Sony's incubation deals have produced this generation's most unique game experiences. For nurturing indie studio Thatgamecompany, and encouraging its experimental design tendencies, Sony was rewarded with a trio of transcendent games, each celebrated for exploring emotion and making personal impact.
It's latest partnership sees the platform holder take Giant Sparrow under its wings for The Unfinished Swan, a PSN exclusive that'll charm its way into your heart.
Monroe's Otherwordly Odyssey
The game's storybook flavour is best encapsulated by its whimsical Roald Dahl or Rudyard Kipling-esque premise. Orphaned protagonist Monroe's mother had always been much better at starting things than finishing them. When she died she left behind gallery of unfinished paintings, and the orphanage allowed Monroe to keep just one. He picked the Unfinished Swan, his mother's favourite.
While Monroe slept, the swan sprung to life and vanished. Upon awaking and noticing its absence, Monroe grabbed his mother's silver paint brush and followed the footprints through a little door he hadn't seen before. And thus begins Monroe - and the player's - journey through a strange kingdom.
Although Monroe's efforts to catch to the on-the-run swan and his feelings of loneliness in the absence of his mother underpin the narrative, the story's overt focus is the monarch of the fantasy land.
The quirky King is driven by the desire to create an aesthetically impeccable dominion, but he belabours to maintain a balance between his artistic vision and the conflicting needs of his people. As if that wasn't taxing enough, the King also struggles with issues of existentialism, as he endeavours to leave a lasting mark on the world.
Peppered around the game world are a number short poetic passages offering insight into the King's personality, life and exploits. These feed into the game's storybook stylings. Visually, they have the same minimalistic make-up as a child's story book; they're just a few lines of text and are accompanied by delightful illustrations. A female narrator delivers each short passage with a soothingly sweet voice, conjuring imagery of a mother reading to a child tucked away under a warm duvet.
Comments
14 comments so far...
voodoo341 on 15 Oct '12 said:
It actually looks really interesting.
S-Smith on 15 Oct '12 said:
ANOTHER PlayStation classic then:-P PlayStation brand = Quality GAMES as always:-P
TheLastDodo on 15 Oct '12 said:
Day one.
Don't f**k it up SCEE.
CrispyLog on 15 Oct '12 said:
Gray scales?
Damn you America!
MrPirtniw on 15 Oct '12 said:
Looks very artistic- like it!
Seems very autistic. Poor boy.
DAEDALUS79 on 15 Oct '12 said:
Nice. Now we just have to wait for the inevitable news that SCEE have f**ked up and the game wont be released for 6 months because killer bees have been released in the server rooms or because the CEO has gone bonkers and locked himself in a closet with the computer passwords with a big jar of honey.
voodoo341 on 15 Oct '12 said:
Well it's listed in Europe for release this Wednesday which is sort of positive. Normally if it isn't coming they pretend they've never heard of the game. The first test for their new store and how much they've listened to customer feedback. Not sure how a game without any real dialogue could be held up being translated but this is SCEE we're talking about. Probably worried about the incorrect shade of orange offending the Dutch or something.
TheLastDodo on 15 Oct '12 said:
Remember Machinarium?
Confirmed in the Plus update then suddenly delayed (with SCEE hoping for "later this month") then released the following day.
You just can't predict SCEE.
voodoo341 on 15 Oct '12 said:
At least Machinarium arrived the next day. It didn't do a CS:GO and just never existed.
dwhlufc on 15 Oct '12 said:
Your purposely trying to jinx it, aren't you?
TheLastDodo on 15 Oct '12 said:
Hell no!
Just been realistic.
Barca Azul on 15 Oct '12 said:
Have a feeling this could be the next journey.
Really liking the look of this.
solamon77 on 16 Oct '12 said:
PSN has really been hitting hard with the mature games recently. I'm really liking it. And by the way, when I say "mature", I mean actually mature. Not this 15 year old's idea of what "mature" is that most M rated games are these days.
LordVonPS3 on 16 Oct '12 said:
Looks like Sin City, except with a chicken instead of Jessica Alba.