Surrealism and Stream of Consciousness: 5 Very Weird Games
Often when we say "the strangest games in history" we are unknowingly substituting concepts. There are stupid games like Goat Simulator, there are absurd games like Seaman where we groom a fish with a bald man's face, and so on. But today we're going to talk about the weirdest, most surreal games. They look more like paintings by Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Joan Miro and Paul Delva. We do not always understand what the creator wanted to convey, but they look attractive. These games may be psychedelic intimidating, but that doesn't negate the fact that they are part of the gaming world. Probably, it is worth warning that all the strange games shown here are not for a mass audience, but it will not hurt to know that this exists. Weird DreamsMany famous artists were inspired by their dreams. We still do not fully understand their nature and purpose. Someone perceive them as secret desires, someone as absurd, and some people see them as nightmares that torment them every night and make them wake up in a cold sweat. This is what the distant flight of fantasy called Weird Dreams is about. This game was released in 1989 for DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, and Commodore 64. It was accompanied by a novel by journalist Rupert Goodwins. Novella acts as such a prequel to the events of the game. The story is about poor fool Steve in love. He harbors feelings for his work colleague Emily. However, Emily is a girl with a twist. Inside it is the fallen demon Zelloripus, who was exiled to Earth by other demonic creatures. This comrade becomes very bored and wants to gain access to Steve's mind, which is constantly in sight.
Emily invites the poor fellow to take three pills with her, which supposedly will help open consciousness and relax. After taking them, Zelloripus gains access to Steve's consciousness and begins to send him nightmares, because of which he goes a little crazy. Steve is diagnosed with a mental disorder and agrees to brain surgery to heal. During it, Steve falls into the worst dream. This is where we start playing.
Weird Dreams is insane on all fronts. We need to go through five levels, applying the strangest logic, which can hardly be called logic. So, on the first level, we get into a car with cotton candy from which we need to get out, then we deceive a giant bee at the fair, we find ourselves in the desert, where fish are swimming in the sky. For example, Steve is attacked by an incomprehensible creature, to fight him you need to jump, grab a fish from the sky and fight with it ... Most likely, the game is a great metaphor, where our travels through the insane world of dreams personify the struggle for life, and we fight against secret fears, forbidden desires and our own weirdness.
HylicsThis is a game with a simple plot and the craziest concept and execution. I think Hylics is the perfect embodiment of the phrase from the theory of the multiverse: "If something can be imagined, then most likely there is such a parallel universe somewhere." The plot tells us about the most ordinary guy Wayne with a head in the form of a crescent moon. One day, he realizes that he has to overthrow the tyrant, nicknamed the Moon King. We do not know why he is worthy of destruction, and we will never understand. The world of Hylics looks psychedelic, like it is sick with something. Bizarre shapes, various soft designs, residents whose heads are twisted, flattened, or simply do not have certain parameters. There are mixtures of animals, non-humanoids with apples instead of heads ... This world lives by its own rules, which do not obey our laws of logic and physics.
Behind the strange surreal cover, there is some pretty good JRPG mechanics. We fight alone, and then with partners against opponents, we travel around the map, collect loot and equipment. The fight itself is made in a very original way: we have hands with which we cast a spell, snap our fingers to attack, our partners use different perks. We can fight anything, it can be burrito, coffee or a stick from the nearest bush. And the murders look like complete tin. Just what is the animation of Wayne's death when meat drips from his head. We should also highlight the music, these strange noisy guitar sounds, which are difficult to get used to at first, but over time they fascinate. The game can be called enjoyable, because for all the stubbornness of the world, it is addictive.
Dark SeedThis game is inspired by the work of Hans Giger - the creator of the Alien, namely his "Necronomecon". This is a psychedelic horror adventure game that breathes with the creativity of this artist. We play as writer Mike Dawsoon, who moves into an old mansion [eh, classic of the genre]. At night, he has a nightmare, as he is chained in a cell, and a strange machine implants some creature into his brain. The next day, it turns out that it was not a dream, but the truth. That which was implanted into his skull is a dark seed, from which a creature capable of destroying the world will hatch.
Michael travels in his home through a mirror through a parallel world, where he faces his nightmares in the hope of freeing himself from the parasite lodged in his head. Unlike other similar quests, many actions in the game take place according to their own rules and time, and if you did not manage to activate something in time, consider yourself lost. The game is captivating with its backdrops, which can even seem unpleasant and repulsive. GameTrailers named Dark Seed 7 the Scariest Game Ever.
HarvesterIf you don't know anything about this game and look at its screenshots, you might think that this is the most painful thing you can think of. Such a cancer of the gaming industry. In fact, this is one of the toughest black satyrs I have ever seen.
We play as Steve [the next], who wakes up with amnesia in a strange provincial, militarized city of Harvester. No one believes him that he has lost his memory, but they are convinced that he must join the Harvest of the Moon Order. Based on the name of the order, it is no longer difficult to guess that something is wrong with the town. And it is true. All its inhabitants are grotesque parodies of the most vile human vices.
The more we immerse ourselves in the life of the city, the more we realize that all the townspeople are bastards, perverts, murderers and cannibals. At school, for example, there is a teacher who beats children on the head with a bat; two cops work in the police station, one of whom is an avid masturbator and is turned on by pictures of corpses. And in the family of the main character, the mother constantly rapes and beats her husband. Also in the Harvester there is a scene where children eat their mother. According to the plot, you will find a twist that everything is virtual reality, and Steve himself is a guinea pig, on which they experiment to learn about new facets of human violence. Perhaps, out of everything described in this list of strange games, I can only recommend Harvester to people who like black humor.
SanitariumWe have already mentioned Sanitarium in our horror story, but we will dwell on it in more detail. This is one of the most important games in the history of the horror genre. She talks about the fate of the schizophrenic Max, who wakes up in a mental hospital and goes through a very difficult and rather terrible path in the hope of overcoming his illness.
Sick images in the game show Max's real problems. Unlike monsters or ghosts, which we used to be afraid of, the game says that we should really be afraid of ourselves. Each level is an allegory for the whole life of our hero. We are meeting with my sister, mother. Sometimes we will play for this sister, and sometimes for the Cyclops from Max's favorite children's fairy tale, and soon other unusual characters. Sanitarium is really partly a stream of consciousness, which can terrify and also drive you into sadness. In any case, the personal story of the protagonist is touching.
The Topic of Article: Surrealism and Stream of Consciousness: 5 Very Weird Games. |
