Daniel Benmergui has made a handful of experimental videogames, all of which are free to play and contain a charming amount of pixelated melancholy. Or maybe a melancholy amount of pixelated charm? Either way, they are definitely worth checking out. The title Gamer Limit presents to you today is the final part of his trilogy of art games, or “The Moon Stories” trilogy, Today I Die.
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The game is simple in its mechanics, as every action is performed by simply clicking and dragging whether you are maneouvring the character, interchanging words or just moving a bubble. There are various “zones” in this game, which directly relate to the state of the poem that adorns the top of the screen and each requires a small amount of puzzle-solving to progress through the game’s narrative. The game is by no stretch of the imagination something to class as challenging, as each puzzle can be solved relatively simply, but the focus of this game was never to make player’s feel like they were playing the next Ikaruga, as Today I Die is about the experience and the exploration of the game’s concept and aesthetic qualities.
The look of the game, as well as the music, changes throughout your progression and the way in which it does so is more emotionally affecting than that of the narrative, which is the main indication of your progress.
As mentioned in the introduction, this is the third of Daniel Benmergui’s Moon Stories trilogy, and whilst each of them contain their own elements to discuss, and I could mention things such as emotional journeys, characterisation or symbolism, essentially the only way you will discover any of these things is by jumping in head first and trying it out. Hm, look at that, I honestly didn’t expect to say the words “jumping in head first” when talking about a game featuring a girl who’s drowning.
To play each of his games, you can find a link to I Wish I Were the Moon (http://www.kongregate.com/games/danielben/i-wish-i-were-the-moon), Storyteller (http://www.ludomancy.com/games/StoryTeller.html) and the game in question Today I die (http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php?lang=en).
As I mentioned in a blog not so long ago, if you found this game enjoyable, why not pay something for it? Despite it being free you have the opportunity to let the developer know you enjoyed it and pay something, because even if coders live in dark basements, they have to eat at some point. If you find yourself thinking, “Yes, this man deserves my money!” then there are some interesting things the creator has done in regards to donations.
You can sponsor my next game by donating! There are bonuses to special sponsors if you donate more than, or equal to:
any amount: Moon Stories Pack
$27 … and you become an silver sponsor of my next game and your name will appear in the credits, including a link of your choice [5 available]
$75 … and I’ll make a “pixelated”, moon-style version of yourself or whoever you want [Only 1 available!]
$99 … and make you a “poster” (digital) of I Wish I Were the Moon or Today I Die, creating both characters after whoever you want [3 available]
$995 … and make you a custom game based on I Wish I Were the Moon or Today I Die, creating both characters after whoever you want and a new ending of your liking! [No more available!]
Head over to http://www.ludomancy.com/blog/downloads/ if that sounds like your kind of thing.
[Free-Game Friday is a new weekly feature in which a writer from the GamerLimit staff looks at a completely free game and discusses their experience with it, allowing you to download it at the end. Feel free to check out our full schedule right here!]
Daniel Benmergui has made a handful of experimental videogames, all of which are free to play and contain a charming amount of pixelated melancholy. Or maybe a melancholy amount of pixelated charm? Either way, they are definitely worth checking out. The title Gamer Limit presents to you today is the final part of his trilogy of art games, or “The Moon Stories” trilogy, Today I Die. Read more… »
