Off the Beaten Path: Virginia

Welcome to Off The Beaten Path, where we present reviews of non-AAA gaming titles and discuss issues pertinent to women in gaming.

I’ve been waiting for the release of Virginia for a while now, ever since Variable State released the first screenshots promising an interactive Twin Peaks. What I ended up getting was not quite what I expected — fitting, given the game’s spiritual parentage. Still, I can safely say that I enjoyed my time with it.

Virginia is set in Kingdom, VA in the 90s over the course of a single week. The game follows two FBI agents – both women of color – as they conduct an investigation into the disappearance of a boy. Except this isn’t the only thing that’s going on, or even possibly not what actually is going on. Befitting its Lynchian origins, the game has a surreal, oneiric atmosphere, and the satisfaction it provides is more emotional and aesthetic one, rather than intellectual.

I’m not deliberately trying to be vague about the plot, but any detail I provide risks providing unwanted spoilers. Especially since it’s a short game that can be finished within 3 to 4 hours. It’s an interactive film in more ways than one: each scene is available from the start, mimicking a DVD of a movie. And it’s structure is much closer to cinematic, similarly to a different game from 2012, Thirty Flights of Loving by Brendon Chung.

Chung is probably a pioneer of using cinematic cutaways, creating the closest a game can come to being a movie. Usually in a game the player has to traverse every location from start to finish, but Thirty Flights of Loving does away with it by making its scenes long enough to convey its point (a chase sequence, for instance) and cutting away to the next one. Virginia is similar, except instead of creating an interactive version of an Adult Swim cartoon, it creates an actual movie. The cuts also actually emphasize the oddness of its atmosphere, as this isn’t something games generally do, moving to a different location without the player’s conscious choice.

But the cinematic experience comes with its flaws. Aside from movement, the game only allowed mode of interaction is clicking a mouse button (or tapping a controller button), when prompted. This leads to a recurring issue of not quite knowing when the game lets you do something, and when it takes control from you. There are also many occasions when it locks your point of view, allowing very limited camera movements. Sometimes you can turn it in 360 degrees; other times it locks you to 180; and on other occasions you can’t look up.

Still, even with those imperfections it’s a game I enjoyed my time with. It’s definitely not a title for everyone, more so than usual. But even if you don’t enjoy it, it’s still an amazing, unforgettable experience.

Virginia was created by Variable State, and published by 505 Games. It’s available on Steam. There’s a free demo to see if you're interested in purchase.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy demisexual lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.

Off the Beaten Path: The Town of Light

Welcome to Off The Beaten Path, where we present reviews of non-AAA gaming titles and discuss issues pertinent to women in gaming.

The Town of Light is not a horror game, at least not a conventional one. There are no chase sequences, where you escape from monsters; no sequences of sneaking around, trying to avoid the line of sight of creatures from the realms beyond our understanding; no fight for survival against terrifying beings. But rest assured, this game has its share of demons.

The problem of most horror stories (video games especially) set in psychiatric hospitals is the often inevitably demonization of that setting’s patients. The mentally ill are treated as freakish monstrosities, shambling around without rhyme or reason, attacking the protagonist/player when they least expect it — more zombies than humans. The Town of Light does away with it by turning the tables, and instead of presenting the asylum patients in a terrifying light, it sheds some of it at people running it.

Set in the real life, long defunct Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra, the game tells a story of one of its former patients, Renée, as she explores the long abandoned institution and her memories of her stay there, during Mussolini’s fascist regime. Her story is a composite of a number of real female patients, allowing the developer LKA to take us into every part of the asylum amd showcase its horror. Because there are demons in Volterra — demons of cruelty, abuse and imprisonment. The game presents the institution’s history without sugarcoating it, and the effect is terrifying.

And angering, though not as you play. That comes in retrospect, after each session. That’s due to following Renée’s personal unwillingness, or in fact inability to feel anger; she’s so broken by all this, so tired of it, that she’s not even sure she has a right to be angry. That’s also the attitude the game show. It presents the history of Volterra’s abuse in its ugly "glory," allowing us to make up our own mind of how we feel about it.

