I had the chance to play Elegy for a Dead World recently (you may remember that Amanda mentioned it briefly in her IndieCade article here).
The most obvious thing you will notice is that the game is gorgeous. I have to say that it is easily one of the prettiest games I have played recently, and that isn’t an exaggeration. The art in this game is very well done, and clearly helps to contribute to the feel of the game. After all, if you tried to make a game like this that looked like, say, Minecraft, the experience would suffer. The amount of detail in the environments is incredible as well – especially considering that you can’t interact with the environment at all except to go in and out of doors.
The sound design in this game is fantastic, as well. I would strongly recommend playing this game with a nice pair of headphones to get the full experience as the sound was clearly mixed for that experience. The music is subtle and feels very appropriate for the environment, but the sound effects are where the design really shows. Everything you do and everywhere you go brings a new noise, and this completely changes the feel of the environment. At one point, I entered a cave that felt very peaceful; five steps in I heard a sound that could only be described as unnatural.
A scene from Elegy for a Dead World
The gameplay itself is arguably hardly considered a game at all, but that’s alright with me. If you haven’t heard of Elegy yet, the goal of the game is to write. You control your player character using the arrows or WASD keys, and move about the world. Occasionally, you will see quills appear at the bottom of the screen. If you land on one and press tab, it will open your writing prompt. The prompt you receive is dependent upon a few options that you have to choose from before entering the world. If you feel that the given prompt doesn’t fit, they are completely editable. This was a very good decision, as sometimes I found myself heading one direction with my writing and the next prompt completely changed the feel of my story, requiring me to make a few adjustments.
The other awesome thing about Elegy for a Dead World is the ability to read other’s published stories. Amanda mentioned in her brief glimpse at the game during IndieCade that she was concerned about encountering some sub-par (read: rude) content while playing the game, due to the nature of people on the internet in general. However, I didn’t find that to be the case. It’s possible that it has something to do with the stories being tied to your real Steam username, and many people on Steam have people they know personally on their friends list. Steam isn’t as anonymous as a site like Reddit. Of course there were some stories that weren’t well written, and there were grammar mistakes here and there, but overall it seems that the people playing this title were putting forth the effort to create beautiful stories. If you come across a story that you particularly enjoyed/felt moved by/whatever the circumstance may be, you can provide a commendation to that author. It’s a simple click to let them know that you enjoyed their tale.
Viewing your published story
Overall, I think Elegy for a Dead World is a great title. The unique focus on writing helps the game stand out and really forces you to focus on your own feelings and experience while playing. I do wish that there was a little more to interact with in the environment; being able to lift a stone to find a hidden new item to write about or possibly even decision trees about what path to take would make it a bit more exciting and would really encourage both replay value and reading other player’s stories in order to see all of the unique situations you could find yourself in.
Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 8
Overall: 9/10
