First Look: Post Script

Sometimes a game just needs get a big “fuck you” out of the way. No matter how pretentious some may think of the message, it has to be said. Some developers favor the safety of sequels’ established ideas over the risk of originality. They pile on the guns and space marines instead of complex, sympathetic characters. They settle for gameplay of senseless violence rather than a meaningful interdependence of narrative and interaction. Although the indie-developed, Source Engine mod sends those developers a message that comes off a bit strong, I think Post Script does the game scene some justice when it throws them the middle finger.

I’m not crazy! The voices tell me so!

True, I am reading into the narrator’s initial message beyond its explicit intention in the narrative. After all, the narrator speaks to you, or rather, the character you control. Akin to the narrator of Dear Esther, another Source-based indie title and one of Post Script’s main influences, the narrator guides you throughout the experience and provides commentary that complements your exploration of various salient environments. Also, you’ll hear the voices of several narrators through Post Script, as a different character will guide you in each of its five episodes.

Despite the influences of its predecessor, Post Script experiments with game narrative form far more than Dear Esther. While Dear Esther, for one, is hardly a “game,” and rather something like an exploratory narrative, Post Script fluidly incorporates light puzzle and game elements into its experience. The narrator guides often comment on your puzzle-solving actions; each unique personalities will set a tone for the exploration and gameplay experience in ostensibly different, dynamic ways from episode to episode.

Her text is pink, what harm could she possibly do?

Perhaps the most experimental aspect of Post Script comes from the nature of the narration itself, which works on multiple levels and even looks visually enticing. On one level, the well-written dialogue of the characters pop-up on-screen, and either speak to you or banter with each other, like disturbing, yet amusing voices in your head. While text doesn’t quite convey the same essence as voice acting, it makes way for the creativity of the player’s imagination, which may suit some of Post Script’s very abstract notions better than any voice actor could.

Their pop-up words, in turn, complement the second level of narration, which comes through your exploration and puzzle-solving. The world of Post Script will feel desolate and lonely as you make your way through. At least the voices in your head will keep you company, though that offers little comfort. While I enjoyed the ways the characters’ text describe the world and reminisce of lives long gone, I also thought the narrative style seemed quite jarring and altogether disorienting. I appreciate the interpretive levels of the pop-up text and the ways they apply to various details in the world, but I simply could not concentrate on moving about the levels and on reading the text at the same time.

Beautiful areas reflect a well-disciplined Source Engine modder.

The text works very similarly to that in the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction game, which projects both narrative text and video onto the environments themselves, as if Sam Fisher sees them there with his mind’s eye. Both Post Script’s and Splinter Cell’s narrative styles look intriguing, but I just feel Splinter Cell’s text-projection integrates much more fluidly with the game-world in ways that don’t detract from the experience.

Post Script’s experimental style takes some getting used to; nevertheless, its risk-taking with form reaches beyond more mainstream games, even including the upcoming Splinter Cell, as it aims for an artistic, character-driven aesthetic reminiscent of literary works rather than the flair of action-heavy blockbusters. Only indie games not motivated by profit, for the most part, can do this, and on some level, they must do this in order to gain attention. Like its own blunt first message, Post Script flies in the face of convention and seeks only to fulfill its artistic purposes. I’m sure I’ll get used to its style eventually; I want to, at least, because I very much hope to peer into the minds of more peculiar characters as each episode releases.