All this introspection takes place in faithful recreation of the hospital itself. It’s actually astounding how perfectly the ruins have remade in Unity. And you’ll visit almost every part of it, as you’ll dig deeper into Volterra’s history. The recreation is so perfect, in fact, it can be hard to tell where are you and where you need to go as most real life places don’t exactly have a logical internal geography.

This can also make it occasionally hard to tell what exactly do you need to do progress. Because you’re uncovering the secret of a real life place, instead of puzzles your challenges are of a more exploratory nature. Unlocking different parts of Volterra requires you to wander around the institution, looking for that one door that’s now open. And even when you know what to do and get to the right place, it can be pretty unclear what you need to do to progress. At one point I had to go visit Renée’s room in one of the wards, now open, but upon reaching I was stumped and had no idea what to do, and the game didn’t provide any usable clues. I finally found out (spoilers) that I had to close all window shutters.

But this isn’t a great flaw, and it certainly doesn’t detract from the game. The Town of Light is an important title, documenting how we as a society have a tendency to abuse and lock away the sick and those who we deem disturbing. As Renée says early on, "When you are mad, you are invisible." The game works hard and with care to take away that invisibility. There were and are too many places like Volterra. And that is the real horror.

The Town of Light was made by LKA and is available on Steam.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy demisexual lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.

Off The Beaten Path: Kathy Rain Is Your Fix While Waiting For Jessica Jones S2

Welcome to Off The Beaten Path, where we present reviews of non-AAA gaming titles and discuss issues pertinent to women in gaming.

Yes, I’m reviewing another point-and-click adventure game: I have to admit, it’s a favorite genre of mine. But don’t worry—Kathy Rain is very different from Goetia. For one, it is a pixelated game very reminiscent of the year it is set in (1995). The nostalgia factor is strong here, as Kathy navigates the realm of phone books, Windows 95, and a world without Google.

The titular character is a snarky journalist student with a troubled past. She arrives at her dorm room to be informed by her roommate that the newspaper has reported the death of Joseph Rain, her grandfather. Kathy was fond of her grandparents growing up, but after her father took off, her mother took Kathy away to the “city” and never allowed them to have any contact. Kathy decides to go to the funeral, where she reunites with her grandmother, and learns her grandfather died after a mysterious accident. She decides to look into it, and sets off on an investigation that leads her down the rabbit hole.

At first I was not a fan of the voice acting, but I warmed up to it quickly. Kathy particularly expresses snark in such a way that made me laugh out loud a few times. If you are a fan of Jessica Jones, this is a game for you. The puzzles all have logical answers—not once did I get frustrated or consulted a walkthrough. That doesn't mean they were all easy, just that if I got stumped, I needed to shift gears and try to think about it another way. The game does hold your hand a bit, but not in a way that feels insulting, just convenient. Kathy will take notes and draw diagrams, and explain some of the logic behind the puzzle as you go along. Even if you stumble on the answer, you will still understand why it worked.

Once Kathy uncovers more and more of the mystery, it becomes apparent that there are occult forces at play. Fans of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father might feel there are some similarities in how both Kathy and Gabriel think they’re investigating strange occurrences that must have a logical explanation, only to find family secrets, cults, and conspiracies. Hints of this are peppered throughout the beginning of the game, so players shouldn't feel suddenly thrown into the weird, though some aspects are jarring. For example, there is a plot point that involves abortion; it is hinted at early in the game, only to be thrown at the player quite suddenly at the very end. The player then decides how Kathy feels about it; she can think it’s wrong, sad, or perfectly okay. It felt very unnecessary, and just there to include a controversial issue without having to frame it as good or bad and alienate the player; the emotional pay-off wasn't there, and instead felt cheap.

The sleepy town of Conwell Springs is filled with strange characters; I enjoyed the friendship between Kathy and her roommate Eileen; Eileen is a very religious girl, who keeps her side of the room prim and proper, whereas Kathy is the complete opposite: a mess in every way. But the two are steadfast friends who sometimes butt heads, and have each other’s back. There is no competitiveness, no catty behavior, just the power of friendship with sarcastic cracks.

