Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum
Pocket Mirror is absolutely beautiful visually. Not only on the use of colors and elaborately detailed setpieces but also in its use of lighting. So much of its disturbing scenes gain so much form by how it uses light to create uncertainty around its areas and to convey a sense of tragic destruction. It's also really nice looking just as a contrast to the vibrant colors a lot of the game uses, and often the difference between and danger feeling safe is how much lighting is used for scenes without tapping much on the coloring which I think is cool. I think there are times when the visual setpieces are a bit excessive with how they just exist to jumpscare you sometimes, but I do love the way it diversifies its visual language just for the hell of it. So many cool visual tricks they play that trip you up, absolutely love the mirror chase scene for this reason.
The core narrative hook for me is how well the story plays with uncertainty and motivation. The lead character has no idea what her name is or what she wants to achieve, but she knows she wants to move forward and find out. All of the characters are depraved in a very extreme, unique way but all of them also are sympathetic in a specific way that makes you want to engage with their trauma and psyche. The narrative gives you so much to invest in on what they represent and why the differing baggage that defines their existence. But the thing is there's often a clash of who you can trust. Many people telling you different narratives and uncertainty of what to trust. But the people telling you different truths aren't acting with malice, which makes the mystery compelling.
Of course, all of this changes once you start digging into the multitude of endings. The context for the lead character's memory issues all of a sudden have a much more tragic layer to it that makes the earlier scenes more engaging. It's a unique twist insofar that it bucks the typical amnesia tropes that the protagonist isn't remembering something important but moreso that they can't remember *ANYTHING* and it becomes a question as to what the value of memories are and how those memories forge ourselves? There isn't anything important she's forgetting as much as it is her memory lapse is changing how she defines herself and understands the world around her. Much of the meta textual is about accepting your own trauma that the loss of your memory causes, but I feel the strength of this is that every character reflecting this is also filled with their own baggage that makes them engaging. Harpie's whole dilemma about her disability hampering her idealism and her desire to want to be viewed as competent is something depressingly tragic considering her fate, and while this does tie into the main characters's own trauma, I think it's interesting how effectively it works as its own self-contained narrative.
The endings all add an interesting layer to the overall conceit. There are endings that are obviously much worse than others in outcome, but at best they're all bitter-sweet and reveal something that adds layers to the narrative. The goody two-shoes ending is maybe the most idealistically good ending in spite of its implications of horrifying generational cycles, but I always thought the Dawn ending played into the stories conceit the best despite how subtlety depressing it is. Self-acceptance of personal disability on the face of trauma just hits me hard. The other endings are a lot more dire in their implications but I also feel they're more underwhelming in spite of playing into the stories themes well enough.
Personally, I like the puzzles and the way it punishes you. Oftentimes I ended up dying because the game does not clarify something as a threat, but I like this because when it happens, it makes you rethink a previous clue you were given and start thinking about what it means. Sometimes it's too easy to trial and error your way to a solution, but a lot of riddle puzzles at least make the punishment severe enough that it makes you pay attention to the riddle. I think some of these are too obvious matching game stuff, like the party murder and jack in the box riddles I thought were decently enjoyable. I won't argue these are super difficult riddles but I think it does succeed in making you want to engage with them. I think my only issue is that I do think they could clarify the danger to you sometimes, because sometimes it's not clear that doing something will actually get you killed in the course of doing a riddle. But part of me wants to say I like that because it's a very funny way to get you to pay attention, and they do get creative with the death scenes. The game is also super generous with save points, so unless you're not saving as a habit, then you're not losing much progress.
The only tedious thing is that cutscenes can't be skipped and the fast forward option is pretty slow, but usually the scenes that play before a death threat emerges aren't that long. And sometimes those scenes are important for figuring out the riddle anyway, so it doesn't hurt to go over them again. I will say this is mainly annoying if you're going for all the endings, though. This results in having to wade through the final chapter multiple times and there are a lot of long-winded scenes in that which get a bit annoying when your goal is getting multiple endings.
It's been a long time since a game has made me feel something like this. Lisette's entire arc had me bawling, and there's so much depth in its thematic layers that warrants examination of its smaller details that make you greater appreciate it. There are individual scenes in this title I could gush about more than entire games, and while I wouldn't regard this as the most mechanically interesting horror game, I'd regard it as one of the most thematically engaging to me.
