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Pierre-Yves: Final Fantasy VII - Remake
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Susan N: Tell Me Why
Dontnod has previously published a number of titles that I’ve enjoyed immensely and Tell Me Why is no different. It is my first runner up because I love the concept of having two siblings who live through a traumatic childhood that reunite years later. One sibling discovers that the other has transitioned. Not only are they dealing with physical and emotional adjustments, but they have to deal with their past in order to move forward. For me, I was drawn to this game because of the publisher, the concept, the characters, and the fact that GLAAD was directly involved in its accuracy. Tell Me Why is a spectacular and visually stunning game that I absolutely adore. It is gut wrenching and I love it.
Richard: CrossCode
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Hello everyone and welcome back to another Jaggy's Corner where I
write about various video gaming topics. This week, I want to cover a
game title that is releasing by DONTNOD Entertainment later this year
called, "Tell Me Why."
Before continuing, please keep in mind that this is not an in-depth
article. I'm just going to give people some of my surface level
thoughts on this release.
Anyways, for those of you that aren't familiar with this title, I
will tell you what I know about the game and why I'm excited about
its release. (Those of you that are wondering why I didn't talk about
this game before, it's because the trailer released right around my
birthday and when a lot of real-life issues needed focus. I somehow
missed the announcement entirely, and I'm sad about that.)
Tell Me Why is a narrative-based game that focuses on two twins who
are untangling the memories of their troubled childhood. The two
characters were separated for years, only to find each other later in
life. After reconnecting, Alyson (the female protagonist) discovers
that her twin is a transgendered male. Players will be able to play
either character on their journey of discovery, which offers two
different sides of their story based on the player's decisions. While
not much else is know (yet), I'm already excited about its release
for a few reasons.
For one thing, the studio has worked closely with GLAAD (Gay &
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to ensure that the character
Tyler is realistic and multi-dimensional. By enlisting the help of
GLADD, the developer is ensuring that they handle the character with
care, while not doing a disservice to the transgendered community -
which is fricken amazing in my mind. You see, DONTNOD isn't afraid of
pushing boundaries by forcing people to analyze/challenge
perspectives and choices, even if those perspectives or choices are
difficult. This video game excites me because I am of the belief that
our medium can be (and is) impactful to people no matter what walk of
life they grew up in. By creating this type of narrative, and knowing
that the studio's attention to detail will be inherently part of the
development process. Titles like Life
is Strange (LiS) and Vampyr have brought several
characters to life. And, players that chose not to drain the blood
from all the characters in Vampyr would know that all of the
characters come from different backgrounds. There is at least one gay
couple in the game - in case that fact was missed. And let's not
forget the option to romance Chloe as Max in the first LiS. In the
case of Tell Me Why, the studio is taking a risk by rustling some
feathers - feathers that need rustling, in my opinion. (Because, as
we know, there are too many people that see through rose-colored
glasses.) DONTNOD is not walking into this project blindly, nor have
they ever when it comes to the creation of compelling,
multi-dimensional characters.
Secondly, I'm generally excited at the fact that DONTNOD is
publishing another story based title. With the exception of LiS 2
(only because I don't have all the episodes for it), I've played most
of their titles and loved them (although, while I was excited for
Remember Me, it is the one game that left a bit of a black
mark on their record. The studio has since made it back into my good
graces.) And I say this even though there were moments playing the
first Life is Strange that I had to get up from my computer to walk
away for a half-hour because the game forced a decision on me that I
didn't want to make.
Thirdly, any of the games published by DONTNOD has contained music
that spoke to me on many levels. In fact, in LiS, I spent a fair
amount of time listening to the music loops that played in the scene
where Max wakes up in LiS or when Chloe and Rachel are sitting
quietly on the train in Life is Strange: Before the Storm. I felt
that the music was poignant enough that I wrote an article published
in Onder Magazine (part of The Ed Greenwood Group) about iconic video
game music. That article includes one of my top songs composed for
LiS which is Mt. Washington. And to this day, I can't listen to that
song without feeling specific kinds of emotions that were evoked
during my playthrough. Those of you that have played the game will
understand how much that song alludes to the story in the game
without players realizing its importance the first time around.
Honestly, the music is beautiful, tragic, and at times leaves a
subtle positive feeling even after some of the most soul-crushing
moments. Mt Washington in particular still haunts me in a strange way
and it will always be attributed to the story of LiS for me...
Anyways, the music is brilliant. That's the take away here.
Those of you that know me will say that great storytelling is
designed to cause a reaction - if it's done well. In fact, a
couple of years back I had written a piece about the difference in my
reaction to the trailers of Detroit Become Human and The Last of Us
II. While that piece cannot be found anymore, what I said was that
The Last of Us II's trailer was meant for fans of the first game,
where Detroit was a whole new IP that would challenge a persons'
perspective (because of which character you play). So, to keep in
line with this thinking, I maintain an open mind about Tell Me Why.
Though, I expect that the gaming community will be divided on their
views of the game. I mean, we can all see it now... The keyboard
warriors will come out to say, "stop bringing politics into our
games" and other similar BS. (I hate to break it to some of you,
but that's not called politics. That's called life.) The other half
of the community will likely applaud DONTNOD for their risk-taking
and efforts in creating an excellent story with characters that are
realistic and multi-faceted, regardless of if the game is successful.
But more to the point, I believe that DONTNOD will be able to pull
off creating a true to life story that revolves around twins where
one twin felt uncomfortable in their own skin to make a drastic
change. While this is not a topic I'm all that familiar with, I do
understand that it takes a lot of physical and mental energy to
undergo the huge changes it takes to physically change genders. And
in my mind, if DONTNOD can pull this project off, then they would be
ahead of the game. I believe that the studio is more than capable of
representing different groups of people properly and sensitively
because they have consulted representatives from GLADD and they even
went as far as hiring a transgendered
actor to be the voice of Tyler.
To put it bluntly, bringing such a prevalent topic to the video
gaming sphere is sorely needed because, unfortunately, there is still
a lack of representation. Frankly, it's appalling that in 2020,
people are not treated equally because of their background, race, or
orientation. People are still people and they deserve to be
treated well. As it stands, I would agree that there isn't enough
diversity in video gaming. (Here's to looking at you Escape from
Tarkov.) However, with DONTNOD stepping up to the plate, I can only
hope that the story is as compelling, if not more than the previous
titles published.
Anyways, I am looking forward to playing Tell Me Why when it comes
out in the summer. (Also, it'll be the first episodic game where all
the installments will release at the same time!) So far, I've really
connected with DONTNOD published games, so I'm most likely to enjoy
this one as well. But, we'll only know that when the game releases.
