COMPLETE: Journey of the Broken Circle
May. 8th, 2021 04:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjorteoThis one was an unexpected delight that kind of fell into our laps because it was on some absurdly big sale on the Switch eshop and like, why not I guess? And somehow grew from that to being one of our favorites this year.
Journey of the Broken Circle is a cute little indie game about a circle with a wedge-shaped piece missing (thus giving them a sort of Pac-Man-looking appearance) who feels a sense of longing due to their incompleteness. They want to find that missing piece, that thing that can make them whole, and so they set off on a journey. Lonely and depressing at first, Circle meets a cast of characters and things go from there.
This game is a very heavy-handed story about relationships. Circle is alone and lonely until they meet someone who fits in that wedge, and the two of them proceed onward together. You even gain various extra powers and abilities based on whatever your partner can do, the two of you together being maneuverable in ways that neither of you could have achieved alone. However, the funny thing about relationships is that they can be hard. Sometimes each partner has different goals--one wants to keep exploring and moving forward in life while the other wants to settle down and put down roots, for example. Sometimes these differences are irreconcilable. And sometimes Circle finds themselves alone again, hurt by the grief of having loved and lost.
Gameplay-wise, this is a platformer where your goal is to reach the end of the level. It sounds basic enough and it kind of is, but the level design does a very good job of emphasizing the narrative point of what Circle can and can't do with their partner (or lack thereof.) Each level has a few collectible mushrooms if you explore a little and go for completion, and gathering enough mushrooms unlocks a couple optional non-canon just-for-fun bonus levels. Narrative and dialogue snippets come and go as one progresses (think Thomas Was Alone) and the text is well handled as well, really selling the mood of each stage.
I'll be honest with you; I almost bounced off of this game at first. During the first one or two levels wherein Circle is alone and angsting, the narrative felt a bit too heavy-handed, and gameplay felt so basic and non-challenging that it almost seemed more like a walking sim than a platformer. There's a certain... there can be games to which we in Clan give the dreaded Indie Game About Death title in spirit even though they're not literally about death, just because they have that general aura about them (you know the one.) This is definitely one of those games, and it was a bit too much at first. But I stuck with it and... by about the second or third level, things just suddenly clicked? The platforming got a lot better--not sadistic to the point of frustration (except for the first bonus level, which fortunately is completely optional,) but there was enough there to wake me up and to sell the narrative difference between being single and in a relationship. The story and characterization got good and grabbed me, and... just... from that point on, suddenly I loved this, and that feeling only grew stronger the more we progressed.
This game is poignant, moving, and very relatable. As someone who's been there a few times, I could relate not just to the overall message but even to each specific case. From the relationship that had so much bickering toward the end that the final breakup felt inevitable and maybe even a bit of a "whew, finally" relief, to the one that seemed like it was going fine until your partner pulls the rug out from under you and leaves you feeling blindsided and betrayed, to the relationship you're wary to start at all because you've been hurt before and maybe you just need to stop trying for a while, it's all there, and it all spoke to us.
If a relationship ends badly, are all the "at least we were happy for a time, while it lasted" experiences still valid, or are the once-happy memories tainted now? This journey is just as much about learning, growing, and maturing as it is about finding that missing piece.
For a semi-basic platformer with heavy Indie Game About Relationships energy, I cannot say enough good things about this game. It snuck up on us both by being something we randomly picked up in a sale and by not really clicking until a couple stages in, but once that taste had been acquired, it was just... so good. So, so good. Please consider letting it sneak up on you, too.
(Some miscellaneous caveats:
* Content warning for suicidal ideation in some of the emotional low points.
* The second bonus stage, "The Good Trip," unlocks way, way, way too early. It features non-canonical cameos from your various companions throughout the main story, and if you're collecting every mushroom in every stage as you go, you'll have enough to unlock it before you even meet a couple of them. Playing The Good Trip as soon as you're able to is both a narrative spoiler and a gameplay pitfall as some jumps rely on your later partners' mechanics which the game hasn't even told you about yet since that's all in the main story. Consider saving The Good Trip for last. By contrast, the first bonus stage, "The Bad Trip," is fine to do at any point as soon as you unlock it, but it's also the most openly sadistic level in the game.)
