I read a relatively positive review of the game The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories, and I bought it from Steam during the Christmas sale. The gameplay mechanics looked interesting. The review did have a few vague mentions about something perhaps related to identity politics, but it was so much in passing that I didn't really pay all that much attention to it.
I suppose this post technically speaking contains a few spoilers about the game, but I don't really care.
The very first thing the game does is to greet you with a screen that says: "This game was made with the belief that nobody is wrong for being what they are."
Hmm... ok. Nothing too suspicious yet. I suppose this could mean anything. Maybe the game is about werewolves or vampires or something, and that sentiment is referring to that?
The game begins with a cutscene of two women, who are clearly in a romantic relationship, traveling to an island. Hmm... ok. I suppose there's nothing wrong with this either. I can accept some hot lesbian undertones. And if the romance is well-written... well... why not. Although I already start getting the feeling that this wasn't done for titillation. But anyway, maybe the game will turn out to be enjoyable.
The game itself is quite interesting in terms of its gameplay mechanics. It's a 2D platformer (with 3D graphics) that's similar to games like Inside and Limbo. And like them, it contains very graphic and visceral violence, sometimes to almost grotesque extents. Unlike those other games, the visceral maiming of the playable character is actually part of gameplay and necessary to solve many puzzles, which is an interesting twist on that formula. Perhaps a bit morbid (ok, sometimes a lot morbid), but quite interesting. It doesn't help that the playable character screams in agony every time. It's almost sadistic.
However, there's an odd aspect to the game that doesn't seem to fit either the setting, the narrative, the tone, nor the gameplay: Every now and then the gameplay is interrupted by text chats that you can read on the character's cellphone. (Well, not "interrupted" per se, as reading these is not mandatory, but you do get a notification every time there's new chatter in the phone.)
What's odd about this? Well, the fact that the chatter going on on the phone (with the playable character chatting with several people over the phone) has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the game. It's completely unrelated. The playable character is just chatting with random people, even her girlfriend (who went missing at the beginning of the game), about random things, and there isn't even a hint of anything that's actually happening in the game. She chatters with friends, and a college professor, about school projects, with her mother, and so on. None of the chatter has anything to do with the story otherwise happening in the game.
One could perhaps think that maybe these are some kind of flashbacks? Maybe, but doesn't feel so. Perhaps this could also be a hint that what's actually happening on screen isn't real, but a metaphor for something else (like the struggles of this person in real life, shown in a very metaphorical and extremely exaggerated manner). Perhaps.
None of the chatter has anything special about it. However, suddenly, one particular piece of chatter appears to swing the whole thing into a rather particular direction:
I immediately thought to myself: "Oh, come on. Did they really have to go in this direction? And the game was being so enjoyable so far. I don't need this kind of identity politics and preaching in my video games. I'm sick of it online."
Well, it was just one conversation. Maybe it wouldn't turn worse?
What happened next, pretty soon after that, is that I got completely stuck at one part of the game, because I just couldn't find a solution to a puzzle. I don't usually like to look for solutions online, but in this situation I was seriously so stuck that I had no choice but to look at hints online.
I stumbled across a random forum thread where they were discussing this game... and it immediately rung alarms in my head because of the clear social-justicery tone of the thread. People were praising the game for bringing up these "issues", and they praised the ending reveal. The mentioned ending reveal was in that forum hidden behind a "spoilers" button, which you have to click to see. I normally absolutely hate and detest getting spoiled, but the tone of the thread made me convinced that I might not really like what this twist ending is.
Well, it turns out that the main character is revealed at the end to be a "trans woman". The tone in which the people at that forum talked about it made me think that this reveal was rather preachy and on-the-nose social-justicey. It just kind of hit home when someone commented in that thread that the biggest horror in the game was the text chat with the mother.
This all reeked so social justice preaching to me that I completely lost the will to continue playing the game. I suppose I could continue playing the game, but I just detest this kind of preaching in my games, I don't want it.
This is not a question of the main playable character being transsexual. A work of fiction can be made really well with such a character, in such a manner that it really makes sense, it serves a purpose, and supports the plot. For example, the movie Predestination is an absolutely awesome example of this (and I highly recommend it.)
However, in this case the preaching was so ham-fisted that it left a really bad taste in my mouth. I just couldn't continue the game. Which was a pity, really, because the gameplay was otherwise interesting.
Since according to Steam I played the game for 112 minutes, which is just under 2 hours, I requested a refund of the game. My request was denied, allegedly because I have played it for more than 2 hours. I made an appeal to this decision, but as of writing this they have yet to respond.
I really hate good games being marred by ham-fisted identity politics and preaching. When I play a game I want to escape all that, not have it shoved down my throat.
I suppose it's a bit unfair to claim that the game itself made me stop playing it. It was actually that forum thread that did it. It was so full of social justice signaling that it made me hate the game just by itself. Perhaps, in the end, the game isn't really that bad on that front, but that forum thread really hammered it in that this is a game with a social justice message. Maybe I will never find out.
