But it also seems like the gameplay loop would get repetitive. I’m sure the developers of The Imagined Leviathan could have made more if they had additional time. It’s a much smoother method of conveying what the devs want you to think than the typical style of finding an oddly specific diary or a tape recorder where the owner needed to hear themselves giving exposition. You find yourself weaving in and out from the desperation of searching for that last piece of kindling to start the fire, and back again to thinking about the real meaning about what the musing is about. They add an entirely new layer of the game that you put your focus on. The other strength of The Imagined Leviathan is the storytelling, and not just because the narrator, Anthony de Fault, has a nice voice. It’s disorienting unlike any other horror game I’ve played, and it filled me with a unique sense of dread being forced to walk into an all white abyss and hoping for the best. Whereas most are too dark to see, this one is too impossibly bright. This not only gives a greater sense of being snow blind, but it’s also a subversion of what you’d expect in a horror game. The minimalist style of black on white is an inversion of the typical silhouette style you’d find in other games, because the black is only one tiny fraction of what you see. The Imagined Leviathan looks really good, for one. And frankly, that is an infinitely deeper horror than simply freezing to death in the forest. You can’t not use a computer with lithium mined by slaves, because unless you live in the woods like the Unabomber, they’re integral to being part of our modern society. These do seem irrelevant to the problem at hand (hypothermia), but they also build a connection between you and the game, because what they are talking about are unavoidable realities of life. The defeated acceptance of imminent climate catastrophe, or the suppressed knowledge that the very computers luxuries we use every day are made with the blood of the third world. The words themselves are an interesting signifier, giving the player a concept that can evoke personal reflection and existential dread. Why include this as part of a survival horror? This part of The Imagined Leviathan is open to interpretation. Story and moral, for some reason during a blizzard. But over time, that same family themselves gradually began to speed while they drove again. One good example would be the description of a loved one getting hit by a speeding car, and the shock and devastation that caused the family. Each is a brief vignette of an experience that is simultaneously mundane but at the same time a powerful Aesop’s Fables-esque narrative. The stories you hear are “ecological musings,” which are “fragments of the past world,” according to the game’s description. One of the reasons I thought the writing in The Imagined Leviathan was so powerful is because it doesn’t actually seem to have anything to do with the situation at hand. It’s a real Stranger than Fiction style situation, minus the comedy. Whatever other memories you have, you may listen to at the fire, with voice narration and some of the words popping up around you. These words, a memory, are as necessary as any other ingredient, and you must sacrifice one each time you want to light a fire. What, you mean you don’t give up some of your soul when making a campfire? Among the resources scattered about in The Imagined Leviathan, you will also occasionally find a set of words. A few sticks, a lighter, some kindling, and of course, a small piece of your mortal soul. To survive you need to stay warm, and that means finding the materials to build a fire. The weather is about as white as a white out can get. The Imagined Leviathan is a first person survival horror set in a forest. We’re doing these out of order, otherwise it might be confusing. It’s a horror game, where you play a person trying to survive in a blizzard without freezing to death. Created for the Haunted PS1 Summer of Screams Jam, this entry is a far cry from any of the other entries, and not simply because it doesn’t actually look like a PS1 game. The incredible use of a visual style antithetical to most horror games, or the incredible use of storytelling in The Imagined Leviathan. I can’t decide what I should focus on more. Ultra-Indie Spotlight Sunday: The Imagined Leviathan Is Real Horror
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