"It's always fun to watch people like Roger Ebert claim that videogames cannot be art; it's almost like they forget what art or artistic expression is and that the medium they champion is no more artistic. While yes, many videogames are purely commercial affairs, the result of a company looking for your hard earned dollars more than caring about personal expression, sometimes a game comes along that proves without a doubt that an interactive medium can be one of the best ways to get a message across. Papo & Yo is conclusive proof that videogames can be art when the proper motivation for its creation are present." - Gordon Bryant
PSLS: "Five years ago indie studio Minority Media released Papo & Yo on the PlayStation Store. The 3D puzzle-platformer features contrasting settings of a fantasy world where monsters exist and the broken down favelas of Brazil. As the player continues solving block puzzles and attempting to keep their friendly beast of a partner away from the frogs that enrage him, they start to learn that this isn’t a story of fantasy, but of a young boy trying to find an escape from an alcoholic and abusive father."
This game and it's meaning are very deep. If you know the developers story and depending on your own childhood playing this game can be a healing or scar opening experience.
It's great that this excellent game helped you grow. I never had to deal with the things this game portrays in my home, but one a dead on analogy for one of my friends and his Dad. It was scary when he'd come home drunk at 1 or so in the morning. The guy I talked to at dinner with the nice smile and kind eyes was gone replaced by a beast of a man who was willing to scream at and hit his family for apparently no reason.
I find it odd that videogames as a medium are so disregarded as an art form/medium that can convey powerful messages. I almost feel like movies lately have lost that touch because they are just being churned out to be churned out. Meanwhile, there seems to be more videogames that have made made me go through a broad range of emotions and sometimes connect with in game characters on a more personal level. I also love how music and sounds in videogames has come so far to become very effective for setting moods and eliciting feelings as well.
How often can you pick up a good game for less than R50? How about eight great games for R47? The new Indie Legends 5 bundle from Bundle Stars packs eight of the best Indie titles of the year (valued at over R1400) into one great bundle, and it only costs $3.49 (R47.22)!
While dementia and Alzheimer’s impact the lives of millions, it’s a relatively rare subject in the escapist fantasy worlds of video games. Not surprising. Who wants to be reminded of a disease that has no known cure and that robs people of their memories and identities?
I'm pretty sure Ico proved that 11 years ago.