http://imageshack.com/a/img822/3717/s9zz.png
.flow is an art game. Let's get that out of the way right here and now. It's not the pinnacle of gameplay, it's got somewhat boring moments in it, and the story is poorly explained.
Regardless, it's still one of my favorite games, so it has clearly done something right.
<img_inline width=350 align=left>http://imageshack.com/a/img593/8893/xxb2.jpg
A bit of background: .flow is heavily based off a strange little RPGMaker game called Yume Nikki that essentially pioneered the "Dreamscape" genre of game (Yes, LSD Dream Simulator for the PS1 got there first, but it was in first-person perspective and didn't spawn imitators). In Yume Nikki, you played a girl who refused to leave her apartment, would sleep to dream and write her dreams in her dream journal to save the game. In .flow, it's a bit different. You play a girl who refuses to leave her apartment (it's later implied to be a quarantine) who sleeps to pass the time (this is where you save your game) and hooks herself up to a computer to dream.
Since it's done in RPGMaker, everything is seen from a bird's-eye view, and everything is placed on a grid. You can move your character, Sabitsuke, in the four standard directions with the keyboard, interact with things with Z and open the menu with X.
The game proper is a major departure from RPGMaker standard fare. There is no experience, there is no leveling up, there are no fights. Initially, there isn't even a goal. You play Sabitsuki (Japanese for "covered in rust"), a girl with white hair, an omnipresent shirt and skirt, and what initially appears to be intense agoraphobia. You can play a strange little video game on her console and TV, and you can wander around her room and balcony as much as you like, but if you attempt to leave, she will just shake her head. It's not very interesting... until you sit her at her computer. Then she will hook herself up to it, suddenly wake up on her balcony with very ominous ambiance, your bed and computer are rendered useless, and your mindscape lies beyond your door.
<img_inline width=350 align=right>http://imageshack.com/a/img11/5990/x43n.jpg
At first, your only goal is to wander the mindscape. The landscapes are varied and often disturbing, often with drifting images moving beneath your feet as you progress. A doorway in an apartment complex may lead to a garden hanging in the void, a decrepit art gallery may transition to an underground maze, a hospital monitor may suck you in and spit you out on the ocean floor. Many of the maps loop around, making it easy to get disoriented and lost. The sights alone will be enough to hold your attention until you start collecting effects.
The overarching and unspoken goal of the game is to collect all the "effects", which are abilities that change Sabitsuki's appearance as well as allow her to manipulate the game rules. The effects range from purely cosmetic (such as a mourning dress that allows her to curtsy) to useful (such as a ghost effect that makes her invisible).
As far as danger goes, there's hardly any. There's no way to permanently die. If you're attacked by the "Kaibutsu", occasionally hostile bloody-faced girls that roam a few of the maps, then you'll be teleported to a room with no exit. At that point, you'll have to pinch yourself to wake up. Certain events (as well as late game enemies) have the potential to violently end your dream in gruesome and somewhat shocking ways, but you'll simply stumble away from your computer after suffering the death.
<img_inline width=350 align=left>http://imageshack.com/a/img824/2203/a1vg.jpg
.flow is a facinating concept. In a standard dream, one normally wakes up the instant pain becomes a factor. In .flow, you're connected to a neural interface that materializes your mindscape, so pain doesn't immediately mean waking up. Indeed, Sabitsuki appears to undergo positively frightening amounts of pain at some moments (most notably, at one point she sees something through a door that's so horrific that her head explodes). I really question the program's use as therapy, as the horrible stuff Sabitsuki witnesses in it seems like it would scar you rather than help you cope. It's possible that It's not therapy, but something that Sabitsuki is addicted to and it's killing her. Or maybe it's all a delusion, the game never makes it clear.
Normally, "the game never makes it clear" is a con, but this is a Dreamscape game. Half the fun comes from the fan theories and wild mass guessing. .flow has a lower concentration of fan theories than its inspiration, Yume Nikki, but it still has a high concentration compared to everything else. It's hard to discuss the story because it's so nebulous and non-concrete, but the general consensus is that Sabitsuke is dying of a disease, and the game chronicles her final descent into madness and death.
There are three endings to the game that become available once you find the 25 effects (and possibly do something else I won't cover here). I'm not going to spoil much about them other than to tell you that the "good"/"true" ending is the one where Sabitsuki gets her legs chainsawed off.
<img_inline width=350 align=right>http://imageshack.com/a/img69/8559/w9lg.jpg
Because... ya know... it's an art game.
There's a lot of symbolism in .flow, and holy crow, is it ever brutal. This may be the only game you can play where you can find a hallway littered with dead and dying pre-pubescent children spattered with blood. You find this room in a children's hospital with meat hooks swinging everywhere. Outside the hospital is the world's most horrible city block and a diner run by nurses in gas masks. Somewhere else in the mindscape is a level brimming with red demons and a shifting floor with a bloody, decaying mouth scrolling through it. It's all very eerie and creepy stuff.
