[Discovering Indies] And Yet it Moves

Discover what they say discover, I don't know if it's the verb for this title. Maybe some of you will discover its existence because it is a game already old man, but we can't say it's a game either. indie unknown or only known in certain circles. And the title I'm going to talk to you about today was one of those games whose quality started the independent video game boom in the last generation; If the image that heads this article doesn't tell you anything, I mean And Yet it Moves.

The sound of the name itself already attracts attention at first hearing, but they are only phonemes that agree with each other. Without a doubt, a good name helps to sell, but when it comes down to it, what makes a game successful, whether in sales, critics or both, is that it is interesting and that its different sections are well worked on. At this point it is worth noting that And Yet it Moves managed to surprise the specialized press and convince a public that was skeptical of independent video games at that time.

I can't help but look back to the beginnings of the market indie It's been more than five years now. Naturally this type of market has always existed to a greater or lesser extent, but I think it is clear that between 2008 and 2010 a series of titles were published that created trends and were inspiration for a part of the video game sector that is here to stay. We all remember successes like braid, Super Meat Boy, World of Goo either Limbo but with the passage of time It seems that we have forgotten And Yet it Moves, a game that despite receiving ratings as worthy as those of the aforementioned games and despite innovating and surprising in equal measure, does not seem to have penetrated the collective memory of the players. This is the main reason why I have decided to bring it back to the fore.

The game puts us in the shoes of a flat character, not only because it is in 2D but because its design is quite ordinary; a paper man completely in black and white, with hair standing on end as if in drag and whose comparison with Fido Dido, the famous Seven Up mascot, is absolutely inevitable. He does not speak, he does not express, he does not transmit, he is a simple individual in a world full of dangers and mystery. Without a doubt one of the charms of this title that It plays a lot with the simplicity of the protagonist and the complexity of his environment. It does not need a story, it is a journey of introspection that takes us through stormy scenarios until liberation, from a fragile and dangerous forest of real challenges to abstract scenarios where the danger is yourself.

The entire graphic style exudes art on all four sides despite its appearance that, viewed in the wrong way, could appear shabby or even neglected. It is enough to see any screenshot of the game to appreciate the exquisite treatment of the collage as a technique in its most constructivist. The scenarios are built using paper cutouts whose textures are reminiscent of the object you want to emulate, or they are directly photo cutouts of the element you want to place. The result is a beautiful world where everything is cohesive and fragmented at the same time and if it may be a pleasure for some people to see, in motion it is a visual orgy too pleasant to despise.

Outside of the debate about whether video games are art or not, And Yet it Moves It is a clear example of how video games draw on all the types of art that comprise them and manage to take those artistic styles to an exponent that they themselves could not reach separately. The interactive nature of this electronic entertainment means that the collage reach a new level that gives rise to new interpretations of the artistic current. Yes, in itself, a good collage A scenario can be reflected to you through simple cutouts. The fact that these cutouts move and emulate their behavior in nature when in contact with the individual does nothing more than transport you to a magical world of inaccuracies that seems very clear in your mind.

Given this scenario, it goes without saying that we are faced with a platform title. The hackneyed genre has been offering us an increasingly finite number of video games among which it is quite difficult to stand out. braid It broke the paradigms of the genre with its innovation and left a steep path for future games. In this context it appears And yet it moves, which manages to stand out thanks to its fresh gameplay based on a rotating world around the protagonist. And the game is not satisfied with making a platformer conventional where a world is shown in which to advance you have to follow a straight line full of platforms and obstacles, but in many cases you will have to hit the bogeyman and rotate in the scenery that surrounds you to get a new viable perspective to continue your path, which adds a important puzzle component to the title.

The mechanics are simple; We will have the typical buttons to move left or right and jump, the controls with which we will have to avoid different obstacles such as gravity - impossible jumps are not valid here - are not much more mysterious, the unpapered spaces of the stage with which you will fall into the void and the occasional animal that will prevent your passage. What is no longer so simple is overcoming these difficulties, for which we have an added feature and main attraction of the game, that is, We can rotate our environment in 90 degree intervals being careful not to break our necks in the attempt. A versatile tool that offers much more play than it may initially seem and that will allow us to access places as impossible as the stages themselves. However, the function is not all goodness, since when rotating the stage, unexpected events can occur such as a branch falling off or rocks collapsing that directly affect the playable experience. In a positive way, yes, and as an additional challenge to our journey that gives this game a well-calibrated and acceptable difficulty.

The scenarios follow one another, each with its particularities, through 17 levels between which phases of forest, cave, jungle and a psychedelic madness that seems designed by Karl Ferris. Sin contar los créditos del juego, los cuales son jugables y una forma muy amena de soportar algo que por regla general suele resultar aburrido y nada interesante. Llevará unas pocas horas completar nuestro viaje, las suficientes para decir que el juego no es excesivamente corto, pero tampoco podemos decir que sea largo. Duración aceptable pero que deja con ganas de más o de una secuela que sabemos no está en desarrollo y seguramente no lo estará ya que Broken Rules dejó en claro sus pocas intenciones para ello, centrándose en su actual proyecto Secrets of Raetikon.

Como guinda final a este pastel, cabe mencionar el apartado sonoro, destacado por una banda sonora maravillosa que encuentra su apogeo en los temas referentes a las fases de jungla. Tanto la música como los efectos sonoros están realizados prácticamente en su totalidad con beatboxing, lo cual añade un valor añadido a lo impresionante de este apartado. Ya hablé de la importancia de los efectos de sonido bien usados en The grave of the fireflies y este juego es otro ejemplo de la profundidad ambiental que puede ganar un título cuando estos efectos están bien trabajados.