When Walking Simulators are not much more than that: Where the Heart Leads
Here we go again, I had planned to publish a mega project I'm working on for the community today but it still lacks some details so it's time to make a new review of some of the short games I have in my library parked, but very soon I will be giving more information about this initiative I have planned.
If you have been in my post for a while you will have noticed that I love video games with a dedicated narrative that makes me immerse myself completely in their world, there are so many stories that can be told interactively that it seems unfair how little this factor is exploited especially in the biggest works, but if there is a place where the narrative takes a special importance (if not ALL the importance in many games) is in Indie developments, games with very little economic margin to offer a traditional experience or that by choice decide to explore the narrative side of the videogame, very few playable mechanics and bet everything on the narrative and its story to attract the player, it is in this category where I think Where the Heart Leads enters with a premise that invites us to think about the choices we have made in the past and give the possibility to change them.
This is not new, several video games have explored before the idea of choices and how these have consequences, Telltale comes to mind with its multiple stories or any RPG game that puts us in the mind of some character that we must decide daily but Where the Heart Leads is a different kind of game of this style, starting because it has many similarities with the walking simulators that we already know and that limits it A LOT as a game, the story is on point and it is interesting to see where it takes us but when the other elements of the game (such as graphics or gameplay) suffer, it is unlikely that I can enjoy it to the fullest, that I think is the simplest way to describe the game, it has interesting points but either by its character of independent game or by its impossibility does not raise.
In the game we are Whit Anderson, a simple family man who lives day to day that one night after trying to save the family pet that had fallen into a water well is involved in a new dimension that will make him relive his memories and allow him to change them, this is the central arc of the game in which we will wander from memory to memory understanding Whit's decisions and helping him find a way out of that place in the middle of a surreal scenario that I would have liked to be a little more polished, the idea is great at the plot level but I insist that if there is no minimum level in terms of the rest the only good thing that has the game suffers enough, the story is interesting to keep us on the edge of the seat and constantly asking questions and if you have no problem with mediocre character modeling or a lack of inspiration in some levels will not be a problem for you.
The important thing is that we go into the memories of the father of the family ranging from his teenage years through his college years and his current life as a parent, most levels present us with a considerable amount of dialogue as well as internal monologues about Whit's perspective on his life, at certain points we can choose to change some of the decisions in Whit's life but they hardly work, many of them feel like they have very little weight in the story and that our decisions are second hand to please the players, but that only leaves us with history and the personal journey of our protagonist and this is where I ask the question, was it really worth the journey?
You see, Where the Heart Leads is a calm video game, without many moments of tension and very little interesting gameplay but you know that some of my favorite games are exactly like that, the problem is that those other games stand out in other attributes such as the story, their characters, the level of connection that their developers generate with the player, and in Where the Heart Leads that is largely missing, the story as we advance and "make decisions" we realize that there are many inconsistencies along the way or that the plot was not as interesting as expected, the characters are flat and even the protagonist himself has this problem, the approach is there, the idea is interesting but I think that at the production level they have not carried it out in a way that transmits it.
So where does that leave the game? As an experiment that has lacked perhaps a bigger budget and a better direction, the bet of not having a defined and deep gameplay may have also played against this development, indie games have this turn, some can mean a pleasant and novel experience while other games like Where the Hearts Leads remain in mere pretensions of good ideas, that still does not discourage me when it comes to play and experience them for myself.
