Editor’s note: Hello! Over the next few days, we’re running an “Escape Game” series, and we’re finally starting to look back at games that release sometime in 2021, but for various reasons we couldn’t fully cover them at the time.
We’ve returned to some real gems, so for more catch-up reviews like this, head over to the Games That Got Away hub, where all of our work in the series will be gathered in one convenient place. enjoy!
The first thing the game Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition tells you is that it’s not a game.
Although it’s published by Epic Games and available for download from the PlayStation and the Epic Games store, Kid A Mnesia isn’t a game in the traditional sense, no, but that’s why the additional subtitle “Exhibit” provides some useful background information here. A partnership between Epic and alternative rock band Radiohead, Kid A Mnesia is more of a visual and auditory experience than a traditional game, an interactive music video where you can experience the music of Radiohead and the psychedelic art of singer Thom Yorke Works and the band’s long-standing – permanent cover artist Stanley Donwood.
Your experience begins under the angry canopy of a 2D hand-painted forest, with dark trunks stretching endlessly upwards toward a colorless sky, their limbs sticking out at acute angles, entangling – and stabbing each other. There’s a bright red fluorescent light in the distance, but, well, that can’t be the way I’m supposed to go, can it?red means it’s a exit, not the entry point – the entryway usually glows green. Sometimes red is even a video game shorthand for “something terrible is about to happen.” Why on earth should I turn to the dreaded red light when my knowledge of code and semiotics (read: not much) tells me I should escape it?
That’s the thing about Kid A Mnesia, though. The usual rules do not apply. Just like a traditional exhibit, you’ll travel throughout the exhibit, taking casual glances at the past and stopping to actively interact with other people. All with a touch of bizarre and avant-garde atmosphere. Your adventure will take you through a delightful fusion of different formats, ranging from chiseled wall markers and multimedia screens to low-fidelity computer monitors and rooms made entirely of paper, from a concept to Another concept swings wildly, so you’re never entirely sure what you’ll encounter in the next room.
Despite its insistence, Kid A Mnesia is a game as long as you decide where and when you want to go. While it can sometimes strip you of agency — some sequences, often accompanied by full tracks on the album, are entirely on track — you can decide the order in which you go to the exhibition, or double return to what you find if you prefer Shady Slope is curious. There are some recurring themes; as the concept of doors resurfaces periodically (the lyrics of Radiohead’s “Pulk/Pulk Revolving Doors” track, as you step into the exhibit space, a horned beast frequently greets you: Doors have doors / have trapdoors / have doors that open automatically / have sliding doors and trap doors / have doors that let you in and out / but never open / have trap doors / you can’t come back). But what route did you take and what order did you choose those gates? That’s your choice.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, for me, the best part of the experience was the most “game-y” part, where you follow the path of fiery text printed on the walls of a concrete room. Throw away the clues – which is easy to do because you’re in a tight space where you can have parts of six or seven different sentences on each wall – the sequence won’t complete. It’s here that Pulk/Pulk Revolving Doors’ lyrics take revenge, but it goes further than that, revealing the full narrative a few words at a time, which can only be accomplished when you carefully follow the trail to its end.
Other times, however, I feel frustrated, unhurried and unable to make choices for myself. You read the exhibits very slowly – presumably to make sure you listened to a certain percentage of each track before quitting – and there’s no way to skip parts you’re less interested in, especially if you stumble upon a scripted sequence It won’t let you go until you’ve experienced the full track.
Having said that, there’s no denying the ingenious tension between the music and the visuals, the latter not being “terrifying” but revelling in “unsettling” deep waters. At times, it’s not clear whether the inhabitants near you are friends or foes – you might be too afraid to find out – but it’s a fascinating and completely novel way to peek into York’s creative minds and learn more about Kid A Mnesia How it came about. No, I don’t always know what it all means – as the game describes in the store description, Kid A Mnesia is a “crazy dream space, a mansion, by the art of Radiohead’s Kid Constructed with creatures, words and recordings, A and Amnesia were discovered over 20 years ago, regrouped and given life to new mutants” – but it’s a wild adventure, and “Fever” is certainly a fitting here description of.
However, as you might expect, it’s the soundtrack that dominates the experience. Kid A was released in 2000 – Kid A Mnesia in 2021 – but both albums share the same DNA and are perfectly realized by Yorke and Donwood’s striking visual art. So if you’re familiar with Radiohead, the various hits plastered on the wall — at Limbo, Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box, Ghost Chamber, The National Anthem — might mean more to you than they did to me Makes sense, but even if you’re just interested in modern art, if you don’t mind being forced to listen to a few tracks in their entirety, those less familiar with Radiohead’s back catalog can enjoy Kid A Mnesia.
I suspect many Radiohead fans will object, but those who don’t quite like their music may be frustrated by the lack of agency and control over their own destiny. Thankfully, since browsing through the entire exhibit only takes a few hours, you won’t be forced to do anything for too long.
