[While you all work on your Digital Distribution blogs for this week's Bloggers Wanted topic, I'll be promoting some of my favorite blogs from last week's assignment. Today's promoted blog is from fulldamage, and he'll be talking to you about the theme of freedom, or lack thereof, in Enslaved. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog about Digital Distribution, and it just might get promoted next week! -- JRo]
Did you know that Enslaved is, before anything else, a game about relationships? In the interest of maintaining a good relationship between myself and the reader, I'll put the SPOILER ALERT notice right here. If you haven't played it yet, you should - but I'll only describe a few simple, early plot events. I finished Enslaved this 4th of July week, and discovered that it was incredibly appropriate, as Enslaved deals with the themes surrounding personal freedom.
To begin with, Monkey, your gruff bruiser of a protagonist, has been in fact enslaved by his sidekick character, Trip. Trip is in good shape, but she's not a fighter at all - she's a techie, excellent at figuring out computer systems but lacking any combat ability. To compensate for that lack of ability, in the wake of a disastrous transport crash, she has fitted Monkey with a slavers' control headband. If Trip dies, or gets separated from Monkey by too great a distance, then Monkey dies.
The fact that wandering off too far can lead to insta-death, combined with the fact that Trip will yell commands at you if you go too far, can make for some truly rage-inducing moments. Bluntly, being a slave sucks. Now, mechanically, this is really no different than putting up invisible walls in places you're not meant to go, or sealing off doors behind you as you pass. But what I love is that, through the narrative, they direct your attention to these limitations, and create a reason for them. Thus, something that was previously a simple limit on your freedom, now becomes a story-telling device. You COULD go out and explore this gorgeous post-apocalyptic city-jungle, if not for this damned death-headband. And the scheming ho-bag who made you wear it. Malarky!
The main characters' relationship is not a one-way street, either. In one of the earliest encounters in the game, Monkey and Trip stumble by accident into a small force of enemy mechs. The first one to awaken immediately begins spraying the area with gunfire. Monkey yells at Trip to move to a safer position, only to find that, infuriatingly, she won't respond. She's terrified by the gunfire, and is huddling in a motionless ball behind a low concrete divider, petrified. As Monkey, you're forced to charge into the fray and hope you don't get flanked.
When the encounter is over, Monkey screams at Trip that, in life-or-death situations, she needs to act on instructions immediately if the two of them are to survive. Humbled, she nods, agreeing in monosyllables. It is in this way that the game introduces the Command Wheel, the interface through which you can get Trip to perform actions, move to locations, and upgrade Monkey's gear. It's slick, the way they punctuate the introduction of a gameplay mechanic with a point of high emotional impact in the story. And by occasionally switching up the role of "command-giver," Enslaved begins the process of blurring the line between slave and master.
The game becomes a partnership, in which you'll find yourself trading roles and working together to get out of danger - and as you do, you begin to look towards what your partner helps you do, rather than what they stop you from doing. You follow her instructions, and she follows yours. It's a perverse and amazing gameplay accomplishment that neatly solves the whole "crippled" feeling that you get from doing "escort missions" in other games. Every five minutes, you're helping Trip to scale an out-of-reach ladder or pushing aside something that's too heavy for her to lift - immersing yourself in the bodyguard role, and subconsciously buying into it a little bit more with each button press. And nearly as often, she's scanning the environment, getting you access to places you couldn't otherwise enter - holding up her end of the deal, in other words. So when she gets in trouble, you really DO want to rush to her aid - and not because of the headband.
Ostensibly, Trip needs the headband to control Monkey because their relationship is unequal - he can survive on his own, and she can't. At the very beginning of the game, that seems true. But over the course of the adventure, as you work together more frequently and survive more challenges, you learn that they function more effectively as a team - and between the lines, you can watch Monkey begin to struggle with the awareness that maybe, without Trip, life is less worth living. The headband stays on for the duration of the adventure - but not for the reasons you might expect. By the end of the game, you've been brought time and time again to examine the notion that, really, you can't get through life without being in service to SOMEthing - whether it's home, family, employers, dreams, lovers, you name it. It's more a matter of picking the right master.
