VIDEOVERSE
itch.io link

TW: Brief mentions of online bullying and grooming

Videoverse is a coming-of-age story set in a console social network (resembling Miiverse). Emmett, the protagonist, is a 15 year old German teenager who enjoys a samurai video game called Feudal Fantasy and seeks online community for it.

Videoverse's music and pixel art style give off a cozy, nostalgic vibe. It's all early fandom and retro Nintendo gaming. The style difference between real and virtual world is a bit jarring, but it's not a big problem.

Naturally, the in-game online space is not perfect: there are trolls and bullies, and one of the main mechanics is reporting harmful comments to keep the community safe.

[Spoiler territory! Hover to read, but you'd better play the game first!]

Honestly, this game kept me on edge the entire time. A social network full of kids with video chat access? Some mustached guy in your friend list? Main character developing a crush on a stranger with no avatar? So many things can go wrong here. But somehow they didn't. At least, not for our main characters, though the grooming problem of such communities is mentioned.

The game is also a nice and thoughtful representation of disability. The theme is raised multiple times, before finally revealing that one of the main characters is also disabled. Videoverse also briefly touches on accessibility in games, which made me, as a game developer, really think what I could do better in my projects.

The choices you make actually matter. They develop Emmett's character, and might later block some dialogue options because the Emmett you play wouldn't say that. Whether or not you complete some of the quests also matters, and some of the characters (which you'll soon come to love or hate) may be impacted by it.

Minor issue, but this game could really use an autosave. If you play it, always save before quitting, or you'll lose all your progress!

Videoverse feels like a sweet time running out. The social network is about to close, the old console gen is becoming obsolete, you're about to grow up, and it's not 2003 anymore, is it? You make friends, you post your art, and then, one day, you lose contact and everything is either lost or frozen in a still, dead archive. There's always the next step, though. Some things are never to be recovered, but we should be happy they happened at all.

Let's hold onto the worlds we build.