Monthly Archives: September 2012

1213

Posted by sanityisreallyoverrated on

Dance

Dance

Dance for me my little puppet

Westbury

Today I will review small, obscure action adventure game made by Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw (well known in certain circles) with simple title, 1213. This is name of main protagonist, by the way. You can get it here.

You wake up in room. Filthy clothes, medical mask, blood stains, memory problems and perpetual headache. Looks like bad day. And it is about to get worse. After tutorial mode daily training course with overseeing sadist called Westbury you are left with pistolet and opened door. Why? How? Who knows?

Whole game is divided in three parts, telling tale of brain-damaged victim of… whatever happened to him. Poor bastard explores huge base in platformer fashion, recalling old days of classic platformers like Prince of Persia, only less dynamic. Justified, as main hero is not in top physical or mental shape. Levels are in state of partial discountinuity – killed enemies respawns when you enter room again (in one place it was used to make nasty trap). 1213 often have hallucinations, sometime making it hard to distinguish reality from his delusions. This does not make anything easier, of course.

General theme is grimdark. To not spoil, let’s just say there are very good reasons for state of base and protagonist, not to mention mental state of his tormentor Westbury. Game is not that hard, however boss battles can be draining. Best is second battle. You will know why, when you get there.

Now reflecting back, I do not know why I liked this game. I just liked it, despite simple graphics and sound. It is not anything particularly awesome, just a fine way to waste few hours of your life, if you in mood for short, dark SF tale.

“…and when I see the blood, I will poss over you, and the plague will not destroy you.”

– Exodus 12:13