Time is running out.
The old world is ablaze. It’s dry rotten foundation, built upon exploitation and the worship of hierarchy, has been exposed. Igniting into an all consuming inferno. Without the prospect of salvation to the return of ‘normalcy’, the dying throes of empire spitefully seeks to prevent a new world from taking it’s place. It’s administrators would rather self-immolate and see us all as turn to ash, than forfeit any concessions. And so, until that which imposes it’s order is decisively suffocated, we are all left burning. Left only to rely upon community to sustain us so that we may survive through this calamity.
Virtue is found only in crisis. Our self-prescribed ideals are conceived hollow, only given substance once tested through fire. How strong is our commitment to each other once faced down the barrel of material reality? Your energy, your time, your resources, your attention, your love, your emotional spirit. There is a limitation to that which you can provide for those whom you would wish to care for. A limit that falls short of the needs of all you meet. An uncomfortable truth becomes apparent.
You cannot save everyone!
Whether you are actively aware or acknowledge it, you are conditioned to make social choices. To become increasingly selectively of those whom you would seek to connect with and form bond. Gatekeeping those whose company you should foster. Lest you become aware, and therefore culpable, in the starvation inflicted upon those with untreated needs. Especially needs which you had the means to alleviate. To then assign a cost and expected return in the maintenance of the relationships around you, and make judgement that you are able and willing to sustain them. To also reappraise these judgements as necessary so that you may jettison away those whom exceed your capacity. You convince yourself it is not in cruelty nor malice but pragmatic necessity in which you do so. To overextend yourself jeopardises the survivability of both yourself and everyone who relies upon you, at least while you still prioritise their lives.
As so thanks to your considered discretion, you make it to see the rise of dawn. The fires have finally embered away. New life and a new world is to be re-birthed from the ashes. One that requisites a new foundation. An ethos. A shared conviction to form the basis of our lived relations. What virtue were you able to forge within the flames? A selective love? Deliberations upon whom you can extend kindness? Is it really so disparate from the exploitation and hierarchy before? Or are the marks of the old world branded deep beyond your skin?
You may not have been able to save everyone. But did you even try?
(Unsighted is a game that attempts to invoke desperation. To challenge your conviction as you are pressured by the clock, as a colourful cast of slowly dying characters is left to the mercy of your video-game acumen. This imposing mechanic centralises much of the experience, you don’t have the luxury to absorb its scenery, to explore every nook and crevice, to find the specific key to an inconvenient placed lock. And although this option is able to be toggled off, this discomfort is an integral part of the experience. So that you may introspect your response, and internalise how you adapt to it’s presented scenario. How severe such a lesson is, is varied. The game’s play time with large range as it is heavily based on how quickly you are able to adapt to it’s systems, and in turn how much you are forced to engage with it’s pressure.
Beyond this the game is very satisfying to play. It is quality of life enhanced parry-slop. Through positioning and parrying, assisted by very generous audio and visual cues, you are able to push through all of its combat challenges. And while the lack of variety in how you address each conflict may intuitively seem to be a concern, due to omnipresence of the clock you are instead grateful for this predictability. Efficiency is your main and only pressing concern. This is another trapping of course, as the game through making it so clear on what it demands from you, leaves only you solely accountable for your failings.
My only wish is that the game leaned more into it’s frictional aspects. The game overall too polished and streamlined for it’s own good. For example, the ‘relationship’ mechanic with NPCs is simply associated with how many units of the life extending items you have provided to each, which I feel could have been repurposed to be more involved. The main narrative is fairly removed from your ‘performance’ and operates independently from it without any commentary, likely due to logistical complexity. I recommend this game to all those fairly acclimatised to action games, as in more than ways than one it will challenge you. Just make sure you have the current capacity to deal with the additional anxiety it would impose upon you, lest you be forced to jettison it away.)