Not all the symbolism is brutal, though. There's a forest maze made of neon which is a nice change of pace from the game's depressing atmosphere, for instance. The ocean floor is calming as well. However, the majority of the locations are grim and creepy, and the sudden changes between locations is enough to keep you on your toes.
<img_inline width=350 align=left>http://imageshack.com/a/img841/4739/w6oe.jpg
Considering that the game's art, design, sound and scripting is made entirely by a single guy (with the monikor "lol" to boot), it's certainly worth mentiong the sound design. The sound itself is minimal, heavily recycled and occasionally non-existant, but the music is highly varied and conveys pleasantness where it needs to and foreboding elsewhere. It sometimes uses the location as inspiration for its sounds, so we get the beeping of hospital monitors in hospitals, muted sounds underwater, sparse and ringing notes in cold areas, etc. It's very competently done.
Is the game fun?
Uhm.
Sort of?
The inherent problem with the Dreamscape genre is that the games' "fun" factor is heavily reliant on searching for things. If you don't like searching for things, being lost, and being patient, you will HATE this game (even with a walkthrough). If you are patient and enjoy looking around eerie and bizarre levels for things, and don't mind the occasional harrowing encounter and some truly gruesome imagery, then you'll probably enjoy the game. I did. It's one of my favorites, actually, even though I'm not sure I can adequately justify why.
<img_inline width=350 align=right>http://imageshack.com/a/img189/5706/zj0w.jpg
You can download it <link=http://dotflow.wikidot.com/downloads>here.
Don't let the Kaibutsu catch you.
<spoiler=Other stuff I have reviewed>Games:
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.828966-A-Religiously-Charged-Review-of-Captain-Bible-in-Dome-of-Darkness>Captain Bible in Dome of Darkness
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.827773-Clone-A-Tragically-Obscure-Gem>Clone
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.307920-Tropico-3>Tropico 3
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.399959-Review-All-The-Things-XCOM-Enemy-Unknown>XCOM: Enemy Unknown
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.832816-lacktheknack-Reviews-Myst-All-Three-Editions>Myst
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.834251-Review-of-a-Classic-Riven>Riven: The Sequel to Myst
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.824389-Poll-The-most-inexplicable-MMO-of-all-time-Myst-Online>Myst Online
Not Games:
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825273-lacktheknack-Reviews-Dev-Musician>Dev (Musician)
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825489-So-I-got-Origin-from-EA-A-Review-Image-Heavy>Origin (Distribution Client)
.flow is an art game. Let's get that out of the way right here and now. It's not the pinnacle of gameplay, it's got somewhat boring moments in it, and the story is poorly explained.
Regardless, it's still one of my favorite games, so it has clearly done something right.
<img_inline width=350 align=left>http://imageshack.com/a/img593/8893/xxb2.jpg
A bit of background: .flow is heavily based off a strange little RPGMaker game called Yume Nikki that essentially pioneered the "Dreamscape" genre of game (Yes, LSD Dream Simulator for the PS1 got there first, but it was in first-person perspective and didn't spawn imitators). In Yume Nikki, you played a girl who refused to leave her apartment, would sleep to dream and write her dreams in her dream journal to save the game. In .flow, it's a bit different. You play a girl who refuses to leave her apartment (it's later implied to be a quarantine) who sleeps to pass the time (this is where you save your game) and hooks herself up to a computer to dream.
Since it's done in RPGMaker, everything is seen from a bird's-eye view, and everything is placed on a grid. You can move your character, Sabitsuke, in the four standard directions with the keyboard, interact with things with Z and open the menu with X.
The game proper is a major departure from RPGMaker standard fare. There is no experience, there is no leveling up, there are no fights. Initially, there isn't even a goal. You play Sabitsuki (Japanese for "covered in rust"), a girl with white hair, an omnipresent shirt and skirt, and what initially appears to be intense agoraphobia. You can play a strange little video game on her console and TV, and you can wander around her room and balcony as much as you like, but if you attempt to leave, she will just shake her head. It's not very interesting... until you sit her at her computer. Then she will hook herself up to it, suddenly wake up on her balcony with very ominous ambiance, your bed and computer are rendered useless, and your mindscape lies beyond your door.
<img_inline width=350 align=right>http://imageshack.com/a/img11/5990/x43n.jpg
At first, your only goal is to wander the mindscape. The landscapes are varied and often disturbing, often with drifting images moving beneath your feet as you progress. A doorway in an apartment complex may lead to a garden hanging in the void, a decrepit art gallery may transition to an underground maze, a hospital monitor may suck you in and spit you out on the ocean floor. Many of the maps loop around, making it easy to get disoriented and lost. The sights alone will be enough to hold your attention until you start collecting effects.
The overarching and unspoken goal of the game is to collect all the "effects", which are abilities that change Sabitsuki's appearance as well as allow her to manipulate the game rules. The effects range from purely cosmetic (such as a mourning dress that allows her to curtsy) to useful (such as a ghost effect that makes her invisible).