I enjoyed the game and would recommend it. It took me about five hours to finish, and I’m likely to replay it sometime in the future, when I will have forgotten most of the solutions. Kathy Rain is available on Steam, GOG, and Humble Bundle for $14.99. It was published by Raw Fury and developed by Clifftop Games.

Megan “Spooky” Crittenden is a secluded writer who occasionally ventures from her home to give aid to traveling adventurers.

Off The Beaten Path: Goetia

Welcome to Off The Beaten Path, where we present reviews of non-AAA gaming titles and discuss issues pertinent to women in gaming.

Do you miss the days where point and click adventure games ruled the PC world of gaming? I certainly do, so I was quick to nab Goetia, a new game developed by Sushee and published by Square Enix. The player acts as Abigail Blackwood, the ghost of a teenage girl who suddenly rises from the grave decades after her death. The family manor and surrounding town are abandoned, at least by the living. However Abigail is not alone, the demons that haunt the house reveal themselves and plead for their release, a deal she will have to take to find out what happened to her family.

The backgrounds are beautiful and atmospheric. Blackwood Manor is creepy, and I enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny. The soundtrack is mostly a haunting piano medley that sets the mood as you explore. There are five major areas: Oakmarsh (the town), the manor, a labyrinth, a chapel, and an underground cavern. On Steam the game boasts of 90 different rooms, but it doesn’t quite feel as expansive as that. The rooms may be beautiful, but there may be only a detail or two to click on in a given space. That isn’t to say the game feels small, but it doesn’t feel huge and expansive either. For example, Oakmarsh is limited to just a few houses, and the puzzles there are some of the simplest the game has to offer, so I didn’t spend much time there.

Speaking of the puzzles, many of them are difficult, and a few are downright aggravating. I’ve had to consult a walkthrough more than once, and I never thought “Oh, duh, I should have seen that.” when I saw the solution. There is at least one puzzle where you will need a pen and paper to work out, and while I had patience for that kind of work back in the days of Myst and Riven it just feels tedious now. That isn’t to strike marks from Goetia, just fair warning: this is not an easy game. My only other complaint about the mechanics is that you do not have an inventory; Abigail can possess objects and move them around, but only one at a time. I’ve lost objects this way and had to search the house for them when I needed them again or figured out what they were for. Eventually I just left objects where I found them until I knew what to do with them.

The story is intriguing at first. You discover that you have awoken during World War 2, and that German airplanes have been bombing Oakmarsh. This is why the townsfolk have fled and abandoned their homes, but your family doesn’t seem to have followed them. Abigail remembers that the Blackwood family has a history of studying the occult. Abigail’s father, Abraham, specifically focused on demon summoning, a magic tradition known as Goetia. I only have a passing familiarity with the practice, but as presented in game it does feel authentic and well researched. Creative liberties were taken with the practice to produce fantastical level design, such as the labyrinth created by photographs you can jump into.

Quickly Abigail discovers that her sister Annie has bound demons within the house, but neither Annie or her sons can be found anywhere. Various notes left around the house paint a picture of a family divided; two of Annie’s sons work with her to achieve her goals, while one son, Alexander, actively works to stop her and runs away.

I was eager to find out what happened, but I personally found the revelation to be a let down. I can understand objectively why Annie would do what she did, but it felt like such an extreme measure that it failed to resonate emotionally with me. The war might have made her afraid, but it is implied that she had been working on her experiments for quite some time and is driven by a desire for immortality rather than fear of a German invasion. In the end it just felt like a generic Faustian morality tale rather than a unique story of personal horror.

If you enjoy challenging puzzles and Victorian horror, Goetia is the game for you. You can download the demo here, and the full game is available for purchase on Steam for 14.99.

Megan “Spooky” Crittenden is a secluded writer who occasionally ventures from her home to give aid to traveling adventurers.