The Swapper is a game that makes me scratch my head, nearly throw up,
and appreciate my evolving morality.
It's a puzzle-platformer on PS3, PS4, and Vita based around creating
clones of yourself and swapping your consciousness with theirs. Switch puzzles abound, and there's a great
sci-fi story around it. It's the kind of
sci-fi I really like, where the fictional science is central to the plot, the
questions, and the answer. I miss this
kind of science fiction, and I'd like to see gaming play with it more, because
I believe it's doubly effective in this medium.
The basic question of The Swapper has to do with identity, and how
closely you tie your self to your form.
Throughout the game your clones will die. Mostly from gravity. But at one point, one of those bodies was
your original. It's gone, and every time
you swap you get further and further from it.
I'm going to talk about the final moments, so there will be some
spoilers. You are given the choice to abandon your life
and any hope of returning to civilization, or swapping with someone who can,
stranding them forever, but escaping yourself.
If it's not entirely clear, when a game gets me thinking, I definitely
recommend you play it.
I remember the first time I played Bioshock, and I was give the chance
to commit a horrible act in order to survive.
And I did. And I kept doing
it. I'm not sure what my thought process
was at the time, but it probably was something about it being a game and not
really counting or being statistically better.
But when I got to the end of The Swapper, I took some time to make my
decision. Helpfully, the game paused to
let me take that time. I can remember a
younger me who believed in survival at any cost, who spoke like a violent,
objectivist and openly mocked people with religious faith. I suspect if we met now, I would hate him,
well and truly.
But this is something I can track with games. It takes a special kind of game to be able to
notice it, and to treat my decisions as a player with the respect they
deserve. Mass Effect is a series that
respects me decisions in name, but places distinct value judgments on them, as
did many games around that time. And I'm
glad we've gotten away from it, I'm glad that if games are going to let me have
a decision like that, then they're going to understand the validity of what I
choose.
I've been on something, and I'm going to ask it seriously. Can action in a game be a substitute for
action in life? That may be too
broad. How about: Can you be forgiven
for a slight by playing through your redemption? When I play a game, I am doing what is
happening on the screen. Even if what I
am doing is not happening outside the game, and may have little ramification on
the world, I am doing it. I am choosing
to forgo my resources in order to help a sick man, I am firing a gun into a
crowd of people at an airport. These
moments matter to me, sure, but I wonder if they should matter more. It might be a silly question, but it's a
thing I am genuinely interested to hear your thoughts on. Can your actions in a game be translated into
actions outside of it?
Next time: The Legend of Zelda: A
Link to the Past
No comments:
Post a Comment