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A quick peek

Peeking at Stars is a strange, slightly surreal game. It is a work of art that attempts to reach out to the player, invoking existentialism. It is about how the human race left a doomed earth and settled on the moon, in a desperate attempt at survival. The survivors are filled with guilt and sorrow after leaving behind so many people to die. You play as a spaceman, a little spaceman, headed for the best spot to watch 'the show'.

The gameplay, so to say, involves walking around twisted pathways and exiting through one of the three doorways. Each doorway triggers a scene that changes the over-all mood of the game, and each one gives the player a different perspective on the flow of events. The end though, remains the same: all featuring spacemen watching 'the show', the demise of the portion of mankind left for dead on earth.

The art featured in the game is simply fantastic; it was simple and depressing, with overwhelming blues and violets to emphasize the gloominess. Combined with the subtle music and a jarring sound effect (in a good way), the setting of a sad, desolate encampment was well-established.

The game is short and is well-executed, though it is balancing dangerously on the line between 'meaningful' and 'pretentious'. Its overall subtlety is its strength, and also its weakness, and I feel that the game is near the edge of trying too hard to sound 'awesome'. But that's just my opinion.

I could see lots of room for potential expansions into a full game. The developer could build on this game's setting with ease. As it is right now though, the game felt more of a prologue or an intro sequence for a bigger game than anything else. And that's what I think it actually is. Because of this, I don't think giving it a rating can be fully justified.

If you have some spare time, go ahead and give it a try.

Posts

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Thanks for the review.

I do agree that the game could come off as sounding really pretentious and 'fake-awesome', but such is the folly of art games as a medium. If I ever discover a way to avoid that, you can be sure that I'll jump on it.
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