All Our Asias

Linear bare-bones video game, but also a bit of an avant-garde art project and conversation piece. Cool vaporwave aesthetics, strange & dreamy soundtrack. Overall interesting experience, though probably won't gel with everyone.

It's not a bad game. But I got frustrated. I like the aesthetic, the music, and the message, but the story was NOT strong enough to make up for the slow, boring, and basic platforming... which is most of the 'gameplay.' I really wanted to like this game. I'm not Asian, but my dad is an immigrant and I was really interested to hear the dev's ideas on diaspora; all I got was basically what you can infer from the beginning: "'Asian' is too broad a category and there are other reasons to feel empathy for others." Again, I agree and the dev seems like a really lovely and thoughtful person, but as I was steering my slow-ass ship through the memories of a guy that I, in my playthrough, never got to meet.... I just got increasingly frustrated. Especially when I missed a jump and I'd float down three excruciatingly-slow levels.

Review after 100% ♡♡♡ "Don't waste your life, I did. Go home," -John Rambo ⣴⣿⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣼⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣤⣤⣶⣶⣿⣿⡗ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠀ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃ ⣿⣿⡇⠜⠙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀Got a cat here ⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠋⡹⠙⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀ Friends passing ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣾⣿⣿⠛⠀⠀by can touch her ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠛⠁⠀⠀and click Like to pet ♡ ⣿⣿⡿⠻⠿⠿⠿⠿⠛⠹⠑⠀⠀ Award for good luck, Take My Points for infinite pets ♡ ⠟⠁⠀

This game tries. It does not succeed. This is a preachy game that makes its points with a sledgehammer, but at least those parts are trying to say aomething. I'd say roughly half of this game's 80 minute runtime is just moving in a straight line through ugly, boring environments. I don't even accept that it's going for minimalist graphics, when you have geometry that looks like it was made by a 6 year old using Roblox for the first time. You know the building you stare at for the entire credits sequence? It has windows at the very top at roof level. There is not a careful artistic vision here, the visuals look like they were slapped together as fast as possible. While I wanted to give this game a chance, I even made a point to finish it after deciding i just kinda hated it 40 minutes in, it's just a very underwhelming and poorly made game even for going for a simple artstyle and a price of Free. Don't waste your time on this.

More or less a tech demo for what would become Melos and Marina's sequel to their first full-length game, Anodyne. That shouldn't discount what this game does itself, however. Much of the geometry is rudimentary and simple, far more minimalist compared to the alien surreality of Anodyne 2. But the story is more involved with the real world complexities of what it means to be "Asian." Melos has explored this topic in later projects of his in his music as well as in future Analgesic games such as Sephonie. The protagonist, Yuito, is a Japanese-American who is exploring the memories of his dying father to gain answers to why his father was the way he was. Now, I'm not totally sure how much I can realistically add to the conversation as a euro-american, nor is it entirely my place to say it. However, something I've noticed especially among Asian Americans is how there seems to be genuine community with one another regardless of their own cultural background, whether Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Han Chinese, Khmer, Malay, Tibetan, Austronesian, etc. Perhaps its how their shared treatment as an outgroup of euro-americans, perhaps its some similar cultural traditions, perhaps…

Игра 'All Our Asias' это глубокий и медитативный визуальный роман, исследующий темы самоидентификации, культурного наследия и отношений в сложном контексте мультикультурного общества. Через повествование от лица молодого человека, пытающегося разобраться в своей идентичности, игра деликатно затрагивает вопросы расизма, стереотипов и необходимости самопринятия. Визуальный стиль выполнен в приятной, минималистичной манере, а атмосферный саундтрек дополняет общее ощущение погружения в историю. Вариативность диалогов и несколько концовок позволяют игроку напрямую влиять на развитие сюжета и судьбу главного героя, делая каждый опыт уникальным. Несмотря на камерный масштаб, игра поднимает важные вопросы о месте человека в современном мире и непростых отношениях с самим собой. 'All Our Asias' это не просто игра, а скорее интерактивное произведение искусства, заставляющее задуматься и переосмыслить собственное восприятие мира. Рекомендуется всем, кто интересуется темами идентичности, культуры и личностного роста.