What does it mean to seek escapism? To look closer into something that holds a deeper meaning, truths about things yet to be unravelled. That's one thing to take a gander at, also, cool puzzles, twisting the fabric of reality, exploring philosophy, and a nice Aussie lady to talk to.
Hey, it's The Witness, if it wasn't overtly challenging and sleep inducing. Viewfinder kind of comes I guess after the Superliminal popularity, it's one of those that when playing, finds ways to subvert expectations, by not trying too hard, and just creating a subdued experience of wanderlust within worlds of worlds.
It's also short. And I kind of wish it did more than be a proof of concept too. But am sure if I got into it, then this game works for me. It doesn't completely disappoint right to the end, yet left wanting more out of it.
In the beginning, there was me, a fancy cabin full of cushion, books, a gramophone, and nice décor. Outside that is some mountains, clouds, pink, white and blue colour, and what leads me next to is a garden with a gazebo in the middle, only a few pathways taking it. But the one I took broke.
So the wooden path broken and me below, I was simple instructed to rewind the time and take another pathway into the gazebo. When I got back, I simply grabbed a picture and with the instructions on the screen, I grab a picture, sort of rotate, fiddled around some more, and soon as I right clicked, there was another dimension added on the level itself. A pathway to the next level
Jessie, my Aussie lady companion on the comms is sort of the accompanied narration for what I do or suppose to do or what's going on. I also like her bubbly personality, she's quite the charm. But continuing after the first level, I was taken to an open wide tower with another photo on a canvas.
Did the same thing before, and that took to another level. The added area from the photo is black and white just like the last photo, but this time, I couldn't access it without finding an item needed, like a battery. The puzzle begins in contorting the reality of the area around me by integrating these portions of space.
I have to diagonally position the photo in the correct way, before moving on to retrieve the battery from there as well. Was kind of hoping the slanted level where the teleporter is wouldn't let it slip, but no all was good. So I got in to the next one.
I really did started to like the view from how the levels are made later on, of course, this isn't a cutting edge looking title. But at its simplicity, from an architectural standpoint, it really looks pretty neat. Like helps to immerse into the game's syncopated world. But the puzzles get trickier, the world gets stranger, and the looming answers about life, and the things we're surrounded with, becomes ever more illuminating. To a certain extent, of course.
Jessie continues to be with me through all all these intriguing discoveries, and surveying. She's also growing on me, like the best kind of company I could ask for, even made a Frankenstein joke that was overcooked. But she's still charming to hear from.
Of course, her charm might also tell at one point where one of my placements destroyed the teleporter so I had to redo that again. At one point I tried getting up a floor using an angled placement, took me several tries and this is where the puzzles also got challenging. Also, this cat doesn't look right, it's like his lower body is some elongated spring.
On my next level, the cat shows up and I was just about to reach him, but Jessie's communication kept cutting out and the experiment within seemed to be glitching, revealing that it's all projected images created from a lab, and that am in a bleak future. That really breaks the immersion.
I go back, things get even more fancier and trickier. I get introduced to a photocopy machine, that I can use to replicate the photos, though only for limited use. Next one I explored a level with photos within levels. Taking me to sketch art areas, hyper realistic art, art that looks like doodles, sort of this meta perception that I haven't figured if it adds any deep meaning yet, but ah, I did like it though.
And using the photocopier, I went as far as trying to print out desaturated copies of multiple photos. Thinking that they could lead me to fancy places, or I would have need for it to be, but no, I just have to use the right photo copy and get the battery from there.
There are variations of puzzles, like finding levers, enabling all the colour hues for a photo, and aligning the images separated by objects. It seems a bit gimmicky, least the last one sometimes gets tricky to solve. I started get the gist that this is a game that is about curiosity, and where it takes me.
After that realization, the cat finally opens up to me when I reach a point ending the chapter, and a trolley comes up. A cat named Cait speaks, of course he's revealed to be an A.I., he described how this reality exists as a way to change the world or find means as an escape from the real world.
A gramophone I played has documentation from a Japanese lady about the beauty of nature, life, and how ecosystems create various avenues to explore in. The theme of the game I guess was pondering about the mysteries of life, and how they are presented to us. It doesn't go full blown meta commentary, just the simple stuff presented a rather unique, intriguing way.
If someone told me this was a game about people creating simulacrums of what the real world would be, in a dystopian cyberpunk world, and finding answers in order to transcend past that, well that wouldn't be that interesting. Thing is this isn't that on a foreground of its storytelling. With a lot of the ocular experimentations here and there, and digestible content, this game makes it all seem worthwhile to figure out what existence is about.
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