Contest:
7:30 PM on 07.12.2011
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This was a great article about Enslaved. You've brought up some interesting points that I never even considered before, like how they work the boundary limitations and commands into the story rather than just having them there. I love when games do stuff like that.
@knutaf Thank you! ^_^ You know, in a lot of ways I completely agree with what you're saying. They took a very "Disney," light-hearted approach to a subject that is really dark and could have been a lot more challenging. They definitely went for accessible rather than provocative.
It worked for me because I did like the characters. In so many games, you can just hear the voice actors reading their lines, alone, in a studio - but in Enslaved, I feel they were really hitting their marks. The dialogue sounded natural, and the facial mo-cap was really good. That said, the game really relies on those things a lot - if you DON'T like the characters, then the "enslavement" bond must seem a lot less real, and a lot of the game's charm really must fall apart. The combat and the "platforming" are super-simple and there's really not much else there.
Lol, but no Enslaved was awesome, I wrote an in-depth review immediately upon finishing it cuz I was so enthralled. It's a niche game though, definitely not everybody's cup of tea.
Heh, yeah Ninja Theory titles are really sort of like adventure games. If you like the story they're trying to tell, then it's all good - but if the story ain't doing it for you,then you're going to find the gameplay a bummer.
Nice review, btw! Man, I didn't even get to talk about Pigsy! He wasn't quite on-topic, but that dude rules.
With that "side note" out of the way, some games actually do it quite cleverly. I commented on my article about Bioshock, though briefly: explaining your lack of freedom on gameplay, through a plot device... that's clever. Not "genius". Clever. And can easily be misused. I think that both Bioshock and Enslaved, though with different approaches, deal rather well with the lack of freedom.
Great article, man.
And now I really wanna play the game knutaf just described...
Yeah Pigsy was way funny lol, think you're gonna get the DLC starring him?
Bioshock is definitely another title that gets you thinking about freedom by tying together your character's lack of freedom in gameplay terms together with their lack of freedom in the story itself. And it actually suffers a little bit for it, because it's a really hard moment to top, and the sequel couldn't quite manage it.
Looking forward to reading your future posts!
@Mr Andy Dixon Thanks! And I concur; actually, you could make the argument that Portal is a little bit like that already...!
@Keelut2012 Hmm, I might save that one for a rainy day. I've got the Beyond Good and Evil HD remake sitting there ready to go, and while I love me some clever girl heroes and pig-shaped sidekicks, I might be near my limit on that whole theme. ^_^
However, I do think the game is of a type/genre that is in a dangerous position right now. Mechanically, it doesn't advance anything or bring anything new to the table - it has shooting, racing, action/fighting, and puzzle-platforming elements, but there are games that do each of those things much better. Also, there's no multiplayer, so not much incentive to keep playing the game after a single run through story mode. No level authoring or creativity tools, either. And it was an expensive, full-priced disc release.
Enslaved is very middle-of-the-road in terms of fun gameplay elements, and I think that means it's really going to struggle when matched against more established AAA titles AS WELL AS smaller indie titles with a really fresh art style or new types of gameplay.
Right. Shutting up now!
Truly a memorable experience.
@ArrestedDeveloper
It's sad, right? The game never really got the attention it deserved - I don't remember exactly why, but I know I paid little attention to it when it was released, because there were three or four other titles I was paying more attention to.
@FalconSupreme
Aaah, we've all been there. Hopefully the copy went to someone who dug it as much as you did.
@FrozenImplosion
I just happened to spot it on one of those Amazon sales, and am really glad I did.
@Wolfy-Boey
I know, right? This blog was way cooler last week, before all the scene kids showed up. Pssh. ^_^
@Retris
It's really one of those rare games that gets you thinking about when you're not playing it.
@diztrukted
Story-driven - key words! In so many games - and perhaps rightly so, for a lot of them - the story is tacked on to add depth to the gameplay experience. But when a game treats the story as having equal importance to the gameplay, the results can be really amazing.
@Mr Andy Dixon
Aw shucks man. 'Twarn't nothin.
@llort het
I definitely had one death where I stopped and said out look, "Look, bitch, do you not see that I am leaping across cars over a LIVE MINEFIELD right now? WTF are you THINKING? STOP CALLING ME."
