This game is fascinating.
The adoption of mobile game mechanics is really smart. In many games, details such as the time nudges, the requirement to log in regularly multiple times a day, and so on are designed to extract more money from the player. Renal Summer doesn't have microtransactions beyond a single "remove ads" payments, so it's able to use those same mechanics in very different ways. Over the seven days of the story, I felt compelled to check in on the dog to help them as much as I could. As soon as I realized their strength was fading, and I'd have to help more often to keep them able to live their normal life, it felt important for me to check in regularly even before the regular notification nags.
In general, the sad theme comes across as convincingly non-manipulative. It's very, very easy for a game about death to come across as either cloying or emotionally manipulative, but Renal Summer manages to be moving without being mawkish.
The retro aesthetic is a smart choice since it makes you expect something much more "gamey" than it actually is. There's a fascinating contrast between the game field, the very gamey playfield the player can actually interact with, and the naturalistic movements in the world outside which the player can only watch. The lifelike, smooth movement of the animation reminds me a lot of Ghost Trick; adopting the aesthetics of pixel art, but moving in a natural-feeling way that's only possible if the player isn't directly controlling any of the living characters.
The real-time nature of the storytelling is incredibly well-produced. Every little scene you witness feels realistic and honest, and the full 24-hour daily schedule the dog and the old man go through is incredibly detailed.
The adoption of mobile game mechanics is really smart. In many games, details such as the time nudges, the requirement to log in regularly multiple times a day, and so on are designed to extract more money from the player. Renal Summer doesn't have microtransactions beyond a single "remove ads" payments, so it's able to use those same mechanics in very different ways. Over the seven days of the story, I felt compelled to check in on the dog to help them as much as I could. As soon as I realized their strength was fading, and I'd have to help more often to keep them able to live their normal life, it felt important for me to check in regularly even before the regular notification nags.
In general, the sad theme comes across as convincingly non-manipulative. It's very, very easy for a game about death to come across as either cloying or emotionally manipulative, but Renal Summer manages to be moving without being mawkish.
The retro aesthetic is a smart choice since it makes you expect something much more "gamey" than it actually is. There's a fascinating contrast between the game field, the very gamey playfield the player can actually interact with, and the naturalistic movements in the world outside which the player can only watch. The lifelike, smooth movement of the animation reminds me a lot of Ghost Trick; adopting the aesthetics of pixel art, but moving in a natural-feeling way that's only possible if the player isn't directly controlling any of the living characters.
The real-time nature of the storytelling is incredibly well-produced. Every little scene you witness feels realistic and honest, and the full 24-hour daily schedule the dog and the old man go through is incredibly detailed.
Vaudevillain
1 year ago
I adore the idea of games that use the interactivity of their medium to tell stories in a way that can't be done anywhere else. It's compelling and gives you an experience that you won't find anywhere else. Thanks for the recommendation!