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BeautifulSpaceCowboy

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Quick thoughts on Solace

If you attended PAX Prime 2010 or listened to the bombcast, Solace is a game you may have heard about. It was developed by One Man Down, a team from DigiPen Institute. As they describe it, Solace is  "an interactive aesthetic experience utilizing dynamic audio and bullet hell overtones to provide a unique perspective on the five stages of grief." The group was successful in delivering exactly the product the described. 
Each stage of grief is represented through music and varying enemies and backgrounds. For example, Anger is a dark level with red-tinted enemies. Every time your ship fires, a predetermined electronic guitar plays a rather aggressive beat.  Another level is depression; one can imagine how it may look. The interesting thing One Man Down does with this level is taking away the players ability to kill the enemies. Everything is very dark and muted and your bullets barely go beyond your "ship," and if they do hit an enemy, the bullets do not seem to do any damage. Also, in contrast to the bright orbs collected in the other stages to upgrade your ship, you are collecting black orbs that the enemies drop as the fly around. Depression is purely a level concerned with surviving, much like the real thing. 
Solace was able to make me feel, even for just a moment, each stage I played through. Many games try to get the player into a certain state, but not all of them succeed like One Man Down's creation. I really like this game. It is simple, effective, and a pleasure playing. Do yourself a favor and go download the game. It is free, so there is nothing to loose, except twenty minutes of your time, but if you really like it, that is not much of a lose. In fact, I will give you the link:  http://solacegame.com

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