Europe is cool – but its history is not

At the risk of being completely incoherent, do you know the music that plays in the spa? This synthy, distant soundscape stuff that isn’t exactly music, but isn’t really music either not Music? What kind of playlist do you find when you take a wrong turn on your favorite lo-fi playlist? Chord after relaxing chord, interspersed with birdsong, the sound of rain or crackling fire? So, Europe it is, but in video game form – at least as far as gameplay is concerned.

Europedeveloped by Helder Pinto and Novadust Entertainment, is a game primarily about floating gently through cel-shaded environments to soothing piano and electronic music. You play as Zee, a humanoid boy who flies with a “Zephyr” backpack through tranquil landscapes full of overgrown ruins and cute robots. During its opening hours Europe It feels like it should have had a title Beautiful Vista simulatoras it takes you from vantage point to breathtaking vantage point, the camera panning outward to showcase the game’s scenic aesthetic and surprising scope. If you liked the opening of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Europe performs this kind of epic downsizing every 30 minutes or so. (Just a slight exaggeration.)

Just caught up in the mood, Europe

is a relaxing experience that borders on meditative. The challenge is missing here. Many enemies can be incapacitated by a hug. Puzzles are superficial and quickly solved. You can’t die. If you want a challenge, look elsewhere. Europe Difficulty is replaced by the joy of movement as the player explores the nooks and crannies of a beautiful, if largely empty, world. Apart from Zee, this world is only populated by a diverse fauna (deer, rabbits, foxes) and an ark full of robots. And it’s the latter demographic that creates the game’s most obvious conflict: a sharp contrast between its aesthetic and its narrative.

There is no shortage of post-apocalyptic games. Europeis, despite all the chill elements, another entry in this genre. Humans have colonized Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, and transformed it into something habitable using AI-produced terraformers. But all is not well with the mission of creating a second home for people. The game is narrated by an old man writing to his son, and you spend your time collecting the pages of his diary and piecing together the story of what happened before setting off on your European adventure – a story , as it turns out, the fair is dark. As the game progresses, it becomes clear that humanity’s failings came with them to Europe, as the Terraformers had long ago decided to rebel against their creators, believing that humanity was at odds with their instructions to become an ecologically responsible one to create healthy environment. This conflict turns into an outright war as humanity leaves the ground and seeks refuge in heaven.

Without giving anything away, I would like to say this in conclusion Europethe game makes a clear statement on the conflict between human life and the environment. But the questions from Europe

The human story is: Above all, should humanity be given a second chance to preserve the planet when it has consistently failed to do anything other than destroy wherever it calls home? – are in contrast to the gaming experience, which is extremely relaxed and, as I wrote, almost completely conflict-free.

In the short three to four hours it will take you to complete the game, you will encounter landscapes undisturbed by industry or greed, and read page after page about how the people themselves are in our desperate escape from one destroyed earth have brought our warlike tendencies to what they should. was a utopia. In his story Europe explicitly asks the player to think about whether we as humanity deserve a Europe. My own answer, as I watched the clouds rolling over green hills dotted with undisturbed biological and technological creatures, was, frankly, no. We had our chance. Let them try it. Give someone else a chance when we wasted our first and second chances. Let the world take back the world and see if a new, gentler order could emerge.

I don’t think the developers would agree with me on this point, but I find it fascinating that the game allows for this reading. Europe

has some drawbacks as a game: the camera can often fight you mid-flight, some sound effects still feel like placeholders, and the periodic disabling of Zee’s ability to freely glide through the air (to add an extra challenge) just doesn’t work yes, because it’s no fun being able to fly and then being asked to walk. And again, if you’re looking for a challenge, look for greener pastures (although good luck finding greener pastures). Europe‘S).

Yes, while Europe is not a game I can recommend without reservations. What I admire most about it is its unwillingness to close the loop on gameplay and narrative dissonance. After seeing where the story lands, I can safely say that the contrast is not unintentional on the developers’ part. And while I personally bristle at the more hopeful leanings, I admire the fact that I see it through to the end Europe asks you to decide for yourself what you think about all this. It’s a brave game that leaves such thematic decisions up to its player, rather than hitting them over the head with a desired interpretation. Europe may be the spa music of post-apocalyptic games, but its relaxation raises a deeper question: Do we deserve a greener world? And if not, how might we change to fit into the greener utopia we have dreamed of for so long?

Europe was released on October 11th on Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. The author played on PC using a download code from Future Friends Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These have no influence on the editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. More information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.