Welcome the second and final part of this look at game that focus on story while avoiding words. In the first post, I talked about Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This time, I'm going to speak about Journey and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Again, since these are story-driven games, I encourage you to go play them before reading further. I'll be talking about every part of the story with no regard for spoilers. Consider yourself warned!
As I did in my last post, I'll break these games down into beginning, middle, and end. Of course, these are just loose categories to help me sort my thoughts. I don't think either of the games are so clearly divided.
I think that Journey is especially hard for me to breakdown into specific sections. It is a great example of a smooth narrative told through gameplay. I'll do my best here, but there are several different levels that almost stand apart as their own little narratives in the game.
Here is a video of the beginning of the game. It's even more sparse an opening than Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. thatgamecompany relies very heavily on sound and image. But, the title and the opening shots still give you a clear idea of the purpose of the game.
I think that Journey is especially hard for me to breakdown into specific sections. It is a great example of a smooth narrative told through gameplay. I'll do my best here, but there are several different levels that almost stand apart as their own little narratives in the game.
Here is a video of the beginning of the game. It's even more sparse an opening than Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. thatgamecompany relies very heavily on sound and image. But, the title and the opening shots still give you a clear idea of the purpose of the game.
That shot of the mountain, with the spire of light coming out, is basically your big glowing "go here" sign. The rest of the game is driving towards that. You are able to mess around and explore the levels, there is no pressure, but the end goal is always clear. Then, as you pass that establishing shot and move into the first area, you go through a field of tombstones. It's foreshadowing the danger and difficulty ahead, but subtly enough that the beginning of the game still feels quite carefree.
You'll spend the majority of the game enjoying the sights and sounds while exploring. And, hopefully, you'll be doing that alongside an anonymous partner. That is one of the most clever things about Journey: you are matched up with another player online, but you're not given their name or any way to properly communicate. All you are able to do is set off a series of chime-like emotes to signal that you're there, or that you want them to come to where you are. When you're close to your partner, your scarf will glow as if being replenished. I wish I could link to a video that conveys what it is like, but I don't think there is one single video. It's a very unique experience to discover this with another player. You can usually tell if you're with someone that has already learned the limited form of communication, or if you're watching someone pick it up for the first time. It was really intriguing for me. If you managed to play through Journey without coming across someone, I highly recommend you go back and play it online.
Again, like the exploration, you are free to engage or ignore your partner as much as you like. If you move on ahead or lag behind, you'll eventually be matched up with another partner.
All of this; the exploration, the sensory pleasure, the temporary but still impactful meetings with strangers; is building into the story of Journey. And, just as the name implies, it isn't about where you're going. The heart of the story is the experience of getting there and the bonds you form.
Later in the game, there are dangers that you must avoid. In one level, huge monsters of cloth swim through the air. They attack if you're caught out in the open, and though there is only a minor consequence (losing length off your scarf), it feels like a scary encounter. This, like most of the game, is amplified when you see your partner get attacked. Maybe you've been figuring out puzzles together for several levels, and now you see your friend struck down by one of these things. Or maybe you've just stumbled into a new partner, and them getting knocked flying is the first thing you see of them. Either way, it makes the already foreboding atmosphere even more threatening. The game was built around how journeys feel when you share them, not just when you take them on your own.
The end of the game is a difficult slog up that mountain that was glimpsed from the beginning. The freedom of floating about wide-open ruins or racing down a sandy slope is completely gone. Now, the journey is grueling; you are pushed back by wind. You come to a final slope, and as you push up it, you begin to freeze.
When I first did it, I was with a partner I had played with for several levels. I was hoping to see the end of the game with them. But as my scarf became frozen and the glow became weak, I started to worry. I tried to "boost" my partner by using the same command that had worked throughout the game. But now, it was a weak little pulse instead of the normally bright effect. The game ended with me hoping that if I didn't make it up, my "friend" would. Then, it fades to white.
And then you're greeted with this:
You'll spend the majority of the game enjoying the sights and sounds while exploring. And, hopefully, you'll be doing that alongside an anonymous partner. That is one of the most clever things about Journey: you are matched up with another player online, but you're not given their name or any way to properly communicate. All you are able to do is set off a series of chime-like emotes to signal that you're there, or that you want them to come to where you are. When you're close to your partner, your scarf will glow as if being replenished. I wish I could link to a video that conveys what it is like, but I don't think there is one single video. It's a very unique experience to discover this with another player. You can usually tell if you're with someone that has already learned the limited form of communication, or if you're watching someone pick it up for the first time. It was really intriguing for me. If you managed to play through Journey without coming across someone, I highly recommend you go back and play it online.
Again, like the exploration, you are free to engage or ignore your partner as much as you like. If you move on ahead or lag behind, you'll eventually be matched up with another partner.
All of this; the exploration, the sensory pleasure, the temporary but still impactful meetings with strangers; is building into the story of Journey. And, just as the name implies, it isn't about where you're going. The heart of the story is the experience of getting there and the bonds you form.
