A Guide to Vage Games
The quotidian elements of daily life feature in vage games like Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. While these micro-narratives may lack the philosophical and political rigor of Godard, they provide a strong foundation in mundane naturalism.
But, judging by the comments of many on this episode, that might not be enough to hold your attention.
The Final Flickers
While the game is mostly a straightforward race to find keys and gates, there is also peril. The draw stack, which functions as a timer in the game, gets smaller and smaller every turn, meaning that players are slowly, relentlessly entering the Final Flickers phase of the game. In this phase, all unlit tiles are discarded from the board and if a Prisoner cannot get to the Gate before the Darkness consumes them, the game is lost.
Whether it’s because of monsters, bad luck, or poor planning, the player can lose a lot of Keys and Gates during this phase. This adds a delicious tension to the gameplay as you race against the clock, knowing that if you fail, it’s game over. But this final challenge is what makes Candles & Keys so much fun! The brisk pace and the delicious tension make this one of the best vage games I’ve ever played. I can’t recommend it enough.
The Curious World of Darkness
For years, a tabletop roleplaying vage games company named White Wolf (later taken over by Onyx Path) dominated the fantasy genre with its World of Darkness series of games. Its evocative, gothic-punk interpretation of our mundane world introduced players to vampires, werewolves, demons and other supernatural creatures that hide in our society’s shadows.
It was at the forefront of the 90s zeitgeist, mixing punk rock rebellion with gothic-style horror to grab that decade’s zeitgeist by the throat. It even had a short-lived Aaron Spelling television show.
While much of that was a marketing exercise, the World of Darkness (and Chronicles of Darkness) has always been more than a game about playing monsters. For instance, the 9/11 attacks are never attributed to any supernatural entities within its pages, and its Jewish Wraith book is meant to be both cathartic and educational for those who have suffered genocide in real life. It is therefore confusing that a small section of the gaming community, who proclaim to have played these games for decades, seem so callous and unsympathetic when addressing issues like Chechnya.
The Great Escape
In this memory board vage games kids will work as detectives to figure out which crook escaped jail. It’s a great way to improve working memory which will help them throughout their educational journey.
The player takes on the role of one of a number of famous Allied escapers, including Bartlett (Richard Attenborough, Brighton Rock), Hendley (James Garner, Support Your Local Sheriff) and Hilts (Steve McQueen, Moquito Squadron). Despite some impressive action sequences, the game is ultimately undermined by its terrible voice acting and severe narrative railroading.
Some makers look beyond the glitz of tech to design experiences that critically examine our social and political history. For example, Robert Yang’s “public bathroom simulator,” The Tearoom, draws on Laud Humphrey sociological research to explore gay history. Other designers, such as Charity Porpentine Heartscape and Everest Pipkin, take an even more low-tech approach to this challenge with text-based Twine games. They both show how simple words can be powerful when they’re used as an engine for introspective storytelling.
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