The Merriest of Christmii to you, on this, the hour of the nascent God Seed. I haven't been to church in a while so I'm not up on everything that happened in the last season - the last episode I saw (S2 E27, "Revelations") was pretty hardcore. It was sort of a reboot situation? Honestly, it needed it; this thing has been running longer than One Piece. But, as for today's strip, please enjoy this return to the days of our youth.
Now: our true family structure is somewhat obscured, but Brenna and her cousin essentially grew up as sisters, and they each have daughters now who have replicated their union and have possibly even improved on it. So Hiraeth, as they will be named here, is essentially my niece even though I don't think it looks like that on the family tree. The two of them are really getting into gaming together and I love to see it and support it in any way I can, up to and including the use of my machine, whose 3080 is mostly up to the tasks they have set before it. Their whole roleplaying group is now way into Lethal Company; I have to finish this post so they can have this PC. They roll so deep in there that they need MoreCompany to even host the squad. But they all love horror games, and I said Hiraeth could write a review of Playdead's INSIDE if they wanted to for some holiday money. They did so. This review follows.
(CW)TB out. And Hiraeth IN!
An Inside Look at Inside
I feel the need to right off the bat start this review by saying that Inside is probably the best video game I’ve ever played. Now, I’ll preface that I’m no expert in video games and, to be frank, I'm not very good at them in general. I’m new to playing and my library of games is fairly small compared to most people I’ve met, but I’ve been successfully sucked into playing video games by my friends, particularly my cousin Ronia, in recent years. And I don’t think it's that hard to assume that this newfound obsession won’t be stopping soon. Particularly with me going on to write this review.
Along with not having much access to video games growing up, my mind always tended to associate video games with gory shooting games and the classic Nintendo games my parents played when they were teenagers. That style of game never truly piqued my interest at the time and it wasn’t till I discovered more indie and horror games that my interest rose. As I began to look more into video games my vision turned to seeing them as an artform. That set idea of what I thought a video game had to look like morphed and I started to find more respect for them in terms of artstyle, storyline, etc. For whatever reason it never connected before that behind every great game is artists who are designing a new and imaginative world for us to step into with only a screen and controller. As an artist, I was inspired by this fact and connected with the possibility that someday my art could become moving images on a screen that people around the world could play and enjoy. And this realization is what made me need to try out Inside. Just from the trailer, I was shocked at how much the creators' individual artstyle stuck out in this game. It seemed refreshing and eye-catching, so I had to look at this game for myself.
Inside was released in 2016 by Playdead, an independent video game developer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company is actually really cool and started off small in 2006 with the creators' art background and sketches. Currently they have around 70 creators on the team and are critically acclaimed. The indie studio is rumored to be working on a new game after all the applause on Inside. It’s hoped to release in 2024 but we’ve only gotten a few sneak peaks on their socials. I’m beyond excited for their new game to release after experiencing Inside and will not be shy to purchase it immediately after the release date. The company in total has made 2 games so far, Limbo was their first game, which I will touch on later, and Inside their second. The company is known to put a great deal of thought into their games, with Inside taking 6 years to release after it was mentioned that they were going to create it. When playing the game it’s not difficult to notice the care that the creators’ put into conceptualizing it and you can very clearly see that it was made by people with a passion for art and gaming.
For me, the worldbuilding in Inside is what really stood out. Throughout the whole game the creators’ stuck with a grayscale color scheme with pops of bright red and muted yellow coming in to signify important elements your attention should be drawn to. I've never played a video game that is so monotone but surprisingly it’s grown on me a great deal. It brings an eerie touch to the scenery and is reminiscent of a classic black and white horror movie which in my opinion can really tell a story. The design is minimalist and simplistic but it makes the game easy to navigate through and the details stand out a lot better. You always know where to focus in the game which can be handy, particularly if you're the type of person that when a lot is going on at the same time it can be a sensory overload. It generally was just very well thought out. The simplicity of Inside’s design is part of what makes the game so phenomenal.
