The Beginner's Guide

[Loony BoB]

Anyone else played this? I got it from the generous Pumpkin for Christmas and I have to say I found it to be right up there with the most emotional rides I've been on. I think it would be unfair to say more without spoiling too much as it evolves rather naturally in the game, but yeah, if you see it on special (I assume Steam has it on special on a regular basis like it does with most games) I suggest snapping it up and giving it a go. Definitely a different kind of "walking simulator" experience.

[Shauna]

It was an interesting thing. Definitely got me thinking for a long time after I was done.

Unfortunately it is one of those games that doesn't lend itself well to discussion because of how talking about it even in the vaguest sense is a massive spoiler!

[Loony BoB]

If only there were spoiler tags! ;D

(SPOILER)I have never seen a game give me such a sense of empathy and understanding of a mental illness than the point in which you are being taken to the machine, and have to keep denying reality and saying everything is fine, and the walls smash down each time you do so just to reveal more walls. Also, the time when you're on stage and you have to keep backing away from everything as barriers come smashing down. Honestly, so many films I've seen have tried to give a sense of these kind of feelings but this game just drove it home in such an effective way that the films look silly by comparison.

[Psychotic]

It's a fascinating insight and commentary on the general creative process. But then here I am, applying my own meaning to a game - getting out of it what I wish - which goes out of its way to say that you shouldn't do this. Or does it...?

[Shauna]

(SPOILER)I have never seen a game give me such a sense of empathy and understanding of a mental illness than the point in which you are being taken to the machine, and have to keep denying reality and saying everything is fine, and the walls smash down each time you do so just to reveal more walls. Also, the time when you're on stage and you have to keep backing away from everything as barriers come smashing down. Honestly, so many films I've seen have tried to give a sense of these kind of feelings but this game just drove it home in such an effective way that the films look silly by comparison.

(SPOILER)But was it really about mental illness though? Or is that just what you are choosing to apply to the game? Absolutely, Davey tells us his understanding and his read of all the games, but then it's later implied that he was projecting all over the place. But then, it's not wrong for you to take what you want from the experience, after all it happens with every piece of art.

Even with spoiler tags it is a difficult experience to discuss, likely due to the different places we latch on to the story. The different reads we will have on things. I did see the parallels to mental illness, but I connected more with the message of selfishness and relationships. If that message was even there.

[Loony BoB]

(SPOILER)It is perhaps worth noting that there is a widely held theory - arguably the most likely one - that Coda is, in fact, Davey.

[Shauna]

(SPOILER)It's also widely suggested that it's all made up.

[Loony BoB]

(SPOILER)Well, Coda being Davey, it has to be made up. But I really do believe that what he did was based on his personal struggles post-Stanley Parable, which he details at length in his blog.

[qwertysaur]

(SPOILER)All these spoiler tags are making me want to try this game out now.

[Slothy]

(SPOILER)Well, Coda being Davey, it has to be made up. But I really do believe that what he did was based on his personal struggles post-Stanley Parable, which he details at length in his blog.

(SPOILER)Well if it hadn't been made up and these were real games made by a real third party who really (if the supposed text of the last email he's sent is true) asked him to explicitly not share his games anymore and to not share his personal revelations once he found them, then he's done an absolutely terrible job.

But really, what's the game about? It's about whatever you want ultimately. Just like every other work of art ever. Art has no meaning until it's placed in the subjective context of a persons experience and said experience informs their viewing of it. All it has prior to that is authors intent, which is really just them applying their subjective viewpoint to their own work before anyone else does. I can see where one can draw parallels to mental illness because I'm mentally ill. I can also see where at the end we learn it's Davey that's really the one with the problem and his subjective experience has been colouring ours this whole time. If I sit and think some more I'm sure I'll come up with a dozen other possible interpretations and meanings. But in the end we'll all see it differently and maybe the only interpretation that ever does matter is our own because of what it can tell us about ourselves. Or maybe none of it matters.

It's really up to us.

[Loony BoB]

Whose Game Is It Anyway? Where all the levels are made up and none of it matters.

[Slothy]

We're all probably made up too honestly.