Later in the game, there are dangers that you must avoid. In one level, huge monsters of cloth swim through the air. They attack if you're caught out in the open, and though there is only a minor consequence (losing length off your scarf), it feels like a scary encounter. This, like most of the game, is amplified when you see your partner get attacked. Maybe you've been figuring out puzzles together for several levels, and now you see your friend struck down by one of these things. Or maybe you've just stumbled into a new partner, and them getting knocked flying is the first thing you see of them. Either way, it makes the already foreboding atmosphere even more threatening. The game was built around how journeys feel when you share them, not just when you take them on your own.
The end of the game is a difficult slog up that mountain that was glimpsed from the beginning. The freedom of floating about wide-open ruins or racing down a sandy slope is completely gone. Now, the journey is grueling; you are pushed back by wind. You come to a final slope, and as you push up it, you begin to freeze.
When I first did it, I was with a partner I had played with for several levels. I was hoping to see the end of the game with them. But as my scarf became frozen and the glow became weak, I started to worry. I tried to "boost" my partner by using the same command that had worked throughout the game. But now, it was a weak little pulse instead of the normally bright effect. The game ended with me hoping that if I didn't make it up, my "friend" would. Then, it fades to white.
And then you're greeted with this:
Just like we saw in Ico and SotC, the epilogue serves as an incredibly positive counter-point to rather negative endings. And also like those games, these ones don't seem to take place entirely in the "real" world. Journey's heaven-like final level gives even more freedom than the player had in the early parts of the game. They're able to not just float, but really fly. It feels so good as a player just coming out of the freezing death of the end of the game. But it's missing that key ingredient; it's missing your partner. I think this level is solo so that you realize that as fun as it is, it isn't what matters. It was the things you shared with someone else that had impact.
The game has, in essence, a looping narrative. You finish this epilogue level, and are brought back to the beginning. A reincarnation so that you can do the journey again. And the second time you walk through that field of tombstones, you definitly understand what they mean.
The game has, in essence, a looping narrative. You finish this epilogue level, and are brought back to the beginning. A reincarnation so that you can do the journey again. And the second time you walk through that field of tombstones, you definitly understand what they mean.
On to Brothers. This is the game I played most recently, and so its impact is still fresh. The game uses no real language, aside from instructions. Several of the characters speak a kind gibberish, so you do understand their emotions, but there aren't any words to get the story across.
That doesn't seem to hinder the designers in any way though. The game opens with a cinematic of the younger brother (just called Little Brother) unable to save his mother from drowning while out on a boat. Shortly after, we're introduced to his father and Older Brother. The father has gotten very ill, and so the brothers must carry him to a kind of healer further into the village.
At this point, the player has to deal with the bizarre but brilliant control scheme. The right analog stick and right trigger control one brother, and the left stick and trigger control the other. So, even though this is a single player game, it feels a little bit like a co-op all the way through. Certainly, you feel the connection grow between the two brothers as you navigate them and solve puzzles in which they have to work together.
In fact, the beginning of the game sets up some important concepts based on this. The little brother can be boosted up by the big brother and can fit in small spaces. The big brother can pull large levers and do other heavy lifting tasks. But most importantly, the little brother is terrified of water, and he'll only get in if he can hitch a ride on his big brother. To do this, you need to hold the action buttons for both brothers and move them through the water.
After going to the healer and learning that the only hope for your father lies with a magical tree in a faraway place (again, all through image and sound), you walk the brothers through the village. These village scenes are excellent in that they help draw you into the medieval/fairy-tale world, while also showing that the brothers are individuals. There are several places where you can use either brother for an action, and the game shows how they are different. This is one of my favourite examples.
Once they're out of the village, the game's tone shifts gradually. The dangers that the brothers face become real, and they encounter some very dark scenes. There is a scene in which Little Brother is knocked unconscious and he relives his shame at not being able to save his mother. There is a battlefield covered in the corpses of giants. There is a man that tries to hang himself because his family died in a fire. All through this, there is still a sense of adventure--sometimes even humour. But those points become less and less and frequent until you meet the girl.
That doesn't seem to hinder the designers in any way though. The game opens with a cinematic of the younger brother (just called Little Brother) unable to save his mother from drowning while out on a boat. Shortly after, we're introduced to his father and Older Brother. The father has gotten very ill, and so the brothers must carry him to a kind of healer further into the village.
At this point, the player has to deal with the bizarre but brilliant control scheme. The right analog stick and right trigger control one brother, and the left stick and trigger control the other. So, even though this is a single player game, it feels a little bit like a co-op all the way through. Certainly, you feel the connection grow between the two brothers as you navigate them and solve puzzles in which they have to work together.
