I want to talk more Schrödinger’s Call (Acrobatic Chirimenjako), other indie games, and why certain ones hit me so hard. Here is my post for the A Quick Review of this game. I ended it by saying I had a feeling that I would have procrastinate before playing the third chapter, and that is the case so far. I mean, it’s only been one day, but still. I find my brain drifting to it over and over again, but then, my brain skitters off again.
I mentioned in the last post that I felt so many feelings as I was playing the game. At the end of the second chapter, Mary was so broken that I broke with her. I don’t know how many chapters the game is, but I have a feeling that I’m going to go through it more and more with each chapter. I will say that I’m a bit worried as to how they are going to end the game.
This is the area where I think there’s so much danger. Because there is usually not as much description in a video game as in a novel or maybe even a movie or TV show. So a game has to rely more on pure emotion*. I have seen a fair few indie games that were great until the last act, and then they completely fell apart.
Whether it’s that they didn’t have time to finish the game; they had an idea they couldn’t quite manifest; or their ending was, well, misguided, it can ruin an otherwise great game. Or at least bring it down a bit.
Back to Schrödinger’s Call. I just watched the launch trailer so I could include it in this post. And I broke once again. There is something about the game that just pierces any defense I can erect, and I can’t keep a shield up for the life of me.
I think it’s partly because I often feel like the world’s last Confidant. That’s my role in my family, and it’s something I tend to do with other people as well. I hear all the deep, painful secrets, and I’m the one to be compassionate and empathetic. I have unironically called myself my mother’s emotional support human, and she has just as unironically called me her therapist.
This game does have times when you have a choice as to what to say to the person on the other end of the line. I find myself fighting between saying what I really want to say and choosing the more palatable answer. Or rather, the one that will soothe their pain. The funny thing, though, is that they often react badly to the lie. Or rather, they know I’m lying. When I choose the harsh answer that is what I really feel inside, they are comforted.
Most of the time. Sometimes, they want the lie. Or at least to hear it. But then they want the truth. I find it endlessly fascinating to see my mind weasels playing out in a game. The dev has very neatly captured the circles my brain runs around in.
Back when Silk Song (Team Cherry) was being raved about, I read an article (I don’t remember where) about how there was another indie that was getting better reviews. The article was being cheeky because the game in question was a tiny indie called Schrödinger’s Call (with a cat face as the o in the first word, dev, Acrobatic Chirimenjako), and it had a small fraction of the reviews that Hollow Knight: Silksong had. Still. The reviews were impressive (I read them). Now, it has 89 on Metacritic and a 90 on OpenCritic whereas HKS has 90 and 91, respectively. And, to be completely honest, Schrödinger’s Call had about a quarter of the reviews that HKS had.
Still. Stellar reviews for both games.
Schrödinger’s Callhas a demo on Steam, which includes the whole first chapter. Because of the reviews and the little I read about the game (I tried not to read too much), I installed the demo, and I was immediately intrigued. Not by the art style which is not my taste at all (kind of penciled anime, if that makes sense. I’ll include the trailer below.
It’s moody and dripping in atmosphere. You play as Mary, an amnesiac who is the focus of the game after something cataclysmic happen. She/You turn out to be something called the world’s last Confidant. I won’t go into details as to what that means, and I’m going to try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. It’s really a game you want to go into with as little knowledge as possible. I can’t really talk about it without giving some light spoilers, but I’ll do my best to keep them at a minimum.
*SPOILERS*
Here’s my favorite part of the opening–there is a black cat named Hamlet. Well, he has a more formal name, but I’ll leave that up to you to find because it’s very clever. he’s snarky and crytic, but he’s the key to everything that’s happening. At least, I think he is. I’ve only played two chapters so far. And, like a real cat, Hamlet comes and goes as he pleases.
I’m rewatching the demo trailer to see what they say. Mary is the keeper of the phone. OK. The trailer tells you the basic premise. The moon falls to the earth. And it shows the phone a lot. Beyond that, Hamlet tells you a lot of things when you wake up from being unconscious. You don’t remember anything about your life, and as you’re sitting an a daze, he tells you that you’re the world’s last Confidant–meaning someone who listens to people who are stuck in their own thoughts and can’t free themselves enough to move on. I’ll tell you no more than that.
Wait, hold on. Is this yet another indie game that deals with death and dying, I hear you ask? That does seem to be my jam, doesn’t it? I would not call it cozy, but I am loath to say why. I mean, it’s mostly an interactive novel, though you do have to make choices.
Let’s talk about those choices. This is one place where I have conflicted feelings about it. Because the game has a deep meaning and it hits me right in the feels. But one of my small frustrations is that the game doesn’t let you choose the wrong answer to qustions that have multiple answers.
I mean, I get it. The game wants to you to go down a certain path. And they want your choices to mean something, but the choices don’t when if in the end, you are told to make another choice. Not in so many words, but the game won’t continue with the wrong choice you made. I get why they can’t map it out for both the answers, but then why give me the illusion that I’m actually making a choice?
Sticking to the gameplay for a minute–it’s pretty basic. You’re piecing together what happened to the person Mary’s talking to on the phone. They don’t have much memory, either, and the way to unlocking their memories is by empathizing with them. At least, that’s the way it’s been so far. I’ve only done the first two chapters because each chapter is meaty and heavy. Meaty as in there’s a lot to do in each one and heavy in that the themes are heartbreak and more heartbreak.
Oh! One thing I didn’t mention. The characters are animals, which seems to be my favorite way to have characters in a game. Three of my top five non-From games have animals as characters (Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall); Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games); and Cozy Grove (Spry Fox). I don’t know what it says about me that I’m more able to relate to animals than humans, but I’m fine with whatever it may be.
I mentioned earlier that the art style is not my favorite, but I have to say that except for the main character, I do like how the characters are drawn (especially Hamlet). What can I say? I like my cats black, round, sassy, and mysterious. Mary is impatient when Hamlet disappears suddenly, but that’s a cat for you. They come and go as they please, and that’s what I love about them.
I like that each episode/chapter is a mystery of sorts. Because the person I’m talking to on the phone is stuck, I have to free them. That means delving into their past and figuring out what is making them stuck. Along the way, I will get a few other people to talk to, and I can usally help them find peace as well.
This game is so coded for me. Talking about death and tugging at my heartstrings. Making me the one who has to help people move on. But first, I must listen to their woes and help them recover their memories.
As I said, it’s a heavy game. It’s already broken my heart more than once. I have been gripped with despair, pain, and compassion. I have teared up, and I have wanted desperately to comfort people/animals who aren’t even real. The end of the second chapter completely broke me. I’m not going to talk about it, obviously, but I felt everything Mary was saying. So deeply in my heart. I felt the pain that she felt. I wanted to cry out with her, and I finished the chapter in a daze.
I have to say that I can only play one chapter at a time. I played the demo several weeks ago (I think?), and immediately bought the game. Then, I kept wanting to play it, but my heart and brain weren’t in the right place to do it.
I feel like I’ll do the same thing for the third chapter. As much as I want to keep going, I have a feeling I’ll need a break before I tackle the next chapter.