There are many reasons as to why someone would play a videogame. It can be that they’re playing to relax, maybe they’re just playing to pass time, but there are also people that play games professionally. An example of this would be Gaming youtubers and tournament players. No matter what the reason is, one thing that they all share in common is that videogames are a form of entertainment that is fun for everyone. Videogames come in different forms or genres. Examples of such genres would be shooting games, Puzzle games, MOBAS, or the hot new fad, Battle Royale. Battle Royale games are everywhere now and can be played on most devices like PC’s, consoles, and also for mobile or smartphones. Most teenagers in the Philippines are currently addicted to Fortnite and a mobile game called “Rules of Survival”. The appeal of Battle Royale games such as ROS and Fortnite is the thrill of surviving in a progressively shrinking map while doing their best to survive from other players until they are the one ones left standing, it’s basically a King of the hill game. These games can be fun and all, but there is a problem with sticking to only a few games and it’s that people are missing out on the art form that is videogames. Videogames have so much more to them than shooting and tactics, it is another place where passionate people can come together and convey their passion into a digital print. They can tell a heartfelt story that no other platform is capable of accomplishing. A great example of such games is The Last of us, God of war (2018), Red dead redemption 2, and many more. Rather than just showing us the struggles of the characters like it would in a movie, the players are instead thrown into the scenario as the characters and have to struggle and make decisions for the characters as they try their best to keep them from their demise. Even if stories aren’t your thing, videogames are also a test of skill where you can keep improving and honing your skills rather than a stagnant gap of MOBAS and Battle Royale’s where there will come a point where you would have learnt everything. Games like Dark souls, Cuphead, Celeste, and many more are games where one continually improves their skill. And lastly, the final thing that people seem to always forget about videogames, is the love and vision that their developers has put into them. While there are companies out there that make videogames just because they make a lot of money, there are a lot of indie developers who devote their talents to create a product that they can be proud of and that others would enjoy as well.
Indie Games
Indie games are the heart and soul of the gaming industry, where you’d find that most expensive AAA games are mainly done as a live service to cash in and get money except for a select few. Indie games are where you’ll find the passion and love that developers have put into making it. I’m not saying that all indie games are amazing but a lot of them are. One shining example is perhaps my favorite game that I’ve played last year and that game is Celeste.
This game is absolutely amazing, from the colorful pixel art and wonderful art style of the game, to the heartwarming, touching story and magnificent central theme that drives the story and gameplay to the awe-inspiring soundtrack done by the talented Lena Raine. The story of Celeste is about a girl named Madeline who is suffering from deep personal issues, that I will not spoil, who wants to climb to the summit of Celeste Mountain, the story is barebones and simple but it gets really personal and deep as you play throughout the game.
Another fantastic part of this game is the gameplay, in most games the gameplay is often disconnected to the overall themes and plot of the story because it is mainly just there to act as a passage for you to travel from point a to point b. I’m not saying it’s terrible as some amazing games have this kind of gameplay like the Uncharted Series or the Mass Effect games. In Celeste, the gameplay weaves itself into the motivations of the character, you need to climb the mountain and to do that you need to play and it is absolutely brutal. This game is hard and you will die a lot and I mean a lot, but with all your failures you can learn from them and get better and as you continue to play the game, all the frustrations you get from the mistakes you make, the doubt you have as you struggle in a level and eventually the sigh of relief and extreme satisfaction as you finally beat the level all connect to what Madeline is feeling. Her doubt, uncertainty and the drive to climb to the top is interconnected with you and that feeling gets stronger as you play the game and that makes Celeste truly stand out.
The soundtrack is heartfelt and personal, successfully representing and conveying the feeling of loneliness, doubt, uncertainty but gives a strong sense of hope that screams “You can do this!” which really helps you connect with Madeline. I urge you to listen to the soundtrack, particularly “First Steps”, “Resurrections” and “Reach for the Summit”.
More Indies
As much as I’d love to ramble on about Celeste, I’d like to talk about another amazing indie game which was only made by 4 people and that game is called Hollow Knight. Hollow knight is a Metroidvania type of game; Metroidvania being a subgenre where it is a 2D platformer based around exploration and character progression. The word Metroidvania came from the two games that started it all “Metroid” from the video game series Metroid and “vania” from the Castlevania series. As a huge Metroid fan, Zero Mission being my definitive Metroid game, I have to say Hollow Knight takes this subgenre to a whole new level. This game easily raises the bar for metroidvania games which is a high and mighty accomplishment if I do say so myself. This game is rich with beautiful and colorful insect-like characters, the magnificent hand-drawn characters and environment all contribute to create an immersive and lore-rich world. The music absolutely fantastic, the action is tense and rewards a more aggressive play-style rather than a typical slow and methodical approach you’d find in normal metroidvania games and as a guy who plays a lot of metroidvania games, this works really well and I actually prefer this kind of gameplay. Even the new 2D Metroid game, Samus Returns, took this change of pace in the gameplay by adding a counterattack feature which encourages and allows you to be more aggressive towards enemies. Indie games are absolutely amazing and while I can’t talk about all them, I can however, recommend you some other really good ones to play. Take a dive and try some of these games out: Bastion, Gorogoa, A Hat in Time, Machinarium, Gris.
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