Written by Kris Galvez
Title: Old Man's Journey
Developer: Broken Rules
Publisher: Broken Rules
Price: $9.99
Genre: Puzzle
Also Available On: Android, iOS, Steam
“Life is too short.”, as the old saying goes. Depending on how you lived your life, the sum of your experience and age can determine whether the journey was all worth it.
The title itself for me evokes experience, wisdom or anything that you may equate with old age. An image that is also well associated with loss or death. So I'm not really sure what kind of game I will play with Broken Rule's The Old Man's Journey.
The Old Man's Journey was released last 2017 for mobile and got critical praise due to its art and story it tried to tell. It is a simple story of the titular old man living in an idyllic country side by the sea receives a letter from an unknown source, packs his bags and decides to go on a journey. I'm not sure how I can paint or describe his journey in this review as saying too much will definitely spoil a lot of the story. What I can say without spoiling anything is that the game is devoid of dialogue. The plot is told purely through visuals and sound.
During his odyssey through the country, the game is accompanied by a backdrop or setting evoking his feeling or memories during that time. The visual style evokes hand painted art with color palettes differing based on his emotions and experience. Each screen is filled with these gorgeous visuals that in a sum looks like a fine acrylic painting of a french country side. As the old man walks through hills in a sunny day or crossing mountains during a rainy night, the soundtrack accompanies him minimally. The music is a blend of having relaxing tunes reminding you of the country and having darker melodies signifying the darker moments of storms and loss. Minor ambient sounds such as the wind, the bells and sheep add to the immersion of the french country life that this game basically tries to portray.
Now that I've talked about its presentation, how does you as a player interact in this beautiful world? I'm not really sure as there is no tutorial when starting the game. Once the old man packs his bags you are left with pointing to a spot in the environment where he moves. Then you get to a point that he cannot advance further as there is no way around. Poking around will lead you to notice that you can move the terrain around by dragging them. Yes, this is the basic dynamic of the game. You move around the hills or mountains using your godlike powers to guide the old man to his destination. Though not a part of the narrative, I just thought of myself as mother nature moving the hills, animals and mountains to lead the titular protagonist to his final destination. No matter how poetic that sounds like, it is still pretty basic. There are simple environment puzzles that try to block your way but that is just how this game plays. A little thing that I liked is that you as some sort of spirit inhabiting the earth can also control how a ship moves, open doors, make birds fly, ring bells and manipulate water for a bit. This does not add anything to the game play but it at least allows you to feel that you have some control over the world the characters inhabit. At the end of each stage or backdrop you are given a beautiful hand drawn art depicting a point or memory of the old man's life. All of these lead to a simplistic game with a basic yet heartfelt story spanning around 1 and a half hours.
Since I had to play this on the Switch, I will discuss some of the features exclusive to this version of the game (even if I only found 2 of them). The big addition to the game is the variety of control setup you can use. I can play in portable mode with the Joy-cons attached using the analog to interact with the game world; I can remove the Joy-cons and play exclusively on the Switch's capacitive touch screen mimicking how a table works; I can also dock the Switch and control the game using one Joy-con's gyro basically mimicking a mouse in a point and click adventure. The other Switch exclusive feature is the Switch's HD Rumble. It's just a subtle vibration you can feel when interacting with the world. Given the beautiful backgrounds of each level looking almost like a hand painted masterpiece, it's not so bad playing this on a television. However, I loved playing this on the tablet mode as it controls and feels best that way.
In summary, The Old Man's Journey is a simple tale of an old man trying to go far and wide while getting to know his happiness, losses and sadness. It is a tale that has already been told hundreds of times. What elevates it from other similar stories is how you as a player get to be a spirit guide to a lost soul searching and recovering from his regrets. It is short but heartfelt. There is no replay value so for some people, the asking price may be too much especially since it has already been released on other platforms. But for those wanting a simple and relaxing game for their Switch they may download it on the e-shop. Just think of it as a short interactive movie.
Pros:
Cons:
Author's musings: I love it how artistic games like Gorogoa, OPUS and The Old Man's Journey are finding their home on the Switch. Keep them coming.
