Don't Look Back

[Renegade_Turner]

Has anyone played Don't Look Back?

The ending to this game is positively chilling. It send a shiver down my spine when I reached the ending. It's amazing how he creates a game with such emotion, considering he does it in 2D and uses 4 colours.

[Armored Wolf]

Do you have a Kongregate account? I didn't think you were the type.

[Blorx]

I LOVE THAT GAME! I beat it in the first time I played. I was determined, lol. However, I didn't realize why it was called Don't Look Back until the end of it. xD

[Ragdollmaster]

The 'storyline', if you can call it that, seems really familiar I can't put my finger on it but I know I've heard/read about something similar before (guy goes to hell/underworld to get girl and he can't look back etc)

Oh well. I love the graphical style, though, it reminded me of How To Raise A Dragon and The Majesty Of Colors- is this the same developer?

[Endoperez]

Great idea about the gimmick, and nice way to tie the myth into gameplay like that. Not a bad game, although not that long either. It reminds me of the "You only live once" game.

[Blorx]

The 'storyline', if you can call it that, seems really familiar I can't put my finger on it but I know I've heard/read about something similar before (guy goes to hell/underworld to get girl and he can't look back etc)

It's a play on the old Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

[Ragdollmaster]

^In that case I must have read it in this big compilation of myths I got a while ago; now that you mention it, the two are really similar. But I'm pretty sure Orpheus didn't have a gun

[nerodx]

I played that game a few months back, that ending was definitely peculiar.I was pretty amazed how emotional it got.

[Renegade_Turner]

Do you have a Kongregate account? I didn't think you were the type.

Why not?

Not a bad game, although not that long either.

Yes, that was one of the main criticisms of the game. Too short, too easy.

However, I think the idea of only having to repeat the screen you died on. It takes away having to play through pieces of the game you've already completed ad nauseam, which is only the illusion of a challenge rather than a legitimate challenge.

I played that game a few months back, that ending was definitely peculiar.I was pretty amazed how emotional it got.

Yeah, the point of the ending, according to Terry Kavanagh, is that the whole game was a fantasy and never actually happened. Every step you took in the game was the man playing over what he wishes he could do in his head again and again.

The players of the game, if they realise this meaning, are left with the cold hard fact that the wife is dead and is not coming back, and any fantasies you may have of bringing back a dead loved one are futile and destructive. The title of the game pleads with the player to not look back should any similar fate befall them, to let go of the shackles of the past and make sure to remember while not letting yourself be held back by something you can't change.

At least, that's what I took from the game. Very seldom has a game affected me emotionally, especially not enough to send a chill down my very spine. This alone is worth all the cheap thrills that a game with a bunch of high-definition explosions can give you.

[Uberbeard]

I got the very same emotional response when I was playing Army of Two. I realized that there was no point dwelling on how bad a game it was, I was never getting back the time I spent on it, or the friendship I sacrificed by asking my housemate to join me. I proceeded to play Fallout 3 for the next hour.

Games can really make you think!

[Ragdollmaster]

This alone is worth all the cheap thrills that a game with a bunch of high-definition explosions can give you.

I think you're generalizing a bit much there, Andypants. While it's true that today's generation of games are basically one mediocre first-person shooter after another, there are some hard-hitting story-based games out there. Take for instance Guns Of The Patriots. Right at the beginning of the game, everything looks pretty bleak- the protagonist is rapidly aging and might be dead within a year, his physical and mental strengths breaking down. What starts as a seemingly futile battle against heavily trained mercenaries turns into despair when mid-way through the game, your only source of encouragement and support, rebels and militia, are rendered useless. Everything seems to be lost. Even gameplay-wise, near the beginning, actually attacking anyone was more or less suicide regardless of the difficulty setting; you'd get ripped to pieces with nothing but your 'popgun', as one rebel put it, to defend you from a horde of genetically and mechanically enhanced troops backed by autonomous helicopters, tanks, and mechas with legs powerful enough to rip a house off its foundation. Everything from your paralyzing seizures to the fact that you have to crawl through a giant microwave oven screams depression. Most of Metal Gear Solid 4 seems to be a walk towards death, an interactive tragedy; whatever you do, you can't prevent it. Snake, who had once seemed an indestructible, titan-destroying one-man-army, is nothing more than a grizzled veteran who ends up in helpless positions more than once throughout the game. Hell, if it hadn't been for Johnny having diarrhea every now and then for comic relief, I think I would have been genuinely depressed near the end of the game. Even the happy-ish ending, with everything coming out almost perfect, didn't do much to dull how painful it had been to actually finish the game- speaking from the character's perspective, of course, but it had been a fairly emotional journey for the player, too.

But enough of sucking Konami/Kojima's cock: You make a good point. This is more emotional and hits harder than most modernized, high-tech games, even though the gameplay and graphics would make you think it was made in the 80's. The author really relied on a simple but deep concept that everyone can relate to instead of 'cheap thrills', as you put it.

[Renegade_Turner]

Take for instance Guns Of The Patriots.

I don't think that one of the most stereotype-filled hammy-plot game franchises I've ever seen was the best example to make your point there, sunshine. =]

Metal Gear Solid's host of games, despite holding a place in my heart as one of the best game series of all time, has never been one to draw up any amount of emotion from me. Especially in MGS2 when that whiney bitch kept nagging and peeing her pants. She was just obnoxious, so I was only too happy when that silly drag queen of a "vampire" actually finished her off and shut her up.

My god they came up with some annoying characters! Good game though, as long as Snake kicked everyones' asses.

I got the very same emotional response when I was playing Army of Two. I realized that there was no point dwelling on how bad a game it was, I was never getting back the time I spent on it, or the friendship I sacrificed by asking my housemate to join me. I proceeded to play Fallout 3 for the next hour.

Games can really make you think!

I can't tell whether or not you're making fun of me, so I'm going to pat you conspiratorially on the back and say "I'm sorry, that must have been a difficult time for you..."

[Zhukov]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus#Death_of_Eurydice

As good a source of inspiration as any I suppose.

Can't say I particularly liked the game though.

[Renegade_Turner]

His new game VVVVVV seems like it's supposed to be pretty nifty.

ARGH THE FRUSTRATION.

[Blorx]

His new game VVVVVV seems like it's supposed to be pretty nifty.

ARGH THE FRUSTRATION.

Ironic...that doesn't seem to show any sort of emotion but frustration.