In all my time playing computer games, I’ve been through a lot of different emotions when playing games. One of the first games I remember making me laugh aloud was a game called Leisure Suit Larry. It’s a smutty game which was ideal for a 16-year-old boy that I was at the time, even though you had to be 18 to play it. I can remember the first game that gave me a scare jump, step forward the original Resident Evil. There’s a moment near the start of the game where you run down a corridor and the dogs jump through the window and attack you, it shit me up and I dropped my fucking pad in fright. I’ve played games that have made me feel sad, but I’ve never cried at or about a computer game. I’m not really a crier and I’m not saying that to act all hard and tough, but I generally don’t cry. However, I played a game which bought me very close to tears.
Ghost Giant is a PSVR game which came out a few months ago, I picked it up last week as it looked like an interesting game. It is set in a beautifully stunning environment where all the characters are anthropomorphic animal and everything looks like it’s made of paper and cardboard, including stars and cloud that dangling from a string. You play the role of the Ghost Giant, a pair of giant hands in the game and you are tasked with helping Louis out. When you first meet him, he’s crying beside a lake and when you poke him to get his attention, he’s initially very scared but he soon realises that you are friendly.
I don’t want to give to much away and you don’t realise it straight away, but he’s in quite a difficult situation, which is revealed around the end of the first half of the game. Through no fault of his own, he’s trying his best to deal with it on his own and you really want to help him deal with it. You can’t help but want to help him because Louis has a lot on his plate for a youngster, he is enthusiastically optimistic, a charming character whom you are always rooting for. The game itself is a set of fairly simple puzzles which you have to solve to help Louis achieve his task. If the game wasn’t so charming in the way it looks and sounds, it would probably be average rubbish.
The game has 13 levels and I think it only took around 3 hours to complete, which isn’t that long but by the time end comes and you realise, that despite Louis efforts to get out of his predicament, he can’t, he’s has no power to do so despite his valiant efforts! Watching and helping Louis fixes the problems he faces brings immense joy but also sadness because he is so helpless at times. Witnessing this character going through this difficult journey because he's too young to understand it, you felt helpless too. It’s the first time I’ve felt truly sad for a character in a video game where I wanted to cry with him, I could feel myself welling up. I didn't but it's certainly an experience I would have never thought could have happened in a video game.
The game is made by an indie developer called Zoink games and they’ve done a truly fantastic job in creating this game. It’s like being in a children’s book or programme. If you’ve not played this game, then I can’t recommend it enough. It’s short, sweet and it will give you the feels.
And if it doesn’t, you are a heartless bastard!
Hybrid Rules
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