now playing: "One Step Back"

[Thanks to La Stranezza for his recommendation this time around!]

"i  know now that fame and fortune are part of who i am"
...one of many mysterious sentiments expressed.

One Step Back (Armor Games, 2010) is an isosceles fish sandwich in and of itself because it's, to a certain extent, a Transcending Pixels new classic--besides the fact that it's distributed from Armor Games, which we already have a history on here of making some pretty quality games (they've been featured in the lineup before). So as with other absurd titles like This is the Only Level, One Step Back's narrative is perfectly combined with its gameplay style. At first, it comes across as a rather misanthropic piece typical of the kinds of games I've reviewed before on Transcending Pixels. Ultimately, it ends up being a positive experience for the player as what initally appears to be a negatively-toned account of an unidentified protragonist who cannot run away from his habits (in fact, there's a prequel detailing the SPOILERSalcoholic specifics of that particular past, using identical aesthetics and similar mechanics from One Step Back) becomes a rather positive, zen-like realization of the importance of memories, even bad ones.

Admittedly, the keyboard controls were a little not so intuitive for me to understand initially. Playing it is a lot like listening to Asking Alexandria--every once in a while I get some good musical appreciation during the electronic-based interludes, but getting past some of the growly vocals--well, let's just say it's not so much my thing. Not to mention, playing this game is now making me regret every mistyped character and word I'm putting in this post right now. In short, I've gained a healthy writer's fear of the delete key--because to delete is to backspace, and to backspace is to go backwards, and to go backwards is to retrace my steps and risk getting somehow mysteriously blown up by one of my previous selves(!).

Navigate your blue man group member to his matching door--once it fills up, that is. You can fill it up by  moving around the space and consequently bringing out minions from the white door who repeat your every move. I'm bad at explaining this, aren't I? Or maybe, the mechanic is supposed to be absurd on purpose.

That's exactly what this game trains you to do: to fear your mistakes. To access the next level, you must inevitably create a series of meaningless actions to avoid running into your clonal selves repeating your every move, only a few keystrokes behind you from colliding into your universe and causing some white-out time rift a la Doctor Who "Doomsday." The game's title is just irony. To retrace yourself is disaster--for the first half of the game. Then Suddenly, an Important Discovery. And all of those mistakes, all of those moves you made in the first half, become pick-up items to bring back with you as you travel backwards through time. It's as if you never played the game. *insert Will-Smith-in-government-shades-erasing-your-mind moment*

Nothing particularly startling or eye-opening is gained over the course of the journey, as the PC speaks in abstractions of quotes and fragments of syntax that are quite profound in their own (existential) right. (Unless of course, you're not familiar with existentialism. Then, my friend, prepare to be exploded.) Nonetheless, One Step Back is a cup of minimalist tea for the serious-minded casual gamer, a starting point for the player's reflection on his own memories much as the gameplay itself becomes literally reflected.