@ralphdibny well first let me say I hope things get better for you. Although I never had it personally I have dealt with it very close (my mother the worst case and the reason I am back home).
On the story I have mentioned something similar (although in a less mean way ). The only reason I knew the story was about grief is because I got an achievement for it because I found a secret.. but I genuinely liked the gameplay so it did not bother me as much.
I'm glad someone is at least a little bit on my wavelength 😂. I did go back and read other people's thoughts after I wrote that and they seemed moderately positive so I did wonder if it was "just me".
Honestly, if the game was any longer than just a few hours, I would have packed it in. But every minute I knew I was near the end so I stuck it out. I do think I might have been less harsh on it if I played it at a different time like during the pandemic. I was much happier during the pandemic when the world slowed down to a manageable speed for me 😂
@Balta666 cheers mate. I hope things get better for you and your mum
I think this review is a bit of a call back to the reviews I was doing on Push Square of PS Plus games during the pandemic. I decided I wanted to get my money's worth so I made a spreadsheet of all the PS Plus games and I played through as many of them as I could muster.
I found lots of actual gems in the Plus backlog to be fair, stuff like VVVVVV, Papers Please and others that I forget now. But the pace I was blasting through these games at meant that my write ups for the deluge of absolute tosh that was handed out with PS Plus were just really quick, snarky and hopefully quite humourous to readers!
I do feel kind of mean writing like that but I do find a blunt meanness to be quite amusing at times if I'm honest. I felt a bit more bad about Gris because it is obviously technically very good and it has a point to it. But I suppose I tend to go into games blind so there was no pretext that readied for me it. Whereas one might enjoy a film that is out of one's comfort zone because marketing will peg it as a thriller, a character profile, a rom com or whatever.
@ralphdibny I agree on your thoughts, I have no idea what I'm playing but it does look nice. again, like you, I would have never said that it was about greif and never in a million years would I have guessed that!
@crippyd cheers bud. Yeah it is a bit of a mental game. It's certainly a piece of art but it's just a bit too static/slow/easy for me to enjoy! I definitely think either a written preface that explains where the game is born from or just a bit of in game context to ground the abstract nature of it would make it better/easier to appreciate. As it stands, it's just a kind of mildly interactive slow walk through lots of art.
I thought the clockwork area was quite interesting. It didn't strike me as like a proper clock but much more dainty and delicate like the innards of a wrist watch instead.
I've just been having a think about a few games that have depicted mental health issues and I would say that I've definitely appreciated the more "grounded" takes on it rather than the abstract ones. The abstract ones always seem like a massive achievement to those involved but not neccesarily enjoyable or relatable ones to their audience.
I've made my feelings clear on Gris but there was another equally abstract game I played a couple years ago. I can't remember what it was called but it was short and designed solely by a teenager. That in of itself is incredibly commendable but while I found the game entertaining, it was hard to relate to how the creator expressed her mental health struggles.
To be fair, I can be quite verbose if I am describing how I perceive things to people. I appreciate a good metaphor or simile and I like to paint a picture with my words. But I do almost always contextualise it and my audience is very small and engaged. So I really do understand where Gris and the other game I mentioned are coming from, but just as a piece of art that's put out there for the masses and open to interpretation, I feel like they kind of fall short a bit. I think being open to interpretation is good but only in small doses. Like if a largely self-explanatory narrative had a few, "did they? Didn't they?" moments. It opens up discussion but discussion that is guided by context.
It may well be why I don't very much enjoy art galleries. I do like pictures, and I do actually have pictures I like looking at on my walls. But I could never go into an art exhibit and stand at a random painting just looking at it for ages. I've seen people do that and I do wonder exactly what they are seeing that I am not. I wonder sometimes if they just do that because that's what they think people should do in an art gallery.
So onto the two games (I can think of currently) that I think have depicted mental health issues well. The first is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. I know it is supposed to depict a full blown psychosis but even for people less over the edge, I think it's very relatable in its depiction of constant cyclical thinking, self doubt and beating yourself up about things. That internal monologue that you just can't shut up even though it makes you feel less than human.
The second game is Bugsnax. I can't remember the characters name but in Bugsnax you can watch home videos of the missing character and her partner. Watching them back to back shows a character enjoying life and everything about it one day, shockingly juxtaposed against the next day where she can't get out of bed for no apparent physical reason. That extreme behavioural polarity of one day to the next is just so amazingly realistic and relatable.
I mean Bugsnax is full of a lot of characters that have various character quirks and it is all very relatable in general, stuff like addiction, insecurity, paranoia, etc. I think the example I mentioned in the previous paragraph was what really hit home with me though.
hello my good people, I hope all your adventures through the Stars are going well!
However the new month is on the horizon and at the moment we have a three way tie between Amnesia Collection, As dusk Falls and Signalis with 2 votes each (and a few one voters).
If you do not want me to choose a non-spooky game instead, it is your time to sway the balance either way 😜
New month, new game! And as per tradicion of the epoque we have a spooky game (or 3) in Amnesia Collection which as the name implies has more than one game so everyone can choose if they want to go for the whole package or just some of it in particular.
The games can be obviously played on Gamepass, but also on playstation, switch and pc.
Please use spoiler tags when discussing spoilerish moments of the game. You do so by typing your spoiler between spoiler tags like this: [spoiler]insert message here[ /spoiler] and removing the space between [ and /
Some HLTB Stats:
Main Story - 16 Hours
Main + Extras - 13 (???) Hours
Completionist - 19.5 Hours
Tag list, please tag me and let me know if you want to be added or removed. I think I've picked up everyone who joined this month but please just post and tag me @Balta666 to let me know if I've missed you or if you want to join!
Also please let me know if you change your username, I might not notice and you won't get the notification (equally let me know if you have changed your username to get away from the notifications and I will delete you off the tag list 😆)
Tag me in a post with your vote(s). (Just hit reply on one of my posts or write @Balta666)
Write your votes in bold (put the text in between asterisks) and try and keep it separate from any paragraphs.
One line will do, "My vote is such and such a game(s)"
Feel free to make the post longer but try and keep the actual vote separate from the main body of the text and at the top of the post next to my tag @Balta666
Vote for as many games as you like!
The votes reset every month and start from Zero. Feel free to suggest new games and I will add them to the list and count your vote toward it!
American McGee's Alice - 1 (Rdb)
As Dusks Falls - 1 (Tma)
Broken Age - 1 (Blt)
Chicory: A Colourful Tale -
Cocoon - 4 (Blt, Nbn, Tma, Vdg)
Doom 3 -
Dordogne -
Cassete Beasts -
Coffee Talk/Coffee Talk Ep 2 -
Contrast -
Fe -
Genesis Noir -
Ghostwire: Tokyo - 1 (Tma)
Hypnospace Outlaw -
Inside -
Maquette -
Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood -
McPixel 3 -
Planet of Lana -
Quake - 1 (Tma)
Screamride –
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath -
Solar Ash - 1 (Nbn)
Sunset Overdrive -
The Evil Within 2 -
Tunic -
Unravel - 1 (Blt)
Wo Long: Fallen Destiny - 1 (Olp)
If you have another game you'd like added to the list then let me know and I will add it with a vote from you!
I will link to this post in my signature so you can just click on my signature down below to get back to this post and see the list of games and current votes!
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