Resurrection: Samorost 2
Floating through space…
Resurrection: Samorost 2
Continued…
And it is an adventure. Drawn with broad strokes, Samorost 2’s narrative is slight, yet satisfying. It begins as a rescue mission, as the gnome sets off to rescue his pet-knapped dog from pear-thieving aliens, while the second part charts the duo’s return home. This slightness is actually one of the game’s great strengths.
Rather than stuffing you with context, Samorost 2 allows you to revel in the imaginative gaps it leaves. In the absence of dialogue and a heavy-handed narrative, Dvorsky allows you to project onto the world anything you wish. We are given some basic information to work with; we know the gnome’s immediate motivations – to get his dog back, then return home – and we know the aliens have a desire to harvest pears, but it ends there. The rest is up to the player.
Dreamscape
It’s a refreshing approach, open to a number of interpretations. My personal reading is that aliens have gutted the land of life, moving from island world to island world, stripping them of fruit to be processed in their clanking, creaking machines. This could be why the universe is so barren. Coupled with the visual theme, a view of Somorost as a gentle environmental allegory makes a certain amount of sense. However, such is the game’s openness that other interpretations are entirely possible. There is no right and wrong.
Perhaps you would rather read it as a dreamscape. The surreal environment would certainly lend itself to that. And let’s not forget, during the dog-knapping that kicks off the narrative, the gnome is woken from his sleep and continues the entirety of the adventure in his pyjamas, walking around with that care-free saunter. The very end of the game sees him drift back off to sleep. Maybe he never woke up at all.
The game’s music, created by Thomas Dvorak, would support that argument. Shifting from squelchy minimalism to haunting oboe-laden laments via windy soundscapes, 
each track is perfectly tailored to fit the on-screen images. It has a sleepy, percussive rhythm to it, a softly ambient tone that never imposes itself on the ear. It’s a minimalist lullaby, dovetailing with the visuals to keep you immersed, to keep you inside the dream.
Indeed, the game’s overall cohesion is wonderful. What better genre for such sumptuously detailed visuals and hypnotic music than the point-and-click adventure? Any other game type would have you fly through the environments with little interaction. Samorost 2 encourages you to pore over every detail.
Still, it’s an incredibly simple game at heart. There is no inventory list to grapple with, so everything you need to progress is contained within the screen in front of you, ready to be manipulated in order to help your sleepy gnome achieve his goal. The puzzles are inventive, and in particular the timed clicks and cause-and-effect chains you’ll have to pull off towards the end of the game are wonderfully constructed and fiendishly imaginative. Dvorsky’s bizarre creative leaps occasionally defy traditional logic, so the odd puzzle descends into pixel-hunting, but when the environments are as beautifully presented as this, you really don’t mind.
Usually, it is to a game’s detriment that the mechanics are arguably the least interesting aspect. But not so with Samorost 2. Because all of its elements combine so well, it is unproductive to break the game down into its constituent parts. It’s a cohesive experience, each part working in unison to create something not to be rushed through and beaten, but absorbed and savoured. It is wonderfully simple, yet deceptively hard. It’s utterly unpretentious, yet open to a myriad of interpretations. It carries more artistic merit than almost anything on the art-game scene. It is, in short, completely wonderful.
Pages: 1 2
This relationship between photography and art you mention is very new to me. And, I’m sorry, but I utterly discard it with a respectful “nonsense!”.
The artistic movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries were largely determined by social, political and cultural movements in a time of great upheaval and rapid changes in Europe and the rest of the world. Photography, on the other hand is an art form in its fullest, and as such as influenced by these conditions, as painting, and writing were. But especially the notion that photography somehow influenced the decline of Realism is preposterous. In fact, photography further raised the interest in Realism. And it was only in the 20th century that photography started be accepted as a form of art. And photographers struggled to gain acceptance then exactly by trying to mirror the painting styles.
…
As for Samorost 2, thanks for calling my attention to it. Beautiful game. I do not agree with your classification of it being Art. :) But that’s probably a futile debate at this point. In any case, I did find it a beautiful and inspiring game.
Of course, I tried to communicate art’s evolution in two sentences, so it was hopelessly reductionist. You are right to point to the wider context.
However, the point was to outline an artistic trajectory from objectivity towards subjectivity, in order to highlight videogames’ alternative route. That much is innarguable.
I’m not sure what you mean about photography’s status as art though, I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.
Glad you enjoyed the game though!
>> I’m not sure what you mean about photography’s status as art though, I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.
Oh. I didn’t mean to imply you were. That was just to further my argument of photography not being influential to art styles, given the conditions of its own rise to an art form.
>> However, the point was to outline an artistic trajectory from objectivity towards subjectivity, in order to highlight videogames’ alternative route. That much is innarguable.
Yes. I fully agree on that.