What We’re Playing is a twice-a-month series from the Center for Games & Impact Innovation Lab highlighting some of the interesting games we have played, whether work-related or not. Please join in and comment with your takes on the games mentioned, or to share what you’ve recently played that has left an impression on you. Check out our last post here.
In this edition of What We’re Playing – setting the mood for Halloween! It should be no surprise that a group of gamers is excited for Halloween at the end of the month. When I checked in with the team to see what they were playing since the beginning of October, it turned out most of us were playing games that somehow turned up the creep factor, whether in large or small ways. As usual, click the game image to jump right to its section, otherwise scroll down to read our quick takes on Limbo, Papa Sangre, and Don’t Starve.
Limbo: Disturbing… Dark… Beautiful
Kelly Tran, Graduate Student Fellow
Learn more about Limbo: http://playdead.com/
I recently revisited the game Limbo, and found that it is still as haunting as ever. Although it may appear whimsical at first glance, the game has a pervading eeriness that makes it exceptionally creepy. The player assumes the role of a young boy who is traveling through.. a dream? The afterlife? It is up to the player’s imagination to fill in most of the details of the story. The game’s palette is a moody greyscale, and everything is shown in silhouette. The player never sees anything in the game in color or detail.
This makes it even creepier when the looming shadow of a giant spider emerges from a tree to impale the young boy, or an unseen bear trap in the tall grass ensnares him. The death animations here are brutal, and the player is sure to see them many times throughout the course of the game. However, despite the violent and often disturbing nature of this game, there is an undeniable beauty to it as well. The animations are fluid and elegant, and the world itself is rendered in a softly hazy way, reminiscent of a dream. Were it not for the multitude of dangers that the player faces, the game’s setting would seem almost serene. While Limbo is a very dark game, its uniquely haunting atmosphere makes it well worth playing.
Papa Sangre: Seeing with your ears
Juli James, Coordinator, Sr.
Learn more about Papa Sangre: http://www.papasangre.com/
Papa Sangre is an audio-driven horror game that I played on my iPhone. It was really interesting experience because it was the first time I played a game where I had to “see with my ears.” As a horror experience, Papa Sangre offers intense sounds that made the hair on my neck stand straight up. The story is that I am dead, trapped in the afterlife and I have to navigate a series of rooms to save my love and escape together. As an interesting game play experience, Papa Sangre is played with headphones the entire experience is sound – to get through a room I had to move using the top of the iPhone screen to turn toward or away from sounds, and by tapping alternately on the bottom of the screen to simulate walking. In each room there was a sleeping (snoring, snarling) monster that you must navigate around (WITHOUT WAKING), a light to pick up (a chiming sound that gets louder as you approach), and a door to exit (a beeping sound). If you wake the monster by walking too close to it or bumping into something, it would chase you and eat you while you shriek in terror and pain.
I enjoy mobile gaming and different gaming experiences, I came across this title while reading a piece on gaming accessibility and was not disappointed by the mechanics of having to navigate by sounds – which is a pretty interesting experience. It helps to close your eyes to play this game. If you are looking for a different kind of mobile experience full of creep factor and immersion where sound is not just the atmosphere but also the mechanic – I highly recommend checking out Papa Sangre. The sequel, Papa Sangre II, will be released at the end of the month and I am looking forward to playing it, perhaps right on Halloween!
Don’t Starve: Creepy Minecraft on steroids
Sam Robison, Innovation Lab Intern
Learn more about Don’t Starve: http://www.dontstarvegame.com/
I started playing Don’t Starve after scrolling around to find something to play on the Center’s PS4. Don’t Starve caught my eye and I decided to play it.
The game starts out with an creepy cartoonish animation. Your character, Wilson, is in his attic trying to ‘do science’ (and is failing). Then, his radio starts talking to him and claims to have the secret of knowledge and offers to share it with him. Wilson graciously accepts the offer and builds a machine that causes a set of shadowy hands to appear from the floor and drag him into a new world.Once Wilson is in the new world a figure appears and says something like, “You don’t look too good. Find food before night falls.”
