Review for The Way of Life. Game for Steam, the video game was released on 15/03/2018
Sometimes, playing the role of game critic can be painful: This is one of those times. Write the review of The Way of Life it hurt us because we know the developers (Cyber Coconut), we know their sacrifices and their good will, and above all we know the project from the beginning. The source of the pain? Our commitment to be honest in front of you readers, to offer you an objective judgment regardless of any personal involvement in this game created by our compatriots.
In this review we will explain why The Way of Life, despite all the good premises, failed to convince us.
Hardly definable as a videogame in the strict sense, The Way of Life allows you to "live" life stories through the eyes of a child, an adult or an elderly person. The stories are independent of each other: there is no common thread, only a negligible meta-story that justifies the presence of the player within the hub that leads within the various experiences (10 in total, 30 if multiplied by characters).
These experiences cover various aspects of life, such as love, war, entertainment and more, and through the player's choices within them the ending will change, offering different food for thought.
On paper, the idea works, as demonstrated by the success of the original prototype (now renamed The Way of Life Free Edition, available on Steam): created in 2014 during a hackathon and made up of only three stories, the original The Way of Life it has gained considerable admiration from critics and gamers. On the wave of enthusiasm, the developers then launched into a successfully closed crowdfunding campaign which, in three years, led to the Definitive Edition.
In practice, stretching the broth is not a winning strategy: the three stories of the prototype remained the pinnacle of the entire project. New stories often lapse into banalities and moralisms that seem appropriate only to an audience of children who still do not know how to distinguish good from evil, with a verbiage of explanations that kill any free interpretation or possibility of meditation on the choices made. An experience, for example, leads to a choice about the life or death of a child and instead of letting the player decide for himself on the value of the choice, the epilogue provides literal interpretations such as "what I did is deeply wrong "or" I sacrificed everything but it was worth it ". Even worse, in some episodes the consequence is even anticipated, leaving no room for the imagination.
Let's not talk about the falling of arms in front of certain representations, as in the scenario in which an entrepreneur achieves success thanks to his computer skills and then finds himself shouting desperately "I am unable to do anything without technology!" once his computer breaks down (as if replacing it weren't enough) - it is evident that the episode criticizes how today's society enslaves us to technology, but it seems incredible how the developers have failed to think of a better representation.
It doesn't help to swallow the pill trying to turn this non-game into a game. Generally, the gameplay of this genre of products boils everything down to pure exploration or a few gameplay mechanics: even more high-budget titles like Heavy Rain for example, have a limited set of actions that the player can perform, (exploration or pressing the keys). right at the right time), while The Way of Life tries the longest step of the leg by adding dozens of mini-games all different from each other but which often do not entertain or, worse still, cause frustration.
There is no balance or common denominator to help the player understand what kind of gameplay they are in: some mini-games treat the player like a fool by guiding them step by step, others are just plain boring and go on too long, while worst do not give any second chance and force you to repeat entire sections of the experience.
The real sin of The Way of Life is the wasted opportunity. Net of the gameplay, the game manages to stir the emotions of the players thanks to the extensive use of allegorical visual representations, for example the anxiety of everyday working life represented through gray corridors, or the efforts of aging represented with environments that appear longer of what I am.
The animations are also striking, extremely expressive in spite of the minimalist style used (the scenarios are bare and the human figures are few polygons) to the point that the characters could clearly communicate messages without having to say a word - the problem is that they do! To use a metaphor: it is like being in front of a very attractive person who, when he opens his mouth, instantly loses all his charm.
The Way of Life Definitive Edition would be a great title if it didn't try to be what it isn't, and left the user free to interpret. The “deep” messages that the experiences would like to communicate are ruined by childish dialogues and clichés, aggravated by boring or frustrating gameplay elements and often inadequate to the experience that The Way of Life would like to offer. To be tried only if you are willing to hold your nose and certainly not at full price.
► The Way of Life is an indie type game developed and published by CyberCoconut for Steam, the video game was released on 15/03/2018