Journey of the Broken Circle is a cute little indie game about a circle with a wedge-shaped piece missing (thus giving them a sort of Pac-Man-looking appearance) who feels a sense of longing due to their incompleteness. They want to find that missing piece, that thing that can make them whole, and so they set off on a journey. Lonely and depressing at first, Circle meets a cast of characters and things go from there.
This game is a very heavy-handed story about relationships. Circle is alone and lonely until they meet someone who fits in that wedge, and the two of them proceed onward together. You even gain various extra powers and abilities based on whatever your partner can do, the two of you together being maneuverable in ways that neither of you could have achieved alone. However, the funny thing about relationships is that they can be hard. Sometimes each partner has different goals--one wants to keep exploring and moving forward in life while the other wants to settle down and put down roots, for example. Sometimes these differences are irreconcilable. And sometimes Circle finds themselves alone again, hurt by the grief of having loved and lost.
Gameplay-wise, this is a platformer where your goal is to reach the end of the level. It sounds basic enough and it kind of is, but the level design does a very good job of emphasizing the narrative point of what Circle can and can't do with their partner (or lack thereof.) Each level has a few collectible mushrooms if you explore a little and go for completion, and gathering enough mushrooms unlocks a couple optional non-canon just-for-fun bonus levels. Narrative and dialogue snippets come and go as one progresses (think Thomas Was Alone) and the text is well handled as well, really selling the mood of each stage.
I'll be honest with you; I almost bounced off of this game at first. During the first one or two levels wherein Circle is alone and angsting, the narrative felt a bit too heavy-handed, and gameplay felt so basic and non-challenging that it almost seemed more like a walking sim than a platformer. There's a certain... there can be games to which we in Clan give the dreaded Indie Game About Death title in spirit even though they're not literally about death, just because they have that general aura about them (you know the one.) This is definitely one of those games, and it was a bit too much at first. But I stuck with it and... by about the second or third level, things just suddenly clicked? The platforming got a lot better--not sadistic to the point of frustration (except for the first bonus level, which fortunately is completely optional,) but there was enough there to wake me up and to sell the narrative difference between being single and in a relationship. The story and characterization got good and grabbed me, and... just... from that point on, suddenly I loved this, and that feeling only grew stronger the more we progressed.
This game is poignant, moving, and very relatable. As someone who's been there a few times, I could relate not just to the overall message but even to each specific case. From the relationship that had so much bickering toward the end that the final breakup felt inevitable and maybe even a bit of a "whew, finally" relief, to the one that seemed like it was going fine until your partner pulls the rug out from under you and leaves you feeling blindsided and betrayed, to the relationship you're wary to start at all because you've been hurt before and maybe you just need to stop trying for a while, it's all there, and it all spoke to us.
If a relationship ends badly, are all the "at least we were happy for a time, while it lasted" experiences still valid, or are the once-happy memories tainted now? This journey is just as much about learning, growing, and maturing as it is about finding that missing piece.
For a semi-basic platformer with heavy Indie Game About Relationships energy, I cannot say enough good things about this game. It snuck up on us both by being something we randomly picked up in a sale and by not really clicking until a couple stages in, but once that taste had been acquired, it was just... so good. So, so good. Please consider letting it sneak up on you, too.
(Some miscellaneous caveats:
* Content warning for suicidal ideation in some of the emotional low points.
* The second bonus stage, "The Good Trip," unlocks way, way, way too early. It features non-canonical cameos from your various companions throughout the main story, and if you're collecting every mushroom in every stage as you go, you'll have enough to unlock it before you even meet a couple of them. Playing The Good Trip as soon as you're able to is both a narrative spoiler and a gameplay pitfall as some jumps rely on your later partners' mechanics which the game hasn't even told you about yet since that's all in the main story. Consider saving The Good Trip for last. By contrast, the first bonus stage, "The Bad Trip," is fine to do at any point as soon as you unlock it, but it's also the most openly sadistic level in the game.)