Let's Play Sword & Sworcery

Alright, so enough reading. This is my official review of Sword & Sworcery. I know, I know, it's been out for a while. But if you haven't played it, check the review, see the clips, hear the amazing narration. I kid I kid.

Let's Play Sword & Sworcery Part 01

It's rare when a story, in any medium, invokes the most primitive images of humankind in order to convey its tale. Whether in books, movies or games, characters are normally fleshed out and plots made intricate and detailed. However, sometimes the best stories are the ones that allow us to fill in the gaps. Journey, the most highly downloaded game on the Playstation Network, is one of those games. However, Sword & Sworcery also ranks among them, and rightfully so. A barebones plot detailing the adventure of a warrior Scythian in search of Gold Trigons, the Megatome and the destruction of the Gogolithic Mass, it is a tale pitting protagonist against antagonist without going into much detail.

While some people might think that a weakness of the game's story, it's actually quite a strength. Fairytale stories, such as the Chronicles of Narnia, would allude to larger worlds without actually exploring them. This allowed the reader to populate that world with their own imaginations. Sword & Sworcery does the same, allowing you to venture out and explore a world, seeking the destruction of an ethereal foe. Why? It does not matter. It only matters that the foe is mostly a symbol, one conveying death and destruction. Why root for the protagonist? It does not matter. All that matters is she is a symbol, one representing life and protection of the innocent.

There is a game here, of course, that involves more than just wandering about. It is like an adventure game, in that there is a world to explore and inventory items to use, but this is applied minimally. Then again, so is the combat system, which takes cues from Mike Tyson's Punchout and asks the player to respond to intricate timing and gestures initiated by the various foes of the world. Finally, there are search games involving cuing up musical notes in order to invoke Sylvan Sprites and forward the plot. These might seem like disparate elements, but in the world of Sword & Sworcery they combine elegantly, and allow you to feel involved in it. As the Scythian, you do all this, stumbling on hints of lore and legend that fascinate and propel you forward.

It is definitely a game worth playing, especially now that it has transitioned from the iPad to PC. However, this is a Let's Play! So I kindly invite you to watch my playthrough of Sword & Sworcery. This is part one of two parts of coverage. Let's do this.

Let's Play: LOOM

Most adventure gamers have played the big ones from Lucas Arts and Sierra. King's Quest, Space Quest, Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle. The oldies but goodies that spawned franchises and became popular in the general public. However, a few games never gained the same sort of notoriety or love that these franchises did, and one damned good game that doesn't get brought up enough is LOOM.

Partly inspired by the ballet Swan Lake, with music to match, LOOM is a Lucas Arts classic that defies the rest of the Lucas Arts catalog. Rather than a whimsical, humorous adventure full of inventory puzzles and snarky dialogue, LOOM is actually a quite serious fantasy story. Limited by the technology of the era, it still managed to develop a rather dark fantasy with serious overtones and a threatening antagonist.

In it, Bobbin Threadbare lives among the Weavers guild. A group of mystics capable of weaving reality using musical tones, the story is set on Bobbin's 17th birthday. On that day, the guild is transformed into swans that depart through a rift in reality, forcing Bobbin to chase after them. In good adventure game fashion, there are a number of puzzles he'll have to solve along the way, but not in the traditional method.

Instead of combining inventory items, various environmental puzzles have to be solved by playing the correct notes and "weaving" reality. For instance, if you have a song to twist something and need to untwist a bottle top, you would play the song backwards. That would "untwist" the bottle top. In another instance, if you needed to paint something a certain color, you would play the notes that would dye the fabric. Playing the notes backward would undye it.

Along the way, you travel through a fantastic realm full of guilds. Glassmakers guilds, Shepherds, Guilds, Smithies guilds and Cleric Guilds all fill this wonderful world of brilliant art and fantastic characters. Though the technology limited the sort of depth you could get out of the characters you would meet, a proper, somewhat tragic story was still told in which Bobbin crossed the world looking for his lost family and answers behind his birth. Thankfully, the game is now available here on Steam, in the CD version that included full voice acting and higher definition graphics.

However, if you're just looking for a good Let's Play to see the story unfold, please feel free to check out my videos and my YouTube channel for lots of Let's Play goodness.