As far as danger goes, there's hardly any. There's no way to permanently die. If you're attacked by the "Kaibutsu", occasionally hostile bloody-faced girls that roam a few of the maps, then you'll be teleported to a room with no exit. At that point, you'll have to pinch yourself to wake up. Certain events (as well as late game enemies) have the potential to violently end your dream in gruesome and somewhat shocking ways, but you'll simply stumble away from your computer after suffering the death.
<img_inline width=350 align=left>http://imageshack.com/a/img824/2203/a1vg.jpg
.flow is a facinating concept. In a standard dream, one normally wakes up the instant pain becomes a factor. In .flow, you're connected to a neural interface that materializes your mindscape, so pain doesn't immediately mean waking up. Indeed, Sabitsuki appears to undergo positively frightening amounts of pain at some moments (most notably, at one point she sees something through a door that's so horrific that her head explodes). I really question the program's use as therapy, as the horrible stuff Sabitsuki witnesses in it seems like it would scar you rather than help you cope. It's possible that It's not therapy, but something that Sabitsuki is addicted to and it's killing her. Or maybe it's all a delusion, the game never makes it clear.
Normally, "the game never makes it clear" is a con, but this is a Dreamscape game. Half the fun comes from the fan theories and wild mass guessing. .flow has a lower concentration of fan theories than its inspiration, Yume Nikki, but it still has a high concentration compared to everything else. It's hard to discuss the story because it's so nebulous and non-concrete, but the general consensus is that Sabitsuke is dying of a disease, and the game chronicles her final descent into madness and death.
There are three endings to the game that become available once you find the 25 effects (and possibly do something else I won't cover here). I'm not going to spoil much about them other than to tell you that the "good"/"true" ending is the one where Sabitsuki gets her legs chainsawed off.
<img_inline width=350 align=right>http://imageshack.com/a/img69/8559/w9lg.jpg
Because... ya know... it's an art game.
There's a lot of symbolism in .flow, and holy crow, is it ever brutal. This may be the only game you can play where you can find a hallway littered with dead and dying pre-pubescent children spattered with blood. You find this room in a children's hospital with meat hooks swinging everywhere. Outside the hospital is the world's most horrible city block and a diner run by nurses in gas masks. Somewhere else in the mindscape is a level brimming with red demons and a shifting floor with a bloody, decaying mouth scrolling through it. It's all very eerie and creepy stuff.
Not all the symbolism is brutal, though. There's a forest maze made of neon which is a nice change of pace from the game's depressing atmosphere, for instance. The ocean floor is calming as well. However, the majority of the locations are grim and creepy, and the sudden changes between locations is enough to keep you on your toes.
<img_inline width=350 align=left>http://imageshack.com/a/img841/4739/w6oe.jpg
Considering that the game's art, design, sound and scripting is made entirely by a single guy (with the monikor "lol" to boot), it's certainly worth mentiong the sound design. The sound itself is minimal, heavily recycled and occasionally non-existant, but the music is highly varied and conveys pleasantness where it needs to and foreboding elsewhere. It sometimes uses the location as inspiration for its sounds, so we get the beeping of hospital monitors in hospitals, muted sounds underwater, sparse and ringing notes in cold areas, etc. It's very competently done.
Is the game fun?
Uhm.
Sort of?
The inherent problem with the Dreamscape genre is that the games' "fun" factor is heavily reliant on searching for things. If you don't like searching for things, being lost, and being patient, you will HATE this game (even with a walkthrough). If you are patient and enjoy looking around eerie and bizarre levels for things, and don't mind the occasional harrowing encounter and some truly gruesome imagery, then you'll probably enjoy the game. I did. It's one of my favorites, actually, even though I'm not sure I can adequately justify why.
<img_inline width=350 align=right>http://imageshack.com/a/img189/5706/zj0w.jpg
You can download it <link=http://dotflow.wikidot.com/downloads>here.
Don't let the Kaibutsu catch you.
<spoiler=Other stuff I have reviewed>Games:
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.828966-A-Religiously-Charged-Review-of-Captain-Bible-in-Dome-of-Darkness>Captain Bible in Dome of Darkness
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.827773-Clone-A-Tragically-Obscure-Gem>Clone
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.307920-Tropico-3>Tropico 3
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.399959-Review-All-The-Things-XCOM-Enemy-Unknown>XCOM: Enemy Unknown
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.832816-lacktheknack-Reviews-Myst-All-Three-Editions>Myst
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.834251-Review-of-a-Classic-Riven>Riven: The Sequel to Myst
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.824389-Poll-The-most-inexplicable-MMO-of-all-time-Myst-Online>Myst Online
Not Games:
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825273-lacktheknack-Reviews-Dev-Musician>Dev (Musician)
<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825489-So-I-got-Origin-from-EA-A-Review-Image-Heavy>Origin (Distribution Client)