Indigo Prophecy

Unfortunately, what I had been dreading since the ominous introduction came true. Indigo Prophecy began as a psychological crime drama, but at some point, became wholesale science fiction. To be fair, it's reasonably good sci-fi; but it isn't the gritty, introspective story I was hoping it would be.

As the game went on, it also exposed more of its own production weaknesses. The whole "thing" about choosing what to say in dialog is that deciding what you get out of an NPC as a response is a matter of strategic choice, in trying to figure things out. But later, the story develops into something so complicated that this mechanism becomes more of a logical fallacy than a tool - choices you don't take leave certain pieces of information unexplained, but after-the-fact dialog assumes that you know it anyway. There is just too much going on for the dialog choices to keep up with.

I also grew disappointed with the story itself as it drew to a close, especially in the ending. Schlocky writing decisions made a lot of it feel trite and impersonal. Most of all, the sci-fi aspects of the story brought Indigo Prophecy crashing back down into the realm of "video game." Later scenes appear sloppily put together in order to hasten the completion of the game, at the expense of its dramatic effect.

I feel like mentioning that, while Indigo Prophecy has a lot of "choice" in it, the choices you make tend not to affect the big picture very much. Sometimes you can get an early game over, which is easy enough to recover from; and there are three distinct endings, though they don't really differ from each other too much. In fact, the significance of the bevy of choices in the game is more illusory than real. They act to give you, the player, a strong feeling that you're sincerely directing the actions of the game's characters. It's not about content, but about immersion, and it works very well.

I really admire what's been accomplished in Indigo Prophecy, and it's done a pretty good job of living up to its intents. The motion capture, for instance, is absolutely superb in crafting characters that move and behave in a believable way. The quality voice acting and dramatic music are very well-implemented. And in its earlier portions, the writing really makes it feel less like a game, and more like a traditional storytelling piece. This is a good thing.

I really hope that someday, someone can do a more complete job of it, because making a game that plays like a good TV show or movie or book - something that really draws the player into a serious world (as opposed to a caricatured one), and the emotions of its characters - is a fantastic goal, and Indigo Prophecy proves that it's possible.

Progress: Complete