There have been three
games I’ve wanted so much that I’ve gotten obsessive over them. The first is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The
second: Persona 4, which would go on
to become my 4th favorite game ever.
The third -- and the most recent -- is Katawa Shoujo.
All the colors of the rainbow.
I’d heard about the
game a while back -- a freeware visual novel created by, get this, a bunch of
forum-goers on the internet based on a single page of art from an indie
artist. Its main characters? High school students gathered at a school for
people with disabilities, running the gamut from blindness to deafness to
amputations. Its gameplay? Reading and clicking through text and
occasionally answering a multiple-choice prompt, with the perceived goal of
becoming “really good friends” with one of the disabled girls (hence the
title).
I feel embarrassed just
writing that. Hot off the heels of
finishing the sublime 999, I wanted
to try my hand at another visual novel. And
when I heard that Katawa Shoujo was
available for download, and FREE, I raised my eyebrows in amusement and
intrigue, as I so often do. And when I
saw the reactions across the internet -- tales of grown male gamers closing
their laptops and setting their heads on their desks to cry -- I knew this was
a game I had to play.
I’ve only played a few
games that have made me cry, or tear up, or choke up. Sonic
Adventure 2. Trauma Team. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The aforementioned 999. Those are the kinds of
experiences that I want to dissect -- to understand what makes them tick, so
that I can use them in my own works. How
do I make a true emotional moment? How
do I make readers choke up and take a look at their own lives? Sure, I can make people laugh, and I can make
them pump their fists and say “Hell yeah, homeslice!” But do I have what it takes to make them
cry? I suspect not. And that’s why I intend to use the game as
training to learn its secrets.
Such as how to resist the awesome seductive power of drill hair.
The only problem is the
price of entry. Do I dare venture
in? Do I dare face the power of
emotion? Do I dare play a game that
veers dangerously close to being a dating sim, coated with distinctly Japanese
visuals, and risk becoming a glossy-eyed nerd who clutches anime hug pillows
and whispers “Moe…^_^” well into the night?
Okay, maybe that’s a
little extreme. For one thing, I’m
already nerdy enough. Playing a visual
novel isn’t going to change me that much. And besides, from what I've heard this game is quite tasteful...outside of its title, in which "katawa" is considered very offensive in Japan. But that was intentional. The developers behind it are pushing boundaries in a way plenty of other companies shy away from -- or arse up entirely -- so this might be...interesting, to say the least. I'm all for a game that teaches me something new, and something with a bit more class and taste (my gamer cred needs a quick boost every now and then). So all in all, I’m looking forward to a full playthrough of Katawa Shoujo; it could be a very nice
change of pace from a world of brown shooters.
Bring on the tears,
game. I DARE you.
Download it here
(assuming you have a torrent program): http://katawa-shoujo.com/ Be a man. (Or a woman. A...WOman. Or...woMAN. Or tacos.)
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