Developer: Broken Rules
Publisher: Broken Rules
Price: $9.99
Genre: Puzzle
Also Available On: Android, iOS, Steam
“Life is too short.”, as the old saying goes. Depending on how you lived your life, the sum of your experience and age can determine whether the journey was all worth it.
The title itself for me evokes experience, wisdom or anything that you may equate with old age. An image that is also well associated with loss or death. So I'm not really sure what kind of game I will play with Broken Rule's The Old Man's Journey.
The Old Man's Journey was released last 2017 for mobile and got critical praise due to its art and story it tried to tell. It is a simple story of the titular old man living in an idyllic country side by the sea receives a letter from an unknown source, packs his bags and decides to go on a journey. I'm not sure how I can paint or describe his journey in this review as saying too much will definitely spoil a lot of the story. What I can say without spoiling anything is that the game is devoid of dialogue. The plot is told purely through visuals and sound.
During his odyssey through the country, the game is accompanied by a backdrop or setting evoking his feeling or memories during that time. The visual style evokes hand painted art with color palettes differing based on his emotions and experience. Each screen is filled with these gorgeous visuals that in a sum looks like a fine acrylic painting of a french country side. As the old man walks through hills in a sunny day or crossing mountains during a rainy night, the soundtrack accompanies him minimally. The music is a blend of having relaxing tunes reminding you of the country and having darker melodies signifying the darker moments of storms and loss. Minor ambient sounds such as the wind, the bells and sheep add to the immersion of the french country life that this game basically tries to portray.
Now that I've talked about its presentation, how does you as a player interact in this beautiful world? I'm not really sure as there is no tutorial when starting the game. Once the old man packs his bags you are left with pointing to a spot in the environment where he moves. Then you get to a point that he cannot advance further as there is no way around. Poking around will lead you to notice that you can move the terrain around by dragging them. Yes, this is the basic dynamic of the game. You move around the hills or mountains using your godlike powers to guide the old man to his destination. Though not a part of the narrative, I just thought of myself as mother nature moving the hills, animals and mountains to lead the titular protagonist to his final destination. No matter how poetic that sounds like, it is still pretty basic. There are simple environment puzzles that try to block your way but that is just how this game plays. A little thing that I liked is that you as some sort of spirit inhabiting the earth can also control how a ship moves, open doors, make birds fly, ring bells and manipulate water for a bit. This does not add anything to the game play but it at least allows you to feel that you have some control over the world the characters inhabit. At the end of each stage or backdrop you are given a beautiful hand drawn art depicting a point or memory of the old man's life. All of these lead to a simplistic game with a basic yet heartfelt story spanning around 1 and a half hours.
Since I had to play this on the Switch, I will discuss some of the features exclusive to this version of the game (even if I only found 2 of them). The big addition to the game is the variety of control setup you can use. I can play in portable mode with the Joy-cons attached using the analog to interact with the game world; I can remove the Joy-cons and play exclusively on the Switch's capacitive touch screen mimicking how a table works; I can also dock the Switch and control the game using one Joy-con's gyro basically mimicking a mouse in a point and click adventure. The other Switch exclusive feature is the Switch's HD Rumble. It's just a subtle vibration you can feel when interacting with the world. Given the beautiful backgrounds of each level looking almost like a hand painted masterpiece, it's not so bad playing this on a television. However, I loved playing this on the tablet mode as it controls and feels best that way.
In summary, The Old Man's Journey is a simple tale of an old man trying to go far and wide while getting to know his happiness, losses and sadness. It is a tale that has already been told hundreds of times. What elevates it from other similar stories is how you as a player get to be a spirit guide to a lost soul searching and recovering from his regrets. It is short but heartfelt. There is no replay value so for some people, the asking price may be too much especially since it has already been released on other platforms. But for those wanting a simple and relaxing game for their Switch they may download it on the e-shop. Just think of it as a short interactive movie.
Pros:
- A short,endearing and heartfelt story packaged in a game that can be finished in one sitting.
- Visuals are breathtaking with each level looking like a hand painted page lifted from a great children's book.
Cons:
- Since the game is short and not replayable, the asking price may be too much for some.
- The simplistic game play is not for everybody.
Final Score: 7/10
Author's musings: I love it how artistic games like Gorogoa, OPUS and The Old Man's Journey are finding their home on the Switch. Keep them coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment