I was kind of percolating a long piece in my head as I played this about the portrayal of in-game museum or gallery spaces and how often in games these spaces are bizarre simulacra that lead you from point to point for your character to read a plaque or for a little sound byte to play. I was gonna talk about how these representations of museums land in a weird middle ground between a true museum experience of letting a player pace themselves and experience the art with themselves and having to be an experience in and of itself that is paced and guided and moving you to the next thing, and that these elements are so often at odds even though they don't necessarily have to be.
But tonight I'm tired and I don't want to write a whole long thing about Ib, which is really a great little game, both lovely in its character and hugely endearing in tone and atmosphere.
It's a tough balancing act to be a game with, essentially, no actual Big Scares in the indie space, even in the world of indie horror back when Ib came out and everybody (including the woman who made Ib, very clearly) was losing their mind over Yume Nikki. But Ib gets by entirely on its premise and its art and some clever dialogue. Most of the time it's even being pretty goofy; I was smiling and laughing as much if not more than I was feeling dread, and I mean that as a high compliment. Every time there was a particularly good fucked up guy, or sickening reveal, or bro when Garry is looking for the key in the room (YOU KNOW THE ONE BRO) I was simply hooting and hollering, it's a real crowd pleaser. This game pulls one of the most obvious but best executed Silent Hill 2 For Me It's Always Like This bits I've seen in a while and I'm never not gonna pop for one of those.
What the game always handles pretty soberly and with the exact right tonal balance is its character writing. There are really only two guys here with anything to them, Garry and Mary, and both of them are spectacularly well drawn given the length of the game and how little time Mary in particular gets. These are interesting and sympathetic people and unlike so many other indie games with character-based dialogue options that lead to multiple endings, there are compelling reasons to want everyone to get what they want and deserve here. Ib not having a real villain in that sense, and especially not REALLY dwelling on the nature of its situation beyond what's necessary to get the characters' stories where they need to be, is so so good for it.
This game has seven endings that result in various degrees of happiness or tragedy for Ib and her two companions and every single one of them is good, and every single one of them is a worthy ending, and there are very few games structured like this where I think that's true.
It's very cool that Ib's remake is getting ported to the Switch, because looking up the extra features in it they seem really great, the graphics are really nice, and Being On The Switch is what gets the teens involved and frankly I think the teens will go apeshit for this one. All you Omori guys, right? They'll love Omori's grandma. Great fuckin game dude. Classic.
But tonight I'm tired and I don't want to write a whole long thing about Ib, which is really a great little game, both lovely in its character and hugely endearing in tone and atmosphere.
It's a tough balancing act to be a game with, essentially, no actual Big Scares in the indie space, even in the world of indie horror back when Ib came out and everybody (including the woman who made Ib, very clearly) was losing their mind over Yume Nikki. But Ib gets by entirely on its premise and its art and some clever dialogue. Most of the time it's even being pretty goofy; I was smiling and laughing as much if not more than I was feeling dread, and I mean that as a high compliment. Every time there was a particularly good fucked up guy, or sickening reveal, or bro when Garry is looking for the key in the room (YOU KNOW THE ONE BRO) I was simply hooting and hollering, it's a real crowd pleaser. This game pulls one of the most obvious but best executed Silent Hill 2 For Me It's Always Like This bits I've seen in a while and I'm never not gonna pop for one of those.
What the game always handles pretty soberly and with the exact right tonal balance is its character writing. There are really only two guys here with anything to them, Garry and Mary, and both of them are spectacularly well drawn given the length of the game and how little time Mary in particular gets. These are interesting and sympathetic people and unlike so many other indie games with character-based dialogue options that lead to multiple endings, there are compelling reasons to want everyone to get what they want and deserve here. Ib not having a real villain in that sense, and especially not REALLY dwelling on the nature of its situation beyond what's necessary to get the characters' stories where they need to be, is so so good for it.
This game has seven endings that result in various degrees of happiness or tragedy for Ib and her two companions and every single one of them is good, and every single one of them is a worthy ending, and there are very few games structured like this where I think that's true.
It's very cool that Ib's remake is getting ported to the Switch, because looking up the extra features in it they seem really great, the graphics are really nice, and Being On The Switch is what gets the teens involved and frankly I think the teens will go apeshit for this one. All you Omori guys, right? They'll love Omori's grandma. Great fuckin game dude. Classic.
poyfuh
1 year ago