At the start of the year I lost my grandmother. I loved her as much as my parents and lived with her for a period of two years. During this time I helped take care of her, and while playing Home I couldn't help but think of her. I felt a twang of emotion at the end of Passage, but this is the first time my eyes misted up from playing a game. The protagonist is an old man in a hospice; as player, you act the role of surrogate caregiver. You balance the old man's needs like you would in The Sims, and like Billy Suicide, something meaningful emerges as the game unfolds. That's all I will say for now, spoilers and observations after the break.
"The mechanic is the message" is PTT's rubric for games of this ilk, and in this regard the game shines. The old man is confined to four small rooms; each room satisfies one of his four basic needs. Three of which are bodily functions, and one is happiness. Happiness is raised when the old man strikes up a conversation -- this human interaction and living vicariously through his hostess is his sole pleasure. The four bars decrease as the game progresses, and in order to appease one need you must sacrifice time. This combined with the frail man's slow walking speed means that inevitably the player is unable to accommodate a need. When this occurs the game takes that burden away from you and artificially fulfills it. In time you lose more and more control of your life, and ultimately are unable to affect the game state any further. Once you lose total control the game ends, and the flashing screen at the end cutscene hints at your death.
Through gameplay, increpare tells a tale of a man no longer in control of his life, who slowly loses what little agency he has remaining. The loss of this control could be seen as analogous to a body shutting down, system by system. The man's shambling walking speed and minimal interaction highlight his powerless incompetence. When the old man lost all but one need I felt sympathetic to him, and helpless in my own turn by being unable to help him. I could only watch as he succumbed to his final indignity and inevitable fate. I was reminded of losing my grandmother in a similar fashion and the same feeling of helplessness I had when she passed. My eyes watered a little, and I was touched.
This helplessness could not be achieved if this was attempted in a form of passive media. Increpare uses the interactive nature of the medium to create a work that plays to its strengths and is capable of eliciting an emotional response from a five minute investment. This game is important and should be spoken in the same breath as Passage whenever "is gaimz arrt?" arguments rear their head. I'm not sure how many people it will convince that games have the potential to invoke emotion or inspire, but its a damn fine argument for the future of our medium.
Lovely
Beautiful review, TheDustin. I've been doing a lot of thinking about gameplay, interaction, and presentation in video games and how it all might relate to "art." I think you make a strong statement about art and the power of emotionality.
I wrote a bit about that here, with a focus mainly on graphics and impressionism, but touching on gameplay as well. I hope you'll check it out and let me know your thoughts.
It's interesting, but...
Is it really a game? Ignoring any philosophical or pedantic arguments that no other game is different, I really didn't feel like my decisions had any meaningful impact. The ending is pre-ordained, and it comes quickly seemingly no matter what you do. To fall back on a useful cliché, there are almost no "interesting choices" to be made here, only waiting for the final pronouncement.
I can see how this could trigger memories of similar events in a person, such as the reviewer, but is this different than the emotions triggered by a picture of a familiar situation, or music that reminds you of it? The limited options do give you a sense of helplessness (and hopelessness), but is this a feeling that absolutely couldn't be replicated in other media?
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The only real decision I felt I had, which did result in something interesting, was talking to the nurse repeatedly. Her conversations were interesting and added to the feeling of helplessness. I wonder if you couldn't have gotten the same experience out of a very short story with only a few more words.
The game is certainly an emotional experience, but I'm not sure that the interactive nature really sets it apart from a similar story in other media. Given the rapid nature in which you lose control it seems nearly linear with a few short, optional (and in most cases uninteresting) loops that you can visit.
As a game developer myself, I wonder what could be added to make the choices more meaningful. My initial reaction is to offer more choices; perhaps allowing the player to interrupt one activity to fulfill another. Or, adding more depth to each option: branching conversations, food choices that have consequences, sleep patterns that have consequences, etc. But, does adding these options merely pad more time on the game until you still reach the ultimate conclusion? Perhaps, but it might make the decent into helplessness more poignant since you feel like you have some control at the start rather than realizing the hopelessness early.
My thoughts,
--
Brian 'Psychochild' Green
http://www.psychochild.org/
I can't help but feel that
I can't help but feel that the game would have been vastly improved by making the bars decrease slower and increase faster. Certainly, the inevitable slide towards failure is a crucial part of the game, but it happened to me so rapidly since everything you do takes so long. It really doesn't feel like a struggle or a decline, just a near-immediate achievement of a failstate since from the beginning, it is clear that it is impossible for the player to even stave off defeat for a little while. I feel like if it was longer, there would be far more chance to connect with the character and be more affected by your inevitable loss. It doesn't feel tragic if it happens a minute into the game.
Agency in Home
Psychochild:
Home is a game with only one end-state: failure. It's true that the only actions you take stave off the inevitable, but couldn't you say the same thing of Tetris? Agency in games is something I've been interested in since playing Venbrux' Pazzon, where the lack of agency in regards to the story causes disquiet in the player. Home plays with the typical idea of agency in games by limiting your interaction to four verbs. By limiting the protagonist and then further removing his agency, increpare causes the feeling of helplessness I mentioned in the review. If you were simply watching a video of an old man in a hospice or read a short story about the subject you know you cannot do anything about it. To have this in a medium where you *can* do something, but at the end are unable to -- this is what causes the helplessness. I agree that games should strive for more player agency, but in cases like this less is more.