This Is the Only Level (play it here)
This title is probably my favorite title on the list. It's both immediately playable and deceptively insightful. While most other art games concern themselves with wider influences from prose fiction and film, This Is the Only Level is unabashedly -- and somewhat combatively -- a game. The designer displays a keen understanding about the underlying silliness of gradated levels and their equally absurd goals. People have assigned a bit of a misnomer to Achievements when they refer to them as "metagames." This is a true metagame: It's a game that exposes the devices underpinning the medium itself. If you like it, check out its sequel, This Is the Only Level Too. (Play the sequel here.)
The Majesty of Colors (play it here)
The Majesty of Colors plays out a lot like a Japanese interactive-fiction game. The only difference is that the creator compresses the experience into a five-minute series of moral/exploratory choices and garnishes them with a startlingly contrastive bit of childhood wonder. Hint: You are the sea creature.
I Can Hold My Breath Forever (play it here)
With its reductive sound and visuals, I Can Hold My Breath Forever spins a short yarn centered around feelings of yearning and solitude. Roaming around what is essentially a timed maze, you explore underground water systems and caverns in search of a childhood friend who dove into a local pond many years ago. All in all, it's a lonesome experience that illustrates the point that games can convey as much through their overall presentation as their mechanics and graphics. What I'm trying to say is that it's good because it's poorly illustrated.
Today I Die (play it here)
Today I Die is another favorite of mine on this list. It's a mixture of an adventure game and an interactive poem. That right, an interactive poem. I wrote it. The onscreen display shows a brief bit of verse with a few words floating in the environment. The player switches out key words in the writing to recreate the environment, and the desperate poetry and environments slowly become more and more joyful as you manipulate them. I really like the musical accompaniment, too.
Gray is another title styled as an interactive metaphor. In the game, you run around as a black character model (the side of peace) amid a frenzied, riotous mob of white character models (the side of war). The goal is to try to convince key members of the opposition to join your side. This is done through a minigame that I can only describe as a weird, hands-across-the-political-aisle allusion that amounts to a battle of oral pulse bullets. If you manage to sufficiently meet an opponent halfway -- in the "gray" -- they join your side. Once you turn the entire mob black, your character switches sides to white, and the whole cycle starts again with you reconverting the the rioters back to their original stance. The game goes on forever and increases in difficulty with each cycle. Read into that what you like.
Bonus Game
Jason Rohrere's Passage in 10 Seconds (play it here)
Jason Rohrer's Passage in 10 Seconds isn't really an art game -- unless you consider parody a valid form of art, which I do. If you've played Jason Rohrer's Passage, and you think it's a bunch of artsy-fartsy hogwash, you'll definitely want to check this one out. Take that you simpering art wimps!
So, James. Your goal is to kill all productivity, yeah?
Yeah, these will keep me busy for some time!
its too bad you don't get to do the vertical cha cha with your wifey in everyday the same dream. anyhow, it felt like office space meets groundhog day.
ImmorTall death ending reminded me of when sniper wolf dies before you get to disc 2 in metal gear.
@Greg I am! Did you check out Passage in 10 seconds?
I played Today I Die and This Is The Only Level a while back and thought they were great. Normally I'm not big on flash games, but based on the fact that these are on the same list, I shall have to investigate the other games. :)
I'm suprised you included Coma, which was released very recently. I would also recommed Looming, a game where you explore this foreign, black and white-bit world, by Gregory Weir, who made The Majesty of Colors, which is on the list. Link is below:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/541333
OK, if I'm only going to play one or two of these, which ones should I do? They all sound interesting to me in different ways. (I already played This is the Only Level...of course...being the Achievement whore that I am.)
@Shoe I'd say Everyday the Same Dream and Today I Die. I really like those two, and they are pretty short.
Thank you for this! I played Today I Die sometime last year, and really wanted to incorporate it into one of my classes. I sort of forgot about it, remembered it a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't remember the title. I was so frustrated! Now I have it bookmarked, and I'm taking it along to my next curriculum design meeting! Thanks again!
Awesome! I love artsy-fartsy things! I like pretending like I get them! I'm gonna play all of the games on here that I haven't yet. You're the bestest, James!
I liked most of these, but really liked that first game you posted (Every day is the same dream.) I think it had the most emotional impact on me. The 10 passage game was super funny, although I think people have to play the first game to get it. Great article!
@Alex It's because artsy-fartsy things are so hard to get that you look smart for liking them.
@Matt I liked Everyday the Same Dream a lot, too. I think the droning music really sets it off.
This article was forwarded to me by a friend who knew I'd enjoy it, and he was right. A great collection of games here - I've just spent the past three hours at work playing through all of them. Coma is my favourite, if only for its astonishing production values. I'd like to add a few to the list if I may? I hope you don't mind me posting links to my reviews of them.
The first one, is Small Worlds, which makes pure exploration its motivation. It manages to create a uniquely pervasive sense of melancholly, and the music is just beautiful. Review (and link to game): http://iamthemanta.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-small-worlds-flash.html
The second, is Icycle, which actually requires a little platforming dexterity, and is visually luscious. it is also incredibly funny, despite being based on a rather sad premise. Review and link: http://iamthemanta.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-icycle-flash.html
And finally, an example of an art game going horribly wrong. I Love You 2 is filled with interesting ideas and game based interpretations of human emotions, but manages to sully the whole thing with a hugely perverse concept. Complete at your peril: http://iamthemanta.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-i-love-you-2-flash.html
Thanks again for the article, and I hope you enjoy my contributions to your list.
@Ben - The best part about Bitmob is that you can post those reviews in their entirety right here on the site and get your writing some more attention.
@James I did check out Passage in 10 seconds. It's a good one, and I can't say his interpretation is wrong :) Also played ImmorTall and Today I Die and enjoyed both. You're making this a regular series, right?
@Greg Oh no. This is nearly three years of accrued games. Most indie/art games are terrible. I may do another somewhere down the line, but it really depends on how quickly more cool games come out. I'm always on the lookout.