so fluid. He'll do little rolls when you jump far distances, his arms will flail as you jump towards a ledge, he stumbles forward when he jumps forward while running, sometimes he takes a little tumble, all of his movements look so cool and feel so satisfying.
I know I mentioned this earlier, but the environment in this game is absolutely amazing. I love this take on a dystopian society, every level has so much love put into it and all of the backgrounds are just so cool! I want to give all the artists who worked on this a cookie.
The level design and puzzles are also very good. I admit I did get stumped a couple times and had to look up the answer for a couple puzzles, but that's on me, all of the puzzles are well-made and well-integrated into the story.
This kind of fits into the environment, but the tone for this game is so well refined it fully immerses you into this world right from the start of the game. It masterfully transitions between dread, relaxation, stealthy (but like a relaxed stealthy, if that makes sense), fear, and even joy, if you can find it.
I also appreciate the level of brutality here. Now, I'm not saying that "oooh a game isn't mature unless it has a bunch of gore," but for this game, brutality goes a long way to showcase how inhuman the people who are hunting you really are. Ironically, it's the people who are meant to be lifeless husks that end up making a stronger emotional connection with the player than the real humans, who are just as ruthless and devoid of emotion as those spotlight robots. Your character can get shot, strangled, ripped apart by dogs, drowned, cut in half, etc. However, by showcasing the level of brutality this world shows to a child, it helps drive home to player just how inhuman this world has become.
Also, the sound design and soundtrack for this game, while not super memorable, fits the game's atmosphere perfectly. PLEASE play this game with headphones, it will add so much more to the experience.
Also, the ending for this game is absolutely incredible. Just wow.
Everyone go play this game so you can absolutely own anyone who tells you games can't be social commentary.