Event[0] (Video Game)

Ted Hentschke |

Oct 18, 2016

Event[0] Developed by Ocelot Society

Available on PC through Steam

Suitable for ages 13+

It’s pretty rare that I’d venture to call an indie title “brave.” There’s a lot of new, weird ideas out there. Many of them push the boundary of what can be considered a game. It’s admirable to be different, but it isn’t inherently ballsy. To earn the Ted Hentschke Badge of the Badass, you need to do something really difficult. Event[0] is a game controlled entirely by your text input commands with a computer. It’s nothing new, old text adventures did that. But it is incredibly difficult. I think The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game had like eight zillion pages of text or something. Think about that next time you’re whining about your 20 page term paper due in 12 hours. Take some Adderall and crank that shit out like an adult.

I’m excited, because my time as a millennial has finally paid off. I know at least a dozen people who all tried to make their own text adventure with “reactive dialogue.” The idea was that the AI would take what you say, analyze keywords, and put out a result that made the game feel alive. Great example, Don’t Shit Your Pants. As amazing as that game was, it was decidedly small in scope. Trying to make realistic actions and reactions for a whole game is far more complicated. Of the people I know that have tried to make such a game, exactly zero have completed it.

Complex plot webs are hard, yo.

Event[0] starts with a Firewatch style selection process to make your backstory. It’s immediately apparent that they wanted to create a world far greater than the confines of one ship. You’re given glimpses into a 1980’s very different from our own, where space travel defines us. Those privileged few who have broken the confines of our gravitational pull are dubbed “Selenites,” because of something to do with Selenium? Not sure how it relates, but someone smarter than me can probably tell you.

You’ll pick your origin, motivation, attitude, and even gender identification before blasting off. Regardless of your choices, you are selected for an expedition to Jupiter’s most popular moon, Europa. On your way there, disaster strikes, and you are ejected from the ship while the rest of the crew are rendered into space dust. Bummer. Lucky for you, there’s a Nautilus class recreational ship adrift directly in your course. How fortunate! Or was it…? The plot thickens…

What if my motivation is that I want to walk around an abandoned spaceship while an AI with abandonment issues questions if I really like them?

Arriving on the ship, you’re greeted by an AI who calls itself Kaizen. Initially cordial, it quickly becomes apparent that Kaizen has an ulterior motive. He believes that the core that powers the ship is dangerous to all of mankind, and refuses to return to Earth until you dispose of it. Of course, this is a text adventure, so many layers of menus stand between you and being able to just eject the damn thing and going home.

Walking through the hallways of the ship, you’ll find Kaizen cooperative only to a point. Want to walk through a door? Well, ask nicely. Want to find a code to a door? Get ready to explore a number of logs to find a hint. Kaizen also isn’t always willing to just go along with your commands. At times, you’ll need persistence to convince him to do what you want. It all sounds cumbersome, but it’s pretty entertaining. Finding out the exact command Kaizen needs is ultimately fun. It’s a puzzle for sure, but one with enough leeway to not feel unfair. Say door, and Kaizen will list the doors you can interact with. Stumble long enough, and Kaizen will hint at a previously unknown command. It makes you think in classic adventure logic, and I for one welcome the challenge.

As the game goes on, Kaizen’s display becomes progressively more glithcy. It’s a bit discomforting, given the fact that he’s in charge of keeping the airlocks closed.

The obvious problem with developing for this mechanic is that you have to account for all of the english language. This is basically impossible. One solution is to try to lead into keywords, but this is difficult without being too obvious. If you want someone to try to read the computer’s log, you have to explain first that the computer even has a log that the player can access. At one point I was trying to light up a dark room, but Kaizen kept insisting the lights were already on. It wasn’t until pouring through the logs that I figured out that I had to open shutters I didn’t know existed. I’m okay with a game subverting intuition to deliver something unexpected, but that felt dumb.

The simple commands are one thing, but the game also has to tell a story. This is more complicated than just landing on keywords. You can’t very well just stop the exposition until the player finds the exact phrase you’re looking for without it feeling clunky. So there are a number of times the game just pretends like what you are saying makes sense. At one point I was just typing in “balls” to keep the plot moving. Which, to be fair, is a level of roleplay that perfectly fits me.

Heh.

Despite these flaws being very persistent, I have a hard time being too critical. It’s very hard to do something like this, so of course there are going to be some cracks. This isn’t a huge team, so the fact that they managed to make it work as well as it did is admirable. Moreover, they made a pretty decent world in the meantime. It’s a bit too vague to be considered great, but it integrates into the immediate story with a surprising amount of payoff. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say your actions have more consequence than just getting home.

That’s all I really want to say about Event[0]. It’s an obviously flawed game that I really liked. It would be impossible for me to recommend it without acknowledging the shortcomings. And yet, I wholeheartedly do. It’s easy to point out the problems, but that would be missing the forest for the trees. I don’t think everyone will love it, but people looking for something different will certainly find that.

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User Rating 3.45 (11 votes)

Tags:adventure game Psychological Horror Sci-Fi Space

Categorized:Reviews