Saturday 22 September, 2018

Ok. So, I have beaten the game. A lot of my confusion about the inclusion of this game has been clarified. I was waiting for narrative splitting point. I was waiting for some point where I would say “oh what do I do? What’s the right decision?” To my knowledge, that never happened.
I have gone back and re played virtually every part of the game, trying to find a point where the narrative would branch, or where I could do something different. I was looking to take a different path. I tried to not eat at multiple intervals when the little girl was hungry, because the game gives a sense of anxiety to those moments. Despite that, there is no alternative. Nothing else around to eat, and not alternate events if you don’t eat, not even dying.
I checked for all of these things multiple times. I think this speaks to my inherent assumption that the question of ethical play is tied to player choice. So, I am going to set that aside for what is in this game the more pertinent, and frankly much more interesting morally compromising narrative.
The narrative was written, and is unchangeable, and I think that is totally fine. It was done without words or really much in the way even of instruction. In the beginning of the game the player’s goals are completely aligned with the little girl (apparently she is called ‘six’). For the rest of the game it stays primarily that way. By the end though, she starts getting bolder, going for goals the player might not. She even eats the little gnome people trying to help you. Of course, there was no other choice. At this point I certainly felt guilty, but it became clear that it wasn’t my story, it was hers. It’s about a child becoming more and more ravenous. Not a hero. When she reaches the end of the game and she fends off the matriarch, six grows hungry. You have to kill her. You have to eat her. It becomes evident that there is an element of cyclical storytelling. You rise from the bottom, but at what cost? You become your enemy. You commit the oppressive sins that she had before you. I wouldn’t say that six is a hero. Not by the end. She is not ethically in the right. She has been reduced to a power hungry animal, more than a child. She is driven by survival, not ethics.
I think it’s wonderful. I think that’s it’s not necessarily a new story, but it was a novel portrayal, and te end product was something I’ve never seen in a game. There is no question to me that the story can and should be told. The art should exist in all its forms. Without stories that push little boundaries like this one, I think that the world of entertainment and art would be all the lesser for it.
I have no problem with the subversion of expectations the player has with their protagonist, and if there is any argument against any of this game’s design decisions I would love for someone to show them to me, because I see none.
I loved this game. (and am buying the DLC.)

Great work Lex! I’m glad you enjoyed the game so much and that admiration of the game came out in your reflection as well. There were a few moments in particular that caught my eye in your reflection: one was the quote “She is not ethically in the right. She has been reduced to a power hungry animal, more than a child. She is driven by survival, not ethics.” This statement has an interesting commentary on how a game’s player character is interpreted (a hero or someone fighting for survival) as well as what drives someone’s actions when in desperate times. This quote in your gamelog has a lot of interesting places to explore.
Another moment that stood out to me is when you wrote, “I checked for all of these things multiple times. I think this speaks to my inherent assumption that the question of ethical play is tied to player choice.” While you wrote that you would set this aside I do think this is something interesting to think about. Is it ethically problematic to ask the player to do something potentially immoral if there isn’t an alternative to doing that thing? There’s lots of great stuff here to expand on further with your OPA.