I have stated many times before that I don't like to take sides in the whole "games as art" discussion. Every now and then, though, there comes a game that I can't qualify as anything less than art. This is the case of Today I Die, indie game by Daniel Benmergui. I have played it just recently, having missed it when IndieGames wrote about it, and I like it a lot. It is a little jewel, thing of beauty that actually stirs emotion in me - and that's something.
It is actually hard to qualify Today I Die as a computer game in the traditional sense, as it sits somewhere between dreamy visual poem, retro point'n'click adventure and a piece interactive fiction. I can't even describe how to play it, lest I spoil the joy of discovery for you, but it is totally worth to give it a try. Similarly to recently reviewed Small Worlds, the whole gameplay (as much as I shudder to use the term in this context) will take about ten minutes of your time, perhaps less if you are smart, so even if you don't feel like it's your cup of tea, trust me and give it a go.
As an experiment, I sat my girlfriend down in front of the computer and told her to play Today I Die without any additional explanation. After a while she figured it out, solved the few puzzles and completed the experience. Oddly enough, she has reached the other ending than I did. She did enjoy it and said it touched her a bit, although she was a bit lost as to the interpretation.
What is it all about then? Hard to say, really, but for me Today I Die is about digging oneself out from the bottom of dark waters that is depression, about changing our life by manipulating the words we use to describe ourselves and the world around us, thus changing the way we think about it, and about eventually becoming at peace with oneself and (possibly) others as a result.
Sounds strange? To some extent it might, because, as I have written, Today I Die is both not easy to classify and open to interpretation. You might agree, you might disagree and your discoveries might turn out different. But the fact that it manages to evoke emotions in me and makes me ponder about its meaning (even for a short while) means that it deserves to be called art.
Play Today I Die here and here you can read some feedback from the author - it includes a fanart and a wallpaper, the small version of which I allowed myself to use above in order to illustrate this post. Also, be sure to let me know what you think via comments!
It is actually hard to qualify Today I Die as a computer game in the traditional sense, as it sits somewhere between dreamy visual poem, retro point'n'click adventure and a piece interactive fiction. I can't even describe how to play it, lest I spoil the joy of discovery for you, but it is totally worth to give it a try. Similarly to recently reviewed Small Worlds, the whole gameplay (as much as I shudder to use the term in this context) will take about ten minutes of your time, perhaps less if you are smart, so even if you don't feel like it's your cup of tea, trust me and give it a go.
As an experiment, I sat my girlfriend down in front of the computer and told her to play Today I Die without any additional explanation. After a while she figured it out, solved the few puzzles and completed the experience. Oddly enough, she has reached the other ending than I did. She did enjoy it and said it touched her a bit, although she was a bit lost as to the interpretation.
What is it all about then? Hard to say, really, but for me Today I Die is about digging oneself out from the bottom of dark waters that is depression, about changing our life by manipulating the words we use to describe ourselves and the world around us, thus changing the way we think about it, and about eventually becoming at peace with oneself and (possibly) others as a result.
Sounds strange? To some extent it might, because, as I have written, Today I Die is both not easy to classify and open to interpretation. You might agree, you might disagree and your discoveries might turn out different. But the fact that it manages to evoke emotions in me and makes me ponder about its meaning (even for a short while) means that it deserves to be called art.
Play Today I Die here and here you can read some feedback from the author - it includes a fanart and a wallpaper, the small version of which I allowed myself to use above in order to illustrate this post. Also, be sure to let me know what you think via comments!