In fact, the beginning of the game sets up some important concepts based on this. The little brother can be boosted up by the big brother and can fit in small spaces. The big brother can pull large levers and do other heavy lifting tasks. But most importantly, the little brother is terrified of water, and he'll only get in if he can hitch a ride on his big brother. To do this, you need to hold the action buttons for both brothers and move them through the water.
After going to the healer and learning that the only hope for your father lies with a magical tree in a faraway place (again, all through image and sound), you walk the brothers through the village. These village scenes are excellent in that they help draw you into the medieval/fairy-tale world, while also showing that the brothers are individuals. There are several places where you can use either brother for an action, and the game shows how they are different. This is one of my favourite examples.
Once they're out of the village, the game's tone shifts gradually. The dangers that the brothers face become real, and they encounter some very dark scenes. There is a scene in which Little Brother is knocked unconscious and he relives his shame at not being able to save his mother. There is a battlefield covered in the corpses of giants. There is a man that tries to hang himself because his family died in a fire. All through this, there is still a sense of adventure--sometimes even humour. But those points become less and less and frequent until you meet the girl.
The shifts in tone in this final section of the game are really impressive. The goofy (if bloody) way in which you free the girl is a big change from the landscape of corpses you've just come through. Then, she's helpful, and flirtatious with Older Brother. All of this gives the game a bit of a more grounded dramatic feeling. You might think Oh, here's the part where the girl gets between the brothers and drives them apart. And you'd be right, sort of. The game is not only subverting the damsel in distress cliché, but also our expectations about the family drama. Because even though there is a little tension, the older brother isn't distracted from his quest. The real build-up here is to the reveal of the girl as a monstrous spider thing (probably a variation on the myth of the Jorogumo). And I really liked the way that they hint at her nature leading up to that moment. She's able to jump over a wall that neither brother could. She knows her way around the strange mystical world they're in. She seems stronger and faster than them, but somehow still needs their help to continue on. I imagine this is different for different players, but I found this to be just the right amount of foreshadowing. So, by the time I was being lured into a cave by her, I knew something was off, but I wasn't quite sure what her plan was.
This leads into the brutal ending of the game. Not only is the older brother killed by the girl, but the game even gives you false hope in the magical liquid retrieved from the tree. Those few moments after you pour the liquid into the older brother's mouth, waiting to see if you can really bring him back, are agonizing.
Then, you're given a quick montage of the little brother's journey back to the village, but there are still a few challenges left. It's in this final section, where you have to get back to the village proper through stormy waters, that the marriage of mechanics and story really shines. The scene looks almost exactly like the one in which the mother drowned, and Little Brother still can't swim (at least, that's how it seemed to me). Then, I realized that you could still hold both triggers, and he would struggle through. The older brother's trigger now allowed him to conquer his fear and return with the cure to his father. The game even vibrates the controller to add the feeling of resistance that Little Brother must feel. After the swimming, you pull a lever that before you couldn't have, and you jump up to a previously unreachable ledge. Each time, you use that hand that until now has controlled the older brother to help the little brother along. This nice little conceit ties in the cooperative feel of the game.
The epilogue to this game also features a bittersweet flyby of the locations that were seen on the journey, though this one isn't as removed from reality. The game, in fact, drives home the point by showing the little brother and the father in front of the family plot that now has two tombstones. Still, it seems that just like other designers, Starbreeze realized that a little relief is needed after playing such sombre endings.
That's it for this look at story games with no words. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I apologize that this one went up a week later than planned. I'd love to hear any comments you have, especially if you know of any other games that fall into this same kind of category.
This leads into the brutal ending of the game. Not only is the older brother killed by the girl, but the game even gives you false hope in the magical liquid retrieved from the tree. Those few moments after you pour the liquid into the older brother's mouth, waiting to see if you can really bring him back, are agonizing.
Then, you're given a quick montage of the little brother's journey back to the village, but there are still a few challenges left. It's in this final section, where you have to get back to the village proper through stormy waters, that the marriage of mechanics and story really shines. The scene looks almost exactly like the one in which the mother drowned, and Little Brother still can't swim (at least, that's how it seemed to me). Then, I realized that you could still hold both triggers, and he would struggle through. The older brother's trigger now allowed him to conquer his fear and return with the cure to his father. The game even vibrates the controller to add the feeling of resistance that Little Brother must feel. After the swimming, you pull a lever that before you couldn't have, and you jump up to a previously unreachable ledge. Each time, you use that hand that until now has controlled the older brother to help the little brother along. This nice little conceit ties in the cooperative feel of the game.
The epilogue to this game also features a bittersweet flyby of the locations that were seen on the journey, though this one isn't as removed from reality. The game, in fact, drives home the point by showing the little brother and the father in front of the family plot that now has two tombstones. Still, it seems that just like other designers, Starbreeze realized that a little relief is needed after playing such sombre endings.
That's it for this look at story games with no words. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I apologize that this one went up a week later than planned. I'd love to hear any comments you have, especially if you know of any other games that fall into this same kind of category.
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