Inside is considered an indie thriller game. I personally would also consider it a mild horror but that may vary from person to person. I think it’s a great start if you're trying to get into horror games but aren’t ready for the full terrifying experience. The general overarching theme of the game is quite creepy, particularly body horror wise. It involves genetic mutation of animals and humans, plus a lot of brainwashing. There’s also a few jumpy moments, mainly from gunshots, and a lot of chase scenes that you have to use puzzle solving to get out of. Not being able to finish a puzzle in the right manner ultimately ends with you getting killed but it’s not too gruesome because of the artstyle being very simplistic. So as I said, mild horror elements, but the artstyle is really what pulls it out from being a full horror game. If it was semi-realism we’d have a different story on our hands.
Inside has definitely drawn me in to love puzzle games a lot more. I’ve always liked puzzle games but Playdead took them to a whole new level. In the past I’ve been frustrated when solving a puzzle and the checkpoint is so far back that I have to redo everything that I just spent 30 minutes on. It’s excruciating when you get pushed back and your hard work has been lost. Conveniently, Playdead did not do that with Inside and the checkpoints are extremely reasonable. It’s particularly nice when a lot of the puzzles in Inside are quite challenging and take a few goes to get right. I generally love the obstacles in Insides puzzles. It’s such a huge reward when you finally get through a part you’ve been struggling with. It’s sleek and easy to navigate but complex in the puzzles provided. Which makes it extremely surprising how hard some puzzles are with how minimal elements are in the game. Some of the puzzles are time-managed and only include two elements you have to move. It astounds me because in principle it should be very easy to accomplish but in practice not so much. It takes a lot of repetition, but in my opinion the repetition isn’t unenjoyable. Trust me, I’d know, I have little to no patience most of the time.
Surprisingly, Inside contains no narration throughout the whole game and yet it’s still very cohesive. It doesn’t even contain text, only the wonderfully composed imagery. I’d actually argue that the sound effects are the scariest part of the game as a whole. They're creepily realistic and make you get a little rush of adrenaline. It draws you in and to be honest I think that adding narration and thought bubbles would ruin the game. As I’ve said before, the simplicity of Inside is what makes it such a must try game. And you might wonder if there’s a prominent storyline without any narration. Luckily yes, the storyline is starkly prominent. It’s astounding how well they managed to include a clear and moving storyline into a game with only images and sound effects. The creators clearly knew what they were doing. Particularly in combination with the 2.5D design, making it even more simplistic but overall a great setup for the game. In this case, less really is more.
Although this review isn’t about Limbo, Playdead’s first video game that was released in 2010, I feel that it’s worth an honorable mention. I can’t say too much about the game due to not having finished it yet, but I’ve gotten decently far in and feel it should be mentioned in context to Inside. It’s extremely clear that Inside followed up after Limbo. I say this because I can strongly see the developers improvement in the game. And yes, I’ve enjoyed Limbo so far, but not even close to as much as Inside. The design isn’t as interesting, themes not as dark, and sound effects not as prominent. I feel like Limbo is worth a play, but definitely don’t make the mistake of playing it after Inside. Your expectations will be lowered, in my opinion, a great amount.
Now I’d be lying if Inside, like all things, didn’t have its faults. I will note that the game is quite short. If you're skilled at puzzle games, it will probably take under 3 ½ hours. All that the developers included is extremely well done and took a lot of time but I can’t help but wish it was longer. I never wanted the game to end when playing. With the game being so short, in my personal opinion I don’t think it’s something I’d replay a bunch either. When it’s finished it’s finished, and although you could play it again there's nothing new to it. No time to beat, no extra puzzles to solve, no modified storyline, it stays the exact same every time. So for me personally, that’s not the funnest game to repeatedly play over and it makes you question the money you spent, although Inside is fairly well priced. Maybe I’d pick it up with some friends but it’s also not multiplayer so I don’t really have that option unless you're going back and forth playing. The options are quite limited. There also were quite a few minor glitches in the game, but that may have just been my controllers not working and an operator error. I believe those are my only complaints.
So overall, should you give Inside a try? A hundred percent, yes. Inside checks all the boxes and is unlike any indie game I’ve played. It draws you in and hooks you right away with the storyline. It’s aesthetically pleasing to look at and until January 4th the game is fully ninety percent off on Steam ($1.99). I enjoyed playing it thoroughly with Ronia and feel like it would be an awesome game to stream. I can’t wait for Playdead’s next game, there seems to be great promise in their future.