@Electrium
The thing with the ending is, I liked it, but it's the type of ending that a book might have handled better. Reading between the lines, I think the point was that Trip "pulled the trigger" so decisively because of her realization of what she'd done to Monkey, and her remorse over it. I think they could have conveyed the point a little better though.
My main gripe--the camera. Particularly annoying was the way it would automatically zoom in and center behind you when you attempted a charged attack. This angle, combined with the blinding glow from your weapon, conspired to obscure the enemies attacking you, so you never knew when to release the charge and strike. I would always release too early and miss, or too late, and get struck first. Why wasn't that fixed in playtesting? Grrr.
I still have to play Majin! Although having played through some light adventure titles lately, I'm in the mood for something a bit "crunchier" at the moment, maybe something RPG-ish.
@bbain
Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing which one gets picked for tomorrow.
@Plathismo
Yeah, that camera could be obnoxious occasionally - I tended to just always assume there was someone behind me, release the charge, and immediately start striking at my blind spot.
Re: the collar. You know, the very first thing I did after that story moment was to run as far away as I could, to see if Trip would still execute me for getting too far! It never happened, so I made the assumption that he was just keeping the collar on so that he could make use of the dragonfly scanner and HUD. ymmv, though.
And besides, well - there might have been some other reasons why he could be persuaded to leave the collar on so easily...
I believe Enslaved is rated just fine, but definitely under appreciated especially by fair-weather gamers.
I had a few small issues with the game, but it was definitely still worth a purchase and a play-through.
I don't think you're alone in that viewpoint at all - I get the sense that many people feel exactly the same way. Trip's actions in that regard were not defensible (though, I believe, rational and clever), and it can be extremely hard to build empathy for a character that you disagree with very strongly.
Similarly on the dialogue, the way writing affects you is a personal thing. To me, their interactions in each cutscene, and even in some of the random ambient dialogue, seemed quite authentic and emotionally charged - and if there had been even more dialogue, I would have felt it was out of character, as neither of them was really a chatty cathy.
@DarkSaint76
Very nicely put. I think you nailed it.
Playing as Pigsy instead of Monkey wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but that's another story.
I loved the ending. Smart and abrupt and let your imagination take it from there (as there isn't likely a sequel coming).
Ensloaved is very appropriately (and ironically) named, but I'm not sure if the designers meant it that way.
nice blog tho
But yay for Enslaved getting some love and attention. It is such a shame that so many people judged it by the very limited and simple demo (not to mention the idiot boycotters who thought that not playing it would somehow let them have their way with the new DMC).
**SPOILER**
**SPOILER**
**SPOILER**
What was odd to me was that, in the end, the main characters are led to free others who may or may not want to be freed. The name of the game, for me, was for those souls in the fictional reality living in a utopia. Not the slavery of Monkey.
So even after the characters have a first hand knowledge of slavery between interactions, they still act as though they know what is good for those enslaved.
If you've played Mother 3, that game has the BEST representation of Stockholm Syndrome I've ever seen. You play as a Monkey called 'Salsa', you've got a shock collar on and you've been forcibly taken hostage by some Arabian looking fellow. He constantly treats you like crap, and the story gives you every reason to hate him. However during the combat Salsa is INCREDIBLY weak (more of a support character), and you're constantly hoping that the evil man will jump in and save you from the monsters. It leads to a very complex relationship where the gameplay offsets the hate you originally felt.
My only complaint was Pigsys apparent attraction for Trip, came across as really creepy, especially as he was meant to be a friend of her fathers.
The Mysterious Monkey;
-Anyone think it was a little weird that Monkey looked a little like the Andy Serkis/Pyramid head at the end?
- Also, why was Monkey so strong compared to other humans? He took down a "Dog" when it was previously unimaginable.)
- Where did he get his weapons and gear from?
- Why did he have visions that no one else could see? (Not just the headband, right?)
I like to imagine that maybe he was an escaped clone of the Serkis character from Pyramid. Perhaps that is why he was so powerful.
Congratulations on hitting the front page, fulldamage!
Brilliant analysis of the relationships and the clever way the designers took those oh-so-shameful invisible walls and blended them into the story. I've never played Enslaved, so if not for this, I would neve have known anything about any of that! Kudos!