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Game Analysis-Middens
Recently, I stumbled upon Middens, a peculiar game with a rather large cult following, free to play and made with RPGMaker.
From the outset the whole thing seemed strange visually, intrigue was furthered by how little info I could glean about it was available and looking into the creator, John Clowder, only raised more questions. His own mysterious presence and writing, a narrative driving force within Middens, made it all the more beguiling.
Clowder uses pixel art and collage to weave this entrancing, surreal aesthetic that has obvious roots in Dadaism. When a game's enclosed instructions end with the vaguely threatening "take care", you know you're delving into something a tad different. The game begins with the player meeting a sentient revolver, the dialogue for which was equal measure enchanting and unnerving:
"Know that when your finger is on the trigger my tongue will be within reach to lick your nails… and my gaze will always meet the eyes of those you slay even if yours do not. …knowing this do you still wish to persist?"
The game largely focuses on using this revolver at your own will, the strange void dwelling denizens of the game can all be killed or avoided, you can go the entire game not harming anyone. The game features many endings and can be played anyway you wish, firing your pistol engages a typical RPG fight, albeit featuring one of over 200 unique, one of a kind creatures that you must summon incarnations of your own chakras to fight.
The games core mechanic revolves around cause and affect, as the Nomad you can choose to instigate these battles, level up and gain new skills in a traditional rpg manner, or not engage at all with this part of the game and simply wonder its obscure yet beautiful world, you carry an instrument which you can play to solve certain puzzles, underlining the differences in play approaches. Something I did find interesting whilst exploring, was how certain creatures were made from certain famous paintings, Gustav Kilmt's work made a cameo...
The game seems to focus around strange encounters and interactions, be it like this one which was peaceful, or engaging with a more fearsome form through a battle, in which most involve dialogue "excised from occult tomes and the last words of executed convicts". I defeated one such creature and it dropped a book of poetry, a simple, yet mystifying interaction which is telling of the game as a whole.
I found myself, whilst enjoying the battling, more entertained with simple exploration, the sights and sounds were highly varied, all mystifying and beautiful in their own ways.
You can speak and interact with all the creatures you can also kill, they all spout existential nonsense of phrases devoid of any real content, of course all rather post-modern and you can draw your own meanings. I don't think any two players will have quite the same experience of Middens, as you can explore as much or as little at your own pace and in your own order. The composition of some rooms, coupled with equally strange and ambient music, left me feeling similar ways to how one would in a physical installation at a high-brow contemporary art gallery, feeling almost challenged or in some form of danger. This game is a battle on the senses.
The play aesthetics here are of discovery, sense pleasure and depending on how you play, challenge or abnegation. There is a narrative, but its more something you experience in a visceral sense than something drip fed to you. I looked into this game as I'm trying to see what avenues I could possibly venture down. I've never played anything quite like Middens and I think at the very least, I'd like to make something that can evoke feelings much like Clowder's work has in me.
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