Places is a walking game that focuses on unbridled and unguided exploration, with atmospheric sounds and immersive visuals. Given the indie nature of the game, it is difficult to pinpoint a single creator, but one of the creators goes by ktch0 on tumblr. The game is really all focused on its illustrative landscapes, and doesn’t at all include external narration or plot. Therefore, I would assume that the target audience for the game includes players of all ages, backgrounds, and gaming experience. The game is available for windows/linux download, and some of the landscapes are available to play on a web browser, which is what I chose to do.
This game is unique because the walking doesn’t necessarily tell the story; instead, the walking is the story, and it is our job as players to engage in introspection through the gameplay. This marks a major deviation from most walking games, which often rely on premise and storytelling to aid in the progression of the game. In some ways, there is no way to progress through achievements in the game. The achievement is the further exploration of the landscape, which is infinite and consistent in ambience throughout the game. The player is truly alone, and can only progress in the game by progressing through the environment. The game is one that leverages aesthetics to inspire internal contemplation from the player, to compensate for and replace the lack of external storytelling occuring.
The strongest element of the game for me was the aesthetics. The landscapes chosen for exploration really did create an eerie and solitary aura that left me thinking less about the game, and more about my internal monologue. In this way, the game was very successful in its original intent. However, I find myself unable to distinguish if the introspection was encouraged by the ambience, or encouraged by a general sense of boredom that I mentally wanted to escape. If it was the boredom driving me through the simultaneous exploration and contemplation, then I don’t know if the game was successful – really, if the boredom was what drove me, I probably would have abandoned the gameplay altogether had I not been obligated to complete this assignment.
I have a few critiques about the game. First, I think the vibe across a lot of the “places” available on the web browser are too consistent intone.
I would have liked to see “places” that veer away from this solitary, eerie, somber vibe. The places being so similar also contributed to my lack of drive to continue playing the game. Second, I think there was not enough variety within the actual places themselves. For most of them, the look of the surrounding nature almost stayed too consistent to actually encourage meaningful exploration, or, walking. I tried to introduce more variety into the game by entering the various bodies of water, but found the graphics and movements too monotonous to find interesting. Again, this brings me back to a point made previously – this game’s success in achieving its goal is nearly indistinguishable from the game’s success is effectively boring the player. This works for a game that is a one off journey, but I don’t think makes for an effective game that will keep players returning to further explore the landscapes. 
