Drowned God

When we start to play a game with special expectations we formed through watching previews, listening to descriptions and looking at pictures our subconscious forms a certain idea what the game would be like and because of this sometimes we get disappointed. By our expectations we limit ourselves and loose that part of the adventure which leads us to unknown territory, to the anticipation of the strange, the eerie, the amusing or the frightening. We think that we should see and feel this and that just because someone else said so or we should be amused and when we are not.

As each daisy, every gamer is different, we like or dislike according to our own taste and personal make up, we are amused or irritated, each according to her/his own taste. That is why I always think that each review should be taken with a pinch of salt and the reviewer should talk more about the game and less abut personal feelings. After saying all this I think I will indulge in spreading my opinion about an unusual and much maligned game that people either love or love to hate.

Drowned God was published sometime in 1996 and sailed forth to wreck havoc to the composure of many of the prophets of adventure gaming. It was looked forward with grate expectation to give insight to mysteries which arose at times when there were no explanations fore-coming for unusual events and like the stories of the Bermuda Triangle everybody had one but none had the truth (the truth is like opinions, everyone has his/her own).

The disks come in a folder that looks common place at first glance but nothing is what it seems and this thread runs through the whole game and gives it a flavor of its own. At first glace the places, objects, ideas look familiar than there is a shift and the strange, the alien pokes through and you are caught up in the dark brooding atmosphere because the usual reference points are out of kilter. The dated graphics (I mean only technically dated), the difficulties in navigation, and the linear nature of the game just add to this unreality. It is a first person point and click, you are alone with the unknown and you feel it...

The story brushes on several of the better know mysteries that daunt mankind and if you expect solutions you will be sorely disappointed, there are hints, innuendos, promises. That is what a mystery is, there are no solutions. I could never figure out why they did expect that Harry Horse the game's crator had all the answers.

This is not a game for everybody, it can annoy or irritate you, it can make you uncomfortable, it may make you feel that you are rummaging around in the murky psyche of someone you do not quite like, it can entertain. It will not giver answers since there are none... yet?

For a professional review please see:

By Vince Broady
http://www.gamespot.com/adventure/drownedg/review.html

Drowned God is not an easy game to get hold of, I was lucky to be able to play it through the generosity of a GameBoomer who kindly lent it to me. Many thanks for the experience. Oh yes my feelings about this game are... Never mind!

I loved your review Lasanidine.

I myself have been guilty of "selling" a game when reviewing it. It is hard to not wax on when you love a game and have the hidden (or not so hidden ) agenda of wanting it to sell and sell again.

I do think of those reviews as "promoting" a game perhaps than simply reviewing it. I admire your offering of a objective discussion of Drowned God. It is indeed a complex game with touches of discomfort for anyone seeking absolutes and answers. Perhaps the best part of this game is that it raises all the questions.

Laura

You raise some very interesting points, especially regarding gamers' "expectations' of a game before playing it, obviously it is largely upon these expectations that we make a decision to buy or trade for a game and it is with these expectations that we load it up and start playing.

However, I have noticed that increasingly I tend to ignore these expectations or that they play a less important role in my decision making process. I am convinced that this is due to the very points you raise, namely that whatever expectations we have generated for a game based on third party reviews, previews, pictures etc they rarely turn out to be in complete empathy with your own opinion once you have experienced the game.

I therefore tend to approach games with a bit of a blank sheet attitude these days and see how it plays once I press the “New Game” button. This does not mean I ignore reviews, quite the reverse. Most of the time I like to get as much information and opinion about a game before committing myself, but I trust my own judgement that I have made an informed choice, however, when I start it up I try to dispel as much as possible any expectations that might have arisen during this process.

I wonder if any other Boomers have experienced this, or become "battle-hardened' when it comes to selecting and playing games ?

A notable exception to this for me was Myst III, I purposefully did not read any reviews or previews, neither did I go looking for screen-shots. I wanted to play the game with as few preconceptions as possible. There was never any doubt that I was going to buy the game, so it made no difference whether or not I read reviews/previews to try and get a feel for the game.

I agree that many reviews do tend to sell a game based solely on the reviewer's opinions, I am certainly a major culprit on this score. However, I do think that this is where the GB Reviews forum works so well in so far as it is provides an interactive medium for any member to provide their opinions on a particular game. One just has to read through any thread to see that in many instances there is a wide diversity of opinions; and hopefully, at the end of which, someone unfamiliar with the game can reach an informed decision on the game in question.

Personally I am very keen to read other peoples' personal opinion on a game, especially in a forum such as GB where, to a certain extent, we tend to know, appreciate and respect each others' perspectives due to the long history of interaction.

I think that by its very nature a review is an opinion, to be interesting it has to contain or reflect the reviewers personality, opinions and enthusiasm (or otherwise) on what he/she has experienced and not just be an overview of the game plot, play, features etc. Most of this information can largely be acquired by reading the publisher's marketing literature, which is hardly an independent source. Though I do agree with you that on some occasions one's enthusiasm for a particular game can get the better of you as you pen a review, I am certainly guilty of this. You are absolutely right that any review has to be taken with a pinch of salt, I think that a review, any review(s), is/are just an aspect of a multi-faceted decision making process we develop to reach an informed decision, this is perhaps true of everything we do in life.

I am glad you raised these issues, they provide interesting topics for discussion and reference for any future reviews.

Hi Rick 36, the reason I wrote about D.G. was because all the reviews showed beside the technical, for which I included the hot link a very explicit personal dislike. I rarely run across a game that is universally hated and D.G. almost makes the list as far as professional reviewers are concerned. There are disturbing depth to this game and people who look for straight answers remain dissatisfied.

I know that several GBs who played the game liked it or at leas found it interesting, I found it interesting. But after all is said and done it is just a game and not the gospel of the church of the unsolved mysteries as some reviewers expected it to be.

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