Polygon, please accept my apologies.
Im many years into a chronic illness that threw my life off the rails right in the beginning of my young adulthood. I have mastered the art of managing it, but I cant deny how depressing and quite frankly boring my life has become.
Regardless of how many years go by and how many plans and hobbies I am forced to give up, it never becomes any less of a treat to be immersed in a video game narrative for a while. When I'm too bored to engage with some Hardcore Gamer Gameplay, I love having the door open for a short little independent game that's dedicated to using the medium in interesting ways to tell its own unique narrative (many of which Ive discovered through Polygon), and I suspect lots of you agree on this
I am concerned that many incredible video game stories will be overlooked, that find innovative approaches to convey wonderful moving narratives while yet fall short for everyone except for a select few. Polygon Dot Com.
I suppose I want to know what games left huge narrative impacts on you! What games provided characters and plotlines that left you profoundly invested in a new reality, even if only for a brief period. It's nice to be immersed in someone's past when there isn't much going on in your own.
Polygon, and as we all love to say, keep on gamin in the free world.
Sam will tell you how to get the job done.
Sam, good day!
Thank you for revealing your life story to us. Chronic illness is real, real hard. There has been a period in my life when Ive been very sick, and stuck at home for six months to a year. It's so lonely, and I can relate to the ways video games help me connect more deeply.
Even when I was on bedrest, getting really serious about League of Legends esports made me feel like a part of a community. It wasnt something I shared with others in my everyday life, but just getting to know these players and this brilliant, complex game through competitive matches made me feel like I was a part of something exciting.
One game immediately came to mind after reading your Dear Polygon letter: Gorogoa, by Jason Roberts and publisher Annapurna Interactive. It's a two-by-two puzzle game that takes place in a two-by-two grid where each square (sometimes all four, sometimes less) contains interactive images. Sometimes this involves combining two images together to create a visual effect that moves the game forward.
So here are a few examples: One illustrates an apple tree while another depicts a bowl. The apple will fall from the tree in one image into the other, and the story will unfold. Similarly, another puzzle involves removing a ball from a shelf and entering a different world.
Gorogoa is short and sweet, lasting between two and three hours. It develops into a story about a boy and a monster, exploring themes of destruction and rebirth. It's also available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Android as of 2018 so you'll have a lot of options on where to find it.
I have never played anything like Gorogoa, and I still think about it a lot, even now, as an age. I hope it is a world youre able to connect with.