[quote] A delightful insight into a writer’s creative process. Despite some issues with glitches and controls, the game has incredible art, soundtrack and a story that’s bound to be relatable to those of us who exercise our creativity. Video review at the end! [/quote]
For some of us, creativity is like a candle. You light it up, and the flame burns bright, lighting the entire room around it. You revel in said light - I mean, how could you not? - and you feel motivated to do everything there is to be done… up until the moment the light burns out, and you’re left in the dark, trying everything you can to light the candle again. This is a tale as old as time, one that is unfortunately all too familiar for quite a few of us who actively exercise our creativity, including me. Perhaps this is why I was drawn to Forgotten Fields and its slice-of-life tale about a writer that has a severe case of writer’s block.
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[b] Before I go any further, let me be clear: this review is spoiler-free! [/b]
The steam store page description for the game says “Sid is a writer struggling with writer’s block, attempting to recapture the feelings of inspiration he felt when he was younger”, and I feel like this sentence captures a lot of what is special about Forgotten Fields. [b] Its story and writing are good, but nothing outstanding [/b] - yet, as a guy who loves to write and has not been able to do so for years, yearning for my teenage creativity that pumped out dozens of chapters for many different stories, [b] this story hits very close to home.[/b]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849084259
Since publishing his first book, Sid has been unable to even write a story summary for his second book. This shouldn’t be a problem, but unfortunately, writing is Sid’s job, and our capitalist society demands him to pay his bills, so he has to submit a new idea in order to receive a new grant and continue writing full time. The kicker? It is the day of the deadline, and Sid still can’t bring himself to write anything. While he struggles with this problem, his friend drops by and passes along a message from Sid’s mom, who wants to have one final dinner with Sid and his friends before selling the house the very next day. Despite being reluctant to go due to his deadline, the protagonist decides to go anyway, embarking on a nostalgic adventure home.
[b]I think it’s clear to all reading this at this point, but I found the storyline to be very relatable. [/b] The writing does try too hard to be philosophical at times, but it brought me some new insight into an issue that has plagued me and countless others for a long time. The issues, struggles, fears and hopes that Sid has are mostly shared with me, and I could clearly notice that the developer’s own heart was poured into this game. It really feels like a personal experience, an insight into his mind, which provides a very unique opportunity for introspection.
While Sid is on his trip to his mother’s house, he meets up with his old friends, and manages to slowly develop the story he has been stuck on for ages. Basically, [b]every time the protagonist gets a new idea, you are thrown into a fairytale world, controlling Sid’s character, Cyradil, and playing through the new idea yourself.[/b] These story developments are both a narrative and gameplay device, acting as a very interesting way to develop Sid’s tale.
These story developments work as a narrative device because there are plenty of parallels to be drawn from Sid’s story and Cyradil’s story. The fairytale world develops in direct response to Sid’s real life experiences, often mirroring things and dilemmas you just played through as Sid. In turn, watching things unravel in the fairytale world allows us an unfiltered insight into the protagonist’s mind and innermost thoughts. As for the gameplay device, it comes in the form of the occasional switch between the “real” world and Sid’s imagination. The fairytale world also has a bit more liberty in terms of themes and gameplay, as demonstrated by a basic stealth section and even a 2d section.
Story aside, the game also excels in two other very important departments: the art style and soundtrack. [b]The game is a delight to see, and the art perfectly complemented the theme the game was going for at any given moment. The same can be said for the soundtrack. [/b] At one point, we have the warm colors of a sunset and the sounds of waves crashing against a beach, giving us a sense of relaxation and a feeling that everything would be alright, while Sid himself had a moment of introspection. At another point, the game used blues, whites, purples and yellow colors to convey the feeling of magic and safety in a certain location, with the ambient sound of birds and crickets to further collaborate in the construction of the environment.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849083949
So the story is good, the soundtrack and artstyle are awesome… but what about the gameplay?
[b]In the game, you walk around and interact with objects, usually from an isometric perspective that allows you to rotate and zoom the camera. [/b] There are some deviations from this, such as segments in which you play in first person, but those are unfortunately not very common. [b]While the game is very dialogue heavy, with plenty of reading to be had, the game does a good job of breaking it up with the occasional minigame or problem solving sections.[/b] I take good care to not call them puzzles because really, you are told what to do and you basically have to go and do what you’re told. The minigames aren’t too great either, mostly revolving around quick time events or specific movements (like flicking the mouse to throw a rock), but they do serve to stop the game from being dialogue after dialogue.
The main problem with the gameplay, though, are the [b]at times janky controls.[/b] There were a few sections in the game that genuinely made me frustrated, as I was unable to properly do what the game wanted me to. The main offender here was the rock throwing minigame: for some reason, I could never get it to throw properly, instead either barely moving the rock from the ground or just yeeting it off camera, with no middle ground. And while we’re on the topic of issues…
[b]The game is, unfortunately, quite glitchy.[/b] There were two main issues that I found. One of them, that you can easily replicate, is related to the space bar. If you press space, you skip your current text. However, if you press space bar while the game is controlling your camera angle (for example, when the camera focuses on the shower when you’re showering in the beginning of the game), you can move your character, but the camera angle gets stuck in the wrong angle and is unable to be fixed except by reloading an earlier save. The second one was that my character just… refused to move properly at some point. He basically walked in one direction till I paused the game, then unpaused and quickly pressed another direction, which would prompt Sid to eternally walk in that direction. If you run into this second issue, just open the clothing menu and it fixes the problem. [b]Aside from these bugs, there were no performance issues.[/b]
Overall, I was glad to have played this game. It made me think about a lot of things, but I think the main takeaway I had was that maybe, just maybe, trying to re-light the same candle that was put out in the intro to this review is not the way to go. Perhaps what I should instead be doing is lighting new candles, and looking forward to the future.
[quote] On that note: I have released my first youtube review (of this very game)! Please check it out if you want a video review instead of text! If you have any feedback about it, or this written review, feel free to message me! [/quote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JYqMG1sBFY
