Games worth discovering

"MIRAI", use games to light up the light of life

436 View2022-05-16

"This game is a love letter from the creators to a

better world"

This is the opening title of the production

team's development diary. In the eyes of the producer, this world deserves to

be loved. The original intention of the work "MIRAI" is very simple,

yearning for artistic games, and building empathy for the world and people who have suffered psychological trauma. Getting people to feel loved again, even if it's only a faint ray of hope, may rekindle hope. This is my own feeling after going through all the process of the game, and it is also the reason why I want to recommend this game.

"What I want to mention in particular is that as an

East Asian, I like restrained and reserved expressions, so we used a very

conceptual form of expression in the presentation of the plot."

Similar to many art games, ELYSIUM studio used a lot of abstract images to enhance the atmosphere in this game. The expression of "MIRAI" is more inclined to the restrained thinking of East Asians. Confused, on the one hand, it prompts players to piece together the original appearance of the story by themselves. Because the plot that everyone understands is generated by the combination of their own life experience and the game, this open-ended plot setting expands the interaction between players and the game to a greater extent.

In terms of art design, the style of "MIRAI" is somewhat similar to that of "Monument Valley". The production team expresses the difficulties and anxiety that people encounter in society in a symbolic form by concretizing psychological trauma. By using a large number of combinations of black, white and gray, the pure soul of the protagonist is expressed in pure white. As the chapter progresses, the production team has made different combinations of black, white and gray, such as: using a white background with black and gray fog to create an illusory sense of dream; using black as the main color with the white starlight flashing to show the tranquility of the night sky; and geometric shapes Combined to bring refraction, the imagery of icebergs or mirrors is brought out. And what I like the most is the difference in chapter 4. The floor composed of white cubes and the dense black lines express the extreme anxiety in the girl's heart. With a large number of eye elements, it further emphasizes the intense anxiety of being watched by everyone.

And by playing with colors, you can also comeinto contact with a mechanism that runs through the gameplay - hiding. The protagonist can hide his figure by hiding in the plane of the same color, and it is very similar to people who subconsciously gain a sense of belonging from the group in order to seek peace and shelter.

"These musical styles also focus more on the expression of emotions and are more idealistic, which fits well with the theme of the game."

For games, in addition to the first sense of vision, hearing also greatly affects the player's emotions. The producer of "MIRAI" said that this work has a combination of psychology in the music style. The soundtrack of each level is differentiated according to the environment. The overall tone uses a lot of Ambient, Electronic, Glitch, Indie Rock and other styles of soundtrack, with some psychedelic unrealistic feeling. It is also this sense of unreality that better reflects the theme of "dream" in "MIRAI".

"I insist on creating the game system through a

non-combat method. One of the purposes is to express my inner fragility and helplessness,

and the other is that I am tired of the process of conquering by

fighting."

When it comes to the realization of realistic

pressure in dreams, the Rogue-like shooting game "The Binding of

Isaac" also shows the producer's shadow of the same year through the style

of absurd fairy tales. The Boss, the mother, also symbolizes the abuse of the

mother in childhood. By gaining great power, the protagonist gradually defeats

the "mother" and shatters the shadows of the past. This kind of hearty

combat is easier to fascinate, but MIRAI chose a completely different path.

The work of "MIRAI" has an interesting

point. In most current games, players can manipulate the protagonist to

actively destroy or obstruct places to win. However, in "MIRAI", in

most cases, the protagonist cannot effectively counteract the monsters, and

only the monsters can cause damage to the monsters. For MIRAI, this non-combat

system is more just to allow players to have a deeper understanding of the

experience of vulnerable groups.

When I operate the character, I want to escape from the monster time and time again, but I can't escape. Human ability is limited, reality is not a game, and not all difficulties can be overcome with simple efforts. People often speculate on others subjectively, with poor psychological endurance, hypocrisy, and lack of effort. Putting on a hat is just to satisfy the self-superiority and ignore the suffering of others. These words fell on the vulnerable groups, just like the last level in the game, the NPC's noisy voice and line-like eyes, like a lingering knife, gradually wiped out the will of the protagonist. After all, people cannot become others, and only by trying their best to empathize can they understand the difficulties of others. Understanding and tolerance are the keys to connecting people. This is probably some will that the production team wants to convey through the game.

"Although we don't know each other, we are like a

bright spot glowing in our respective places. These lights can illuminate every

corner."

In the development diary, the producer ended

with this sentence, and probably felt that momentum from it. When I was a

child, I always wanted to change the world, but when I grew up, I realized how

difficult it was. Most of the people who persisted to the end were just idiots.

But there are always things that only "idiots" can do. During the

gameplay of the game, some tiny emotions touched me through the screen. When

entering the chapter of the black girl, the protagonist moves from the end to

the beginning. From the initial daze, I gradually became calm. This experience,

like the light spots one by one, gave me some solace. This is just a small