The core narrative hook for me is how well the story plays with uncertainty and motivation. The lead character has no idea what her name is or what she wants to achieve, but she knows she wants to move forward and find out. All of the characters are depraved in a very extreme, unique way but all of them also are sympathetic in a specific way that makes you want to engage with their trauma and psyche. The narrative gives you so much to invest in on what they represent and why the differing baggage that defines their existence. But the thing is there's often a clash of who you can trust. Many people telling you different narratives and uncertainty of what to trust. But the people telling you different truths aren't acting with malice, which makes the mystery compelling.
Of course, all of this changes once you start digging into the multitude of endings. The context for the lead character's memory issues all of a sudden have a much more tragic layer to it that makes the earlier scenes more engaging. It's a unique twist insofar that it bucks the typical amnesia tropes that the protagonist isn't remembering something important but moreso that they can't remember *ANYTHING* and it becomes a question as to what the value of memories are and how those memories forge ourselves? There isn't anything important she's forgetting as much as it is her memory lapse is changing how she defines herself and understands the world around her. Much of the meta textual is about accepting your own trauma that the loss of your memory causes, but I feel the strength of this is that every character reflecting this is also filled with their own baggage that makes them engaging. Harpie's whole dilemma about her disability hampering her idealism and her desire to want to be viewed as competent is something depressingly tragic considering her fate, and while this does tie into the main characters's own trauma, I think it's interesting how effectively it works as its own self-contained narrative.
The endings all add an interesting layer to the overall conceit. There are endings that are obviously much worse than others in outcome, but at best they're all bitter-sweet and reveal something that adds layers to the narrative. The goody two-shoes ending is maybe the most idealistically good ending in spite of its implications of horrifying generational cycles, but I always thought the Dawn ending played into the stories conceit the best despite how subtlety depressing it is. Self-acceptance of personal disability on the face of trauma just hits me hard. The other endings are a lot more dire in their implications but I also feel they're more underwhelming in spite of playing into the stories themes well enough.
Personally, I like the puzzles and the way it punishes you. Oftentimes I ended up dying because the game does not clarify something as a threat, but I like this because when it happens, it makes you rethink a previous clue you were given and start thinking about what it means. Sometimes it's too easy to trial and error your way to a solution, but a lot of riddle puzzles at least make the punishment severe enough that it makes you pay attention to the riddle. I think some of these are too obvious matching game stuff, like the party murder and jack in the box riddles I thought were decently enjoyable. I won't argue these are super difficult riddles but I think it does succeed in making you want to engage with them. I think my only issue is that I do think they could clarify the danger to you sometimes, because sometimes it's not clear that doing something will actually get you killed in the course of doing a riddle. But part of me wants to say I like that because it's a very funny way to get you to pay attention, and they do get creative with the death scenes. The game is also super generous with save points, so unless you're not saving as a habit, then you're not losing much progress.
The only tedious thing is that cutscenes can't be skipped and the fast forward option is pretty slow, but usually the scenes that play before a death threat emerges aren't that long. And sometimes those scenes are important for figuring out the riddle anyway, so it doesn't hurt to go over them again. I will say this is mainly annoying if you're going for all the endings, though. This results in having to wade through the final chapter multiple times and there are a lot of long-winded scenes in that which get a bit annoying when your goal is getting multiple endings.
It's been a long time since a game has made me feel something like this. Lisette's entire arc had me bawling, and there's so much depth in its thematic layers that warrants examination of its smaller details that make you greater appreciate it. There are individual scenes in this title I could gush about more than entire games, and while I wouldn't regard this as the most mechanically interesting horror game, I'd regard it as one of the most thematically engaging to me.
Mini Review: Pocket Mirror is absolutely beautiful visually. Not only on the use of colors and elaborately detailed setpieces but also in its use of lighting. So much of its disturbing scenes gain so much form by how it uses light to create uncertainty around its areas and to convey a sense of tragic destruction. It's also really nice looking just as a contrast to the vibrant colors a lot of the game uses, and often the difference between and danger feeling...
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