[IFComp] Keepsake
A side note about these reviews: Every time I play a new game, I make a transcript of it. (This is easy to do: just type "transcript" at the first prompt.) I'll be sending these transcripts to the authors of the games eventually, but possibly not until the end of the comp. If you're an author and you'd like your transcript sooner, leave me a comment here!
I'd also welcome comments from anyone else, even if I've never met you. No one I know IRL is playing these games, but I'd love to "talk" about them!
Keepsake is billed as "an interactive act of vengeance," but, as it turns out, the act of vengeance has occurred immediately before the beginning of the game - and thus is not interactive at all. When the game begins, you are standing over a dead body, "smoking gun in hand." Apparently the man at your feet has "loomed so large in your mind for so long," and finally you have rid yourself of him. You spend the game fleeing the scene of your crime, or so it seems, back to your apartment. Along the way, however, you encounter strange doubles, people with ghosts of themselves accompanying them. It's only in the epilogue that it becomes clear what this is all about.
This game had a really interesting premise. The idea of moving backward through time is an interesting one, and it could have created a strong emotional effect. The story it was implemented in, however, didn't produce much of an emotional response from me at all, and the gameplay itself was frustrating. I didn't understand that time was going in reverse, so I found it aggravating when my inability to perform an action was accompanied by explanations such as, "No... that particular cane belongs on the floor at this time..." or "No... that's not right..." Unless there's explicit amnesia or psychic ability or something, I am always frustrated when the player character is enigmatic towards the player.
Additionally, because I didn't know that I was acting backwards, it turned out that I was able to perform "good deeds" by doing the opposite of them - which seems like doing kind of jerky things at the time, and felt kind of weird.
The biggest issue I have with the game, though, is that the plot doesn't really feel resolved. I'm left feeling kind of "so what?" on several points, and just uniformed on others. In regards to the decision to do good deeds or not, Em Short puts it well: "What is revealed...? That the protagonist is capable of small acts of kindness alongside murder, yes, I suppose; but so is almost anyone, frankly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hitler had occasionally picked up a dropped article for a lady on a train, or Charles Manson now and then refrained from kicking a puppy. This is really not enough to form the basis of a story or a character sketch."
Lastly, too many questions are left unanswered. Whom did I kill? Why? What had he done to provoke my vengeance? And the namesake of the game, the keepsake medallion I wear around my neck as the only reminder of my former life - what does it mean, and what was that former life? I don't mind when a game or a novel doesn't spell everything out, but there's not enough here for me to feel connected. And when I'm told I've just committed a murder, I need to be pulled into that connection to relate to the character.
I felt ambivalent about this game, all in all, but it was an interesting concept and a very short play. I do keep thinking about it , a few days later, which does say something good. I think more could be done with the idea, but it's worth a look.
I'd also welcome comments from anyone else, even if I've never met you. No one I know IRL is playing these games, but I'd love to "talk" about them!
Keepsake is billed as "an interactive act of vengeance," but, as it turns out, the act of vengeance has occurred immediately before the beginning of the game - and thus is not interactive at all. When the game begins, you are standing over a dead body, "smoking gun in hand." Apparently the man at your feet has "loomed so large in your mind for so long," and finally you have rid yourself of him. You spend the game fleeing the scene of your crime, or so it seems, back to your apartment. Along the way, however, you encounter strange doubles, people with ghosts of themselves accompanying them. It's only in the epilogue that it becomes clear what this is all about.
This game had a really interesting premise. The idea of moving backward through time is an interesting one, and it could have created a strong emotional effect. The story it was implemented in, however, didn't produce much of an emotional response from me at all, and the gameplay itself was frustrating. I didn't understand that time was going in reverse, so I found it aggravating when my inability to perform an action was accompanied by explanations such as, "No... that particular cane belongs on the floor at this time..." or "No... that's not right..." Unless there's explicit amnesia or psychic ability or something, I am always frustrated when the player character is enigmatic towards the player.
Additionally, because I didn't know that I was acting backwards, it turned out that I was able to perform "good deeds" by doing the opposite of them - which seems like doing kind of jerky things at the time, and felt kind of weird.
The biggest issue I have with the game, though, is that the plot doesn't really feel resolved. I'm left feeling kind of "so what?" on several points, and just uniformed on others. In regards to the decision to do good deeds or not, Em Short puts it well: "What is revealed...? That the protagonist is capable of small acts of kindness alongside murder, yes, I suppose; but so is almost anyone, frankly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hitler had occasionally picked up a dropped article for a lady on a train, or Charles Manson now and then refrained from kicking a puppy. This is really not enough to form the basis of a story or a character sketch."
Lastly, too many questions are left unanswered. Whom did I kill? Why? What had he done to provoke my vengeance? And the namesake of the game, the keepsake medallion I wear around my neck as the only reminder of my former life - what does it mean, and what was that former life? I don't mind when a game or a novel doesn't spell everything out, but there's not enough here for me to feel connected. And when I'm told I've just committed a murder, I need to be pulled into that connection to relate to the character.
I felt ambivalent about this game, all in all, but it was an interesting concept and a very short play. I do keep thinking about it , a few days later, which does say something good. I think more could be done with the idea, but it's worth a look.