Review: The Passage

The Passage is a little indie game by a video game artist Jason Rohrer. Before I delve into what the game proper is about, I need to explain what I mean when I say video game artist. It isn't a term used to refer to the straightforward designer who works on video games, but the kind of artist, like those that use paint and music and such to create expressions of life/humanity/nature, etc. The ones that have works displayed at art galleries. That kind, and not the video game character/scenery illustrator kind. It's a relatively new kind of art, but video games, virtual reality, programming can also bring about forms of creative expression that do not always have to be about play.

So with that in mind (bear with me, it'll all make sense), I give you The Passage. Although the game was actually released in '07, this game is, to me, a classic that should be played well into the centuries to come.



I have to be wary when writing this particularly review because of the purpose of the game for the audience. I can't give away a synopsis of the story, because there isn't one exactly. The players control a single man on a pixellated strip that moves from left to right. As he moves, mellow midi plays in the background, with a strange rhythm and ominous organ-like music. All the whilst, the background, or the patterns on the floor of the character changes to denote changes in scenery or perhaps, time. A woman is encountered pretty early on, or not, depending on where you move across the strip. After awhile, if you have been paying attention enough, something will hit you.

This something is a realization, a revelation of sorts, and it ties into the title of the game, and the music, and the changes that can be seen taking place across the simplistic pixellated graphics. It is beautiful or meaningless as you make it to be. And some people will get a profound experience out of it, whilst others will turn away and go "WTF. What a waste of 5 minutes." Whatever the response, The Passage is a new kind of game.

It's a game that doesn't require you to collect coins, jump platforms or shoot hordes of monsters. And yet it challenges you to think harder about grander themes in life, then just survival or kleptomania. Not enough games do that yet, and understandbly so when the profit happens to be the bottom line for most of the big video game corporations. Most people don't want to have to think about the bigger things, they want to lose themselves in something enjoyable. That's why we have indie games, I guess, as a counter-balance.

I could rant forever about the bigger picture, and I realized this post is as much Thinky Stuff as it is a Review, but at the end of the day it is a recommendation for all of you to play The Passage. I think it's mind-blowing, not just for what it says, but what it can do. Now go see what you think. It's free and downloadable from Jason Rohrer's site.