Games worth discovering

A visually stunning story of robots, cults, and key cards - The Library of Babel Quick Review

1K View2023-04-11

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it, but be prepared for some unexpected challenges along the way. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, and that old adage has never been more true than in The Library of Babel. I was drawn into this game by its hand-drawn visual style and attention to detail, not to mention its immersive narrative, which is based on a short story of the same name by Jorge Luis Borges. Yet, once I started playing, the unclear mission objectives and confusing map caused me to spend a lot of time wondering what the hell I was supposed to do next. If you’re the type that prefers a lack of hand-holding when it comes to objectives or loves a tremendous visual narrative, this one is for you, but if not, The Library of Babel might leave you frustrated and confused.

TIME PLAYED

I clocked in around five hours on The Library of Babel on PlayStation 4. The best part of the experience was the vast number of people I could speak with to learn about this intricate world. The worst was running around finding random objects with little guidance as to what I actually needed to progress.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• The visuals. Hands down, The Library of Babel’s look deserves praise. Not only are the graphics hand-drawn, but the vibrant colors, backgrounds, and character designs make this world something I wanted to keep exploring. Check out the Matriarch in the screenshot above and you can see the kind of intriguing characters that got me invested in this robotic world.

• The narrative. The Library of Babel cast me as an android named Ludovik twenty thousand years in the future. Ludovik is a “seeker,” a detective charged with investigating a radical cult. Part of the fun of playing The Library of Babel was exploring and talking to the many robots scattered about to learn about the game’s governments, cults, and important characters. There’s a lot to chew on with this well-developed world, so much so that playing this game almost felt like jumping into a novel.

• The soundtrack. I knew that The Library of Babel’s soundtrack was worth mentioning when I was playing it, and my girlfriend shouted from a room over, “What are you listening to? That sounds fun.” That interest in the game’s music was completely justified. The music added to the atmosphere by highlighting the differences between each location Platforming through the Mangrove Swamp while listening to the sounds of the surrounding flora and fauna, for example, felt dark and eerie.

WHAT SUCKS

• Unclear objectives. The Library of Babel starts you in a world with a clear history and structure. Nevertheless, it took quite a bit of catching up with all the weird techno-jargon and the character and location names before I understood what was happening. Even once I’d reached that point, mission objectives weren’t obvious. Searching for key cards in general areas meant I had to crawl through every crevice and speak to every robot to learn where to go. Granted, I liked learning what the NPCs had to say, and the interactive choices were interesting, but the constant search for random things grew tedious.

• Pacing. The Library of Babel dragged at times. Sometimes this was due to being sent on another hunt for some random item to unlock the next objective, or sometimes it was because I had to wait patiently to avoid discovery from a cultist in stealth segments. Whatever the reason, I regularly found myself wanting the game to move faster. I often felt like I was just doing busywork between the better parts of the narrative.

💬 Will you play Library of Babel or skip it? Let me know in the comment section!

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