Update: The issue was solved with Steam Support, and I got the game refunded.
I suppose this post technically speaking contains a few spoilers about the game, but I don't really care.
The very first thing the game does is to greet you with a screen that says: "This game was made with the belief that nobody is wrong for being what they are."
Hmm... ok. Nothing too suspicious yet. I suppose this could mean anything. Maybe the game is about werewolves or vampires or something, and that sentiment is referring to that?
The game begins with a cutscene of two women, who are clearly in a romantic relationship, traveling to an island. Hmm... ok. I suppose there's nothing wrong with this either. I can accept some hot lesbian undertones. And if the romance is well-written... well... why not. Although I already start getting the feeling that this wasn't done for titillation. But anyway, maybe the game will turn out to be enjoyable.
The game itself is quite interesting in terms of its gameplay mechanics. It's a 2D platformer (with 3D graphics) that's similar to games like Inside and Limbo. And like them, it contains very graphic and visceral violence, sometimes to almost grotesque extents. Unlike those other games, the visceral maiming of the playable character is actually part of gameplay and necessary to solve many puzzles, which is an interesting twist on that formula. Perhaps a bit morbid (ok, sometimes a lot morbid), but quite interesting. It doesn't help that the playable character screams in agony every time. It's almost sadistic.
However, there's an odd aspect to the game that doesn't seem to fit either the setting, the narrative, the tone, nor the gameplay: Every now and then the gameplay is interrupted by text chats that you can read on the character's cellphone. (Well, not "interrupted" per se, as reading these is not mandatory, but you do get a notification every time there's new chatter in the phone.)
What's odd about this? Well, the fact that the chatter going on on the phone (with the playable character chatting with several people over the phone) has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the game. It's completely unrelated. The playable character is just chatting with random people, even her girlfriend (who went missing at the beginning of the game), about random things, and there isn't even a hint of anything that's actually happening in the game. She chatters with friends, and a college professor, about school projects, with her mother, and so on. None of the chatter has anything to do with the story otherwise happening in the game.
One could perhaps think that maybe these are some kind of flashbacks? Maybe, but doesn't feel so. Perhaps this could also be a hint that what's actually happening on screen isn't real, but a metaphor for something else (like the struggles of this person in real life, shown in a very metaphorical and extremely exaggerated manner). Perhaps.
None of the chatter has anything special about it. However, suddenly, one particular piece of chatter appears to swing the whole thing into a rather particular direction:
I immediately thought to myself: "Oh, come on. Did they really have to go in this direction? And the game was being so enjoyable so far. I don't need this kind of identity politics and preaching in my video games. I'm sick of it online."
Well, it was just one conversation. Maybe it wouldn't turn worse?
What happened next, pretty soon after that, is that I got completely stuck at one part of the game, because I just couldn't find a solution to a puzzle. I don't usually like to look for solutions online, but in this situation I was seriously so stuck that I had no choice but to look at hints online.
I stumbled across a random forum thread where they were discussing this game... and it immediately rung alarms in my head because of the clear social-justicery tone of the thread. People were praising the game for bringing up these "issues", and they praised the ending reveal. The mentioned ending reveal was in that forum hidden behind a "spoilers" button, which you have to click to see. I normally absolutely hate and detest getting spoiled, but the tone of the thread made me convinced that I might not really like what this twist ending is.
Well, it turns out that the main character is revealed at the end to be a "trans woman". The tone in which the people at that forum talked about it made me think that this reveal was rather preachy and on-the-nose social-justicey. It just kind of hit home when someone commented in that thread that the biggest horror in the game was the text chat with the mother.
This all reeked so social justice preaching to me that I completely lost the will to continue playing the game. I suppose I could continue playing the game, but I just detest this kind of preaching in my games, I don't want it.
This is not a question of the main playable character being transsexual. A work of fiction can be made really well with such a character, in such a manner that it really makes sense, it serves a purpose, and supports the plot. For example, the movie Predestination is an absolutely awesome example of this (and I highly recommend it.)
However, in this case the preaching was so ham-fisted that it left a really bad taste in my mouth. I just couldn't continue the game. Which was a pity, really, because the gameplay was otherwise interesting.
Since according to Steam I played the game for 112 minutes, which is just under 2 hours, I requested a refund of the game. My request was denied, allegedly because I have played it for more than 2 hours. I made an appeal to this decision, but as of writing this they have yet to respond.
I really hate good games being marred by ham-fisted identity politics and preaching. When I play a game I want to escape all that, not have it shoved down my throat.
I suppose it's a bit unfair to claim that the game itself made me stop playing it. It was actually that forum thread that did it. It was so full of social justice signaling that it made me hate the game just by itself. Perhaps, in the end, the game isn't really that bad on that front, but that forum thread really hammered it in that this is a game with a social justice message. Maybe I will never find out.
Update: The issue was solved with Steam Support, and I got the game refunded.
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