So tonight was artsy night for me. Thirty flight of loving first. Laughably short, except for the fact that when you reach the end of the game you don't really laugh. And Blender games are not exactly cheap as chips to IIRC, so, yeah, a little jelly. But then again there are some really brilliant creative elements to the game. And like Dear Esther before it, I think it is a game that you enjoy more when reading about it afterward than when actually playing. The dev commentary was, err, short too, but quite fascinating to me.
Can't fuckin' rate it /10
And then, not knowing what to play, I tried Gone Home. And while I can totally understand that someone might find the game uninteresting, I was blown away. You basically spend your time looking into people lives, and yes, there is no denying it is boring if you don't immerse yourself in the game. I'm sure some people might even play it and not feel a thing, it depends on so many things. Mood, what you wait for in a video game, etc...
But when you are in tune with it, what a ride.
Good writing, human and likeable characters, the game is made entirely of the small miracles and miseries of life. Add to it a so touching and relatively subtle main plot... there is magic in there, I suprised myself heart racing, hoping for the best outcome when reading a simple document ! The alarming state a simple color in a room made me in before I found its wonderfully mundane explanation... Stunning, while I imagine that the game is not for everybody, that play session made me realize how much gaming is still a young medium. So much to try ! And the narrative possibilities...
One thing is for sure, The Monk, this is THE game for you (and me and a lot of people I hope). You will immerse yourself in the game and there will be feels, many feels. And the beauty of it is that I don't know what feels. The experience is like a dialogue between the player and the game / his memories. I didn't know I could feel my heart moved by a simple lone collar or by the way we used to label our vhs back in the day.
That's quite simple, I always said I wanted to lvl 5/foil only the games that I felt were important to me, and if the game doesn't missfire halfway it will be one of the rare I choose. I'm even contemplating firing an email to the dev as a thank you note. This is precious work.
You go girl ! I'm with team Sam /10