What is it?
What’s good?
What’s bad?
| Released: 2016-06-29 | Developer: Playdead | Publisher: Playdead |
|---|---|---|
| Completed: 2016-12-29 | Completion: 100% | Highest Trophy: Gold |
Playdead’s Inside Full Review
Foreword
Playdead’s Inside is one of those games that will burn itself into your memories. Prior to a quick playthrough to gather images and video I hadn’t played it in nearly a year. Yet I still remembered it so vividly. It crawled under my skin in a way few games ever do. That fact is even more sobering when I consider its short length. I’ve wanted to write a review about this game for quite a while but have found it so difficult to convey my feelings about it. Perhaps it’s because it’s so abstract conceptually and leans more towards being art rather than just a game. A really twisted work of art, but art nonetheless. I’ve always had a lot of trouble with appreciating art, especially abstract art. My mind just doesn’t seem wired that way and I tend to opt for functional design or realism.
Of All the Worlds We Imagine
In Inside you play as a young boy or at least what I assume is a boy. There is no dialogue at all in the game and there is no real narrative. It’s a simple side scrolling platformer game with a number of increasingly complicated puzzles and set pieces thrown in your way. As I first played this game my mind began to spin a yarn. I guess that’s part of the human condition, to piece together disparate pieces of information and create a narrative in the absence of a concrete story. The story I crafted was one of a young boy running away from a concentration camp. Maybe it was the similarity between this and Schindler’s List, brutality, desolation, black and white imagery and a kid in a red top. I honestly don’t know why, all I know is that’s the story my mind was concocting.
The only information I had was what direction I needed to travel. There were fences, barbed wire, armed guards and canine patrols in my way. If I mistimed a jump or moved into the spotlights by accident I’d be shot dead or mauled by dogs. And I died. I died a lot. Nearly every other sequence had some sort of hidden obstacle or trap waiting for the uninitiated. Like a fold on the ground that would trip you up if you ran over it and slow you down just enough for the dogs to catch you. It was aggravating and terrifying. My anxiety dial was cranked to ten. I can still hear those dogs savaging my lifeless body. Even today I can’t say where I was supposed to be running towards, just that I had to keep moving forward.
The Beauty and the Horror
Amidst all of the horror and tension in this game it’s undeniably beautiful. Similar to Playdead’s previous game Limbo, Inside is presented in monochromatic 2.5D. It’s not truly monochromatic as there are small bits of color that shine through but those are the exceptions that prove the rule. And it’s not just the visuals that are striking but the sounds are exquisite too. For huge portions of the game there is absolutely no music. It’s just ambient and Foley sounds and it’s captivating. I never thought a game with such minimal sound design could be so acoustically fascinating but it is. During the opening sequences all you hear is the ambient outdoor sounds along with your breathing and your footsteps. It makes everything feel so claustrophobic and adds layers to the tension.
Through the Looking Glass
As I continued along in the game I came to the conclusion I wasn’t escaping a concentration camp. The farther I went the more surreal everything became. I started to get a real Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe. Like the other people in the world were being turned into mindless drones and herded like cattle. But to what end? And where the fuck was I going? I had already traveled through wilderness and farmland but now I was entering a metropolis area. The idea that I wasn’t breaking out of anywhere but breaking in started to gnaw at me. I couldn’t fathom for what purpose. Why would I want to get Inside? What was in it for me? I still had no answer and no clear cut idea of what was happening.
Eventually I arrived in what appeared to be a processing center. The drone people were all marching in a line monitored by cameras, guards and dogs. I did my best at blending in but the dogs somehow sensed I wasn’t like the others and broke into chase. I bolted from the processing line and the dogs were hot on my tail. With nowhere to turn and having run out of options, I took a leap of faith and went crashing through a high rise window. Success! I had escaped the processing center and was safely away from the guards. But now what? My mind was awash with potential narratives about where I was headed and what was really going on. In most games, movies or TV shows you can kind of tell where things are headed. But not here, not with Inside.
Expectations are Made to be Broken
Anyone who says they saw what happens next coming is flat out lying to you or they literally saw a video. The game is that bat shit crazy. It reminded me a little bit of the first Independence Day movie from the nineties. That movie continuously morphed and grew into something I didn’t see coming. Like going to area 51, finding the old UFO, finding a living alien, interfacing with said alien, flying the alien ship, going into space and flying into the mothership. It just kept one upping my expectations and this game does too. Inside defies my expectations to become something much larger and much more insane than I could have imagined.
Bottom Line
Do yourself the favor and buy Inside and play it for yourself. As far as indy titles goes it’s a masterpiece. It’s on the same plateau as Journey for me in that regard. You can read my full review of Journey HERE. Both games are absolutely phenomenal and both will stick in your head. The only difference is at the end of Journey you’ll feel pretty good about the adventure you took and have a good idea about what it all meant. You don’t get that with Inside. Instead I have been scratching my head ever since and to this day I still can’t piece it all together. All I know is it is one of the most memorable games I’ve played in the last few years.
| How does it rate... | Other games in that category... | |
|---|---|---|
| Indy | A+ | Journey, Firewatch, Soma |
| Artistic | A+ | Child of Light, Abzu, Flower |
| Sidescroller | A | Limbo, One Upon Light, This War of Mine |
| Platforming | A- | Unravel, Ratchet and Clank, Strider |
| Puzzle | A- | The Witness, Talos Principle, Rime |
| Adventure | B+ | The Last Guardian, Adrift, Rime, Life is Strange |
These ratings are based on games I have played at the time of this posting. Additions and Alterations made to game ratings and rankings after this date will not be reflected in the written review. For a fully updated list of games and game rankings please visit Rebel Gaming Canada’s BIG GAMES LIST.
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Inside kept my mind busy for quite some time. The way the story unfolds, the sound design, the artwork (!), the puzzles - I can‘t name one single thing that I disliked about this game. It‘s a masterpiece and definitely worth playing.
Great review as always :)
Thanks :) The only thing I can say I didn't like about the game is the creepy swimming dude. Freaked me out like the girl in the ring movies!
Had the same thing in mind :D
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Awesome review @johnquake ! I absolutely love this 2D gem!
Thanks! Have you ever tried Limbo? It's pretty good too not as good but it's from the same developer.
Nice review, but if you interested with fan explanation, i think this link will be helpful.
That's pretty interesting. Some of it makes a lot of sense... Like the quarantine zone and the blast area being a last line of defense to stop infected. Not sure the flooded Chicago does though as If Chicago was flooded most of the surrounding areas would be too especially as he said entire skyscrapers are submerged. I always thought it was more like a city sunk rather than the waters rose. The other weird thing about the water is it seems like a lot of it is contained inside huge underground cement cisterns. The siren character was always a bit fascinating to me especially after you get your ability to breath underwater and then get your clothes ripped apart before joining the blob. Grow your hair a bit longer and you could be a siren. That and they only seem to exist inside the big cisterns not out in the open water.