Watched the opening sequence: The game started with a woman falling after a hand collapsed. This is most likely symbolism to life failing her and collapsing on her in some way.
The first part of the game is meant to represent the first stage of grief, denial. This is seen in her arched back, low head, and bent knees. Clicking the x button on the controller causes her to fall, farther symbolizing her disbelief. She seems to not believe what happened and is looking through her mind t figure it out. After walking a bit more it gets cloudy, and bird looking objects fly through, potentially symbolising her thought process in understanding what happened.
After the cloudy part, something seems to click in her mind. Her pace gets quicker, and she is finally able to jump. This potentially represents the second step in grief, resistance. It is characterized by frustration and anger at others and their circumstance. Rocks appear on the screen potentially symbolizing the hardness of her mind.
After walking more, she interacts with a glowing object and seems to uplift herself. This could symbolize bargaining and hope, the third stage. She sees the object as hope and is looking to avoid farther despair.
She seems to collect these objects, and they create paths for her. Her hope could be creating different opportunities for her, and advancing her growth from a state of grief.
After she sees the remains of the collapsed hand, symbolizing seeing the person or event that failed her, she falls down in despair, and the color scheme changes from white to red. This represents the fourth stage of grief, sadness.
After a large fall, a red wind seems to be pushing her back, but you are able to move forward. It seems like she is trying to move forward from her grief. After moving higher, fighting the wind, a large structure starts moving her to higher ground. This could be the start of the final stage, acceptance.
After interacting with an altar, she is able to harden herself to combat the wind. This represents the resolve she got from her hardships and her ability to push against the world. The next sequences seem a bit strange and hard to interpret. She falls down and sees a reflection of herself. When she reaks a statue of a grieving woman, she gets pushed back up. After connecting two circles, objects start moving around, helping her get to where she needs.
After completing these puzzles she sees the hands again, but this time the screen turns green, and she seems to grow positively rather than negatively. There seems to be much more life than in the previous parts of the game.
She befriended a stone creature which can be seen as a step in moving forward.
The stone creature helps her find a light object, which allows her to move forward. She is accepting others more. She has a fight with a large black bird which can be seen as representing her hardship. She rings a bell in order to defeat it. She sees the hand again, and this time the picture turns blue and it starts raining, symboling another period of sadness.
The water area is challenging to get through, but after I got through it I found it interesting that she seemed to get her voice back. She might have lost it when her ordeal started. With her voice, she is able to continue to do advance herself.
Looking back, I think I might have been over analyzing the game and been moving too quickly. The different colors and stages represent the stages of grief. The first one is denial. The second one is anger, represented by the color red and the ferocity of the wind. The third one is bargaining, as she bargains with the stone creature to advance herself. The third one is sadness, represented by water and tears. The last one is reflection and acceptance. In this stage she confronts the stature, and regains her voice.]
This game is fairly complex for a 2-D platform game. It does not have the sense of directionality that a normal one has. You go all the way up in the sky, or way down to the depths below sea level. Sometimes you go backward to go forwards. The huge scope and lack of directionality are what make this a perfect medium for what the makers wanted you to feel. They wanted you to understand the stages of grief by allowing you to explore the world, solve puzzles, and observe the symbolism that the game produces. The game does a brilliant job of allowing the gamer to go through the stages of grief without being obvious. It is both hidden behind the platformer, and an integral part of it.
Andrew Mijacika English 