More of a movie/interactive story than a game. Message was against Racism and Homophobia together in one storyline, but doesn't story discourage coming out of closet. If you are gay and come out of closet you will lose all your superpowers and also lose your black BF. Hmm But a good effort by creator non the less.
Reviews for "Pain That Binds Us"
Why is this getting promoted on the front page?
I've seen a lot of bad reviews due to the supposed "political nature" of the game. I guess it's just a matter of points of view: to me, the game tells about how the pain that isn't mourned still lives inside us, and if ignored it destroys us from within. To me, the protagonist becoming a superhero, something indestructible and invincible, represents the person who has suffered a loss and, instead of elaborating it, closes himself into an armor apparently indestructible, to prove to himself that he suffers no pain and he can do wonders no matter what. But the inevitable downfall, as I said before, is the result of ignoring the pain, and letting it fester inside the soul. Some things can't just be ignored and buried under a false sense of invincibility, like a child that has hurt himself but holds back the tears and says "I feel nothing".
It doesn't really matter that his significant other is a man, or a black person: the message is something else, imho. But as I've told at the beginning, it's just a matter of points of view, and having everyone a different point of view, of course there will be plenty of interpretations. Mine is what you have just read.
I gave it three stars (two in the vote) because the realization is pretty poor: the player simply walks left and right on a flat plane, there's only one big scrolling level, the "losing-power" mechanic is good but is not well developed (unlike other games, like "Persist"), for the player doesn't face many odds that challenge his problem (he only jumps over increasingly smaller holes, and dives through a pile of snow). It could have been a more complex game, but it ended up being just an "interactive story" masked as a platform.
TL;DR: good the idea, poor the realization. Work more on it, the existential issue can't keep the game up only by itself.
The secret story about a guy that was unable to save his POC progressive liberal and open minded black minority homosexual boyfriend from them skinhead neonazi alt right that mindlessly attack people with no cause or reason. Such a detailed story. I see where most of the hours spent in the game went.
I guess the title screen looked smoothly animated...