At that point, I was then sent loose without any explanation of what to do next. I began to think of the game as a creepy version of Minecraft on steroids. The gameplay consists of exploring the world, dealing with monsters, managing hunger, maintaining sanity, and collecting supplies. The only goal of the game is to stay alive as long as possible. Unlike Minecraft, once you die you cannot respawn, but you can but you can play again and again, and try to get better.
What are you playing?
What are you playing that’s making the hair on the back of your next stand-up? Share your favorite Halloween plays with us in the comments!
What We’re Playing is a twice-a-month series from the Center for Games & Impact Innovation Lab highlighting some of the interesting games we have played, whether work-related or not. Please join in and comment with your takes on the games mentioned, or to share what you’ve recently played that has left an impression on you. Check out our last post on Destiny here.
This week members of our team experimented with music and rhythm, had a hand at keeping up with changing policies and managing immigration documentation, and one of us lead his sons through a journey controlling two brothers… Click on the game image to jump right to its write up, or just scroll down.
Moving to the pulse
Adam Ingram-Goble, Director of Innovations
Pulse is a music and rhythm game available on iPad and Android tablets that I find I just have to keep playing. It is a mechanically simple music game, based on tapping nodes orbiting a central “speaker” as pulses of sound radiate out to the edges of the screen. The combination of music with pacing of pulses and the distribution of orbiting nodes creates an experience that engages my whole body as I play. I find myself grooving in my chair, or getting up and dancing with the rhythm to keep my hands moving to the music…which feels a bit amazing given that I’m playing on an iPad.
Pulse is one of my favorite games to introduce non-gamers to gaming because it simple to learn, and has a well-designed challenge ramp that keeps players engaged. One of the most fascinating aspects to the game is how strongly embodied gameplay is, given it is a tablet game. The musical experience is stronger than I’ve experience with Kinect-based dance games, which is really saying something.
More papers, please
Victoria Janacek, Innovation Lab Intern
When I heard of Papers, Please I assumed I would be playing either as some office worker (do not ask me about that logic) or a as an American police officer forced to stop anyone who was not white. Instead I found myself in the midst of the communist country of Artstotzka who had just ended a war and was intent on creating a border patrol area. And I got picked in their October Labor Lottery. Well lucky me! I would sure love to become the border control for a country due to my name being picked from a jar.
Nevertheless, Papers, Please is a game that should be boring. It should be, but it is not. I am not sure how creator Lucas Pope knew how to make checking passports interesting, but he did so with perfection. As the game progresses, nothing really becomes monotonous. In the first level only passports are required to pass the border checkpoint, however only Artstotzkans can be let in. But then in the second stage foreigners are allowed in provided they have the right information. As each level progresses a new mechanic is added to the mix. If the picture does not match the person you can get their fingerprints. If their documents are forged, you can detain them. In the case of terrorists… well I do not want to spoil too much of it now do I?
Brothers playing Brothers
Lee McIlroy, Researcher Specialist
My two boys and I recently played through Brothers, a unique puzzle game where a single player controls both brothers simultaneously. The story is rich with compelling narrative and beautiful artwork that carries the player through an epic journey.
The game’s narrative positions the two brothers as entirely dependent on each other in order to succeed. As a father, our collaboration on the game offered a meaningful opportunity – a teachable moment if you will – to my boys about the value of family, the importance that brothers have in each other’s life and how the choices they make together impact the world they engage with.
Each of us took turns trying to solve the various problems we encountered in the game. What was powerful was my boys’ ability to take turns, learn in the moment, and listen to each other to problem-solve together, which, as any parent knows well, isn’t always easy for siblings to do. As a father, I noticed my own inclination to step in and offer help too quickly. But, the game afforded me a lesson about the value of patience allowing my children to fail safely. For us, Brothers became a shared family activity rather than simply a game that we played.
What did you play this week? Let us know your thoughts on these games or share your different plays with us in the comments.