Know By Heart, by Ice Pick Lodge, (developer of Pathologic), changes up genres to a more heartfelt story from their previous survival setting. The game produced is quite the heartfelt experience where it reminds the player of those nostalgic moments in life when people when people were just kids. The gameplay, while not the most exciting at times, focuses on the player’s reaction to events going on. This is enhanced by the overall superb music composed often making moments portray a greater sense of emotional depth upon the player. Aside from that, the basis of the game is something unique to all the high intensity, and multiplayer focused games, where it focuses on a wholesome single player game invested in its emotional impact on the players who pick the game up. Ice Pick Lodge has crafted a well-made game that goes straight for the heart with its approach to childhood nostalgia, music, and focus on the story.
Gameplay is something that can often make or break a game is something that requires serious time and effort on the developer’s behalf on how to execute their vision. Know By Heart’s gameplay is quite special as it involves puzzles at times while simple can provide a good challenge. One key feature to take note of is the internal discussion Misha has responding to the external environment from interacting with others. Moreover, this is something that can happen to everyone often wondering what a person can do versus what should a person do. The start of the game when interacting with the first encounter makes quite a statement showcasing what kind of game this is. A game focusing on internal strife is far and few between where those thoughts that can impact our choices really do matter in the long run as to who we are as a person. In order for the game to make that statement be truer is that when focusing on internal thoughts we get to hear Misha’s heartbeat allowing the player to really get in touch with the character. However, while this game brings in a unique gameplay idea, the camera itself needs to be discussed. Isometric view makes you feel like you are not really in control of where you go at times often going in blind. While this camera perspective may seem dated to some, it is often at times takes on a key role in the story of the game. Moreover, by doing this, the developers took careful consideration as to why a fixed camera perspective. The development studio Ice Pick Lodge seems to be a small game studio judging by the 7 games they have released since 2011. This brings in another perspective into why they choose the fixed camera angle as a whole. One of the reasons for that is the developers is time and money as a key factor. One crucial part of the gameplay experience is the use of sound, but in this case, music can affect the player.
In regard to the music, the composition carries a wide away of emotions displaying allowing scenes to stand out. The soft somber melancholic tones provide much needed ambience to the game as well as the background music often makes or breaks good audio in games. The game, itself, strikes a good balance of music for the player to focus on. This balance allows the music to not overstay its welcome as a piece of music allowing the player to have a more meaningful experience when playing. There are games nowadays that have this mindset in development as to not bore the player and ensure that the game has a good pace overall.
Ice Pick Lodge strikes a perfect balance in its composition of music and choice of instruments making sure that even if a song is on repeat it does not overstay its welcome. This can be attributed to the composer Nikolay Kashevnik who uploaded the original soundtrack to YouTube on his channel so anyone can listen to the music he produced for the game.
The game is very story driven and reminiscent of a novella where the narrative grips you making sure you keep playing. While the game can be lengthy at times a full playthrough of the game is around 4 to 5 hours given the player’s ability. By having the game be single player, the developers can really focus on what kind of story they want to tell players. The story, itself, is about four friends reuniting after being away for such a long time and spend time with each other. Moreover, there is this overarching storytelling approach where it is reminiscent of moment of passage for some people where people need to move on through the pain to keep on living. This theme can be cemented further with a bittersweet tone in a story often pulling on a person’s heartstrings making a grater emotional impact on a person causing them to express further emotions. Ice Pick Lodge strikes this balance perfectly while there are some parts that seem fantastical, but through the use of video games as a