My post yesterday was about the third chapter of Schrödinger’s Call (Acrobatic Chirimenjako) , a game that barring an absolute collapse/disaster in the final chapters, will most certainly be on my favorite games I played this year list at the end of the year. I don’t know why no one’s talking about it (I had written a whole thing about it being released at the same time as the highly-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong and having a similar score, but they weren’t released at the same time. Then I thought it was Mina the Hollower, but that’s not really the same time, either. I know I read an article about it because that’s why I looked up the game in the first place, but I can’t find the article) because it’s so damn good.
It really came and went with barely a ripple. The few reviews I could find (and caautiously skimmed the first few paragraphs) felt the same way about it tas I did. That it’s an emotionally affecting game that lies heavy on the heart. One even said that they had to take breaks while playing it, which is exactly where I’m at with it.
It’s interesting that my favorite game of the year may turn out to be one I can never play again. From the first moment I fired up the game until now (chapter three done, and a glimmer that I’m closing in on the end), I have played with a very heavy heart. I have not had this experience with a game before. Maybe a movie? I’m trying to think. Wait. Was there another game I felt this way about? I want to say there is, but I can’t think of one.
I’m torn between if they should have just made this a graphic novel (which it essentially is) or if they should have tried to make the gameplay more engaging. I think giving how the strength of the game is the story, I would have bene ok with no gameplay. That’s hard to say, though, because I don’t usually play graphic novel games, so I don’t know if I would have tried this out if it were that. Then again, I might have because the review I read for it was so intriguing.
I have a unique perspective when it comes to death because I’ve already expreineced it. It’s strange, though, because I don’t remember dying (twice!). And, yes, that still a amuses me so I’ll continue to write it this way (twice!). I don’t remember it, obviously, and it’s still wild to me that it actually happened. It makes me think differently about death, though. Or rather, I have a different relationship to it now.
I wouldn’t say I’m friends with it, but I would say that I know it better than most people do. I would also ay that I would rather not talk about it. But I do ponder it from time to time. Not as much these dayys as before, but still.
I love this game. I adore it with all my heart and soul. I wanted to state that upfront before I quickly add, I have such a rough time playing it. It’s nearly two months to the day I played chapter two, and I went in with a heavy heart. Not because I thought it was going to be bad, because I knew it would take a toll on me. In fact, Hamlet, the cute, round, and sarcastic black cat explicitly told me in the game that doing a certain action would cost me. It’s pretty clear that this game is trying to tackle some pretty hefty topics. Does it succeed? I’ll get to that later.
Let me get the frustrating parts out of the way firs. My biggest gripe with the game is the gameplay, ironically. The minor gripes: there is a lot of text to button through, and sometimes when I’m on automatic, I press the button one too many times. Fortunately, I haven’t missed anything too important, but it bugs me, anyway.
Two, it’s usually clear what the game wants from me, but occasionally, I don’t know which exact phrase they want me to input. There’s a lot of dialogue saved in my notebook, and the game can be pretty cryptic at times. I risked looking up the answer once when I got stumped and got a mild spoiler (I think?) and to add insult to injury, didn’t even get the answer I was looking for. I eventually figured it out, but I did not want that in my cozy game about death. Well, not so cozy, but definitely about death.
Oh, the third gripe is something I mentioned in the last post was that some of my choices don’t matter at all. The game wants me to go down a certain path, which I’m fine with! But then don’t allow me to choose and give me a stock answer if I make the wrong choice. I get why they do it, but it’s frustrating at the end of the day.
I mentioned that the game continues to break my heart, and chapter three completely broke me. I will not be talking about the chaarcters themselves because you really need to go into the game unspoiled.
I can talk about general themes, though. Despair, loneliness, grief, ousider-ness, and more. All the characters are broken in one way or the other, underlying the fact that no one is completely normal*. I’m in a dark place right now, and this game isn’t alleviating that feeling. On the other hand, it’s the perfect feeling to really sink into this game, so who knows if it was a wise choice or not?
I think I’m getting close to the end. I’m not sure, though, because I have studiously avoided anything related to the game. You really need to experience it as fresh as possible, and even when I read reviews before playing the game, I stopped the second they started spoiling even the smallest thing. Oh, and I read them after I played the demo (which was the first chapter), but before I played the second chapter.
It’s a weird sensation to play a game with my heart hurting the whole time. Going forward both dreading and eagerly anticipating what is going to happen. I really related to the main character of this chapter (the one I as Mary is trying to help move on/save). She said so many things that I felt in my heart, and I wanted to help her. But, the way to do that…well, I had a hard time with the method for saving her.
This game is very good at delving what it means to help someone. It’s nothing groundbreaking, really, but it’s done with such deftness and sensitivity. And it helps me clarify my own beliefs. This chapter harped on something that I don’t agree with, so initially, I was having a hard time getting past that. At some point, I just tried my best to go with it. That made it easier for me to go through the chapter, and I got drawn in as I went.
There’s a mystery to each chapter–what happened to this character in their life? How did they end up here? I think it was a good decision to make the game just seconds after the moon crashed into the earth and nanoseconds before everyone dies. This is all in the trailer to the game, by the way. And in the very beginning of the first chapter. This is not a surprise or a spoiler–it’s the very premise of the game.
You would think that with the world ending, the last moments of a person’s life or the last call they had would not matter. But it does–at least in this game. In fact, because the whole world is about to end, nothing is more important than figuring out your last moments. I don’t know where I stand on that. I don’t remember several days before I died, and I made my peace with it. But nothing important happneed during those days so I can easily shrug it off.
I’m surprised at just how easy it’s been for me to say, “Oh well” about missing several days of my life. I’m glad I can, though, because I can’t change it so it’s better that I’m not ruffled by it. I’m just surprised, though, because normally, I would endlessly fret about it.
No one is talking about this game. I’m not surprised by that, exactly, but it’s a shame. This is a game that is very niche and a difficult sell. It’s mostly a graphic novel about a very heavy and dark subject. It’s slow-paced and redolent with atmosphere. There is a lot of text to read through, and there is very little gameplay. It’s not a game for everyone, and I would hesitate to recommend it to just anyone.
For me, I am grateful to be playing it, but I have to be careful not to take in too much at once. If things keep going on as they have been, this will end up on my favorite games of the year list in December. As long as I’ve finished it by then.
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 Call has 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.