“Deskarnation” is a bit similar to the drama thrillers in the cinema. While the scenes that unfold are utterly disturbing, they keep you glued to the screen until the very end. The title “Atelier QDB” manages, like no other in the world of video games, to present us with a gruesome story in which the protagonist Gloria gradually falls into a dissociative spiral in which she finds it difficult to distinguish what is real is and what is not. every step you take.
It’s not that she’s unlucky, it’s that Gloria’s story could very well be that of a woman who lives alone and has to get out every d ay to face this world. Issues such as personal relationships, abandoning passions in pursuit of stability, and the need to remain (almost unconsciously) alert to possible aggression from a man are things our society today does not tolerate, but neither does it stop. A spiral that I don’t quite understand, but which the players will certainly appreciate.
Don’t get me wrong, Decarnation also presents us with a very meticulous and rich artistic style, where pixel art offers very few games at this level. In fact, there were times when I thought some scenes were even better than what we saw on Eastward. The color palette is pleasing even in the scenes where Gloria pursues her worst nightmares, and the narrative impact works well with the graphics. At first I thought this approach was just due to technical limitations, but later I understand that it’s also a way to mitigate the difficult issues discussed here.
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It’s a pity that the playable part h as minimal impact on the story they tell us. In general, all we have to do is get our protagonist from one place to another, interacting with characters and objects in established dialogues, and there’s no exploration component or secondary route to follow. Decarnation wants to tell you its story, and there is no other way. On the one hand you avoid distractions caused by the drama, on the other hand I missed more components that prompt me to be interested in the world.
The most interactive parts focus on the moments when we see Gloria’s “alternative reality” where we have to face monsters and situations (again in a linear way while she tries to organize her mind) by pressing a button and the Move the stick in the direction indicated by the screen. At this point I must also add that in my opinion this control is not the best solution to preserve the integrity of the Joy-Con in the version for Nintendo Switch that we received for analysis and therefore I do not know how she was solved this with keyboard mapping and mouse. They could have used the same coordinated pulsation approach as in the cabaret scenes (Gloria is a dancer at the beginning of the story) and perhaps took the opportunity to make an evolution as the mind breaks more and more.
That being said, and due to the simplicity of the gameplay, I didn’t have any failures throughout the adventure, except for some lost location lines, although they warned us that we might find another problem. An added credit for such a small development team.
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“Decarnation” brought me to the end of the story precisely because of the appeal of the narrative and the way it illustrates the complex and difficult issues it deals with. That should be the main reason for players to try it. On the other hand, those looking for a more interactive experience might find that Decarnation only scratches the surface.