14 DAY TRIAL // The Old City: Leviathan, a first-person exploration game focused on an emergent storyline, is now out, and you can watch its beautiful and surreal trailer below.
So-called walking simulators are getting more and more prevalent, attempting to lure us in with the promise of discovering new worlds for us to enjoy.
While some are lackluster and fail to capture the mind even with visual stimuli, others manage to offer a worthwhile experience and hold us in their spell until the very end.
Many players criticize them for lacking actual gameplay or clear objectives, and accuse them of exploiting the hope that a glimmer of understanding might be gleamed through walking through the same area again and again, trying to find an elusive clue, otherwise known as masochism and too much free time.
Other players adore them, enjoying the serene experience that enables you to pursue your non-goals at your own pace and to take in the environments and atmosphere in a relaxing manner, all the while discovering an over-arching narrative cleverly hidden between the seams, or even left open to interpretation.
It's not just about walking
The Old City: Leviathan puts the player in the shoes of an explorer, venturing into a decaying city, belonging to a long-lost civilization. The story is told mainly via the environment itself, and through short musings of the player character.
The objective of the game, as is with all exploration game, is to understand what's going on. For this purpose, the environment has been created to offer a diverse visual experience, to be interesting and, most importantly, to offer meaningful context to the game narrative.
The story is not told through conventional means, but instead, while exploring the game universe, the gamer will overhear conversations between two entities. The first is the player character, who communicates through internal monologues, and the second is the environment itself, speaking through its details and particularities.
As with any such game, the atmosphere plays a crucial role, and the alienating landscapes, together with the moody musical score, offer a resonating experience for everyone who loves taking walks and meditating.
The game slows the usual fast-paced rhythm of today's video games to a crawl, letting you take it all in and think about what you're experiencing. It's not as much about telling a straightforward story as it is about awakening one within yourself, brought to the surface by the disjointed bits and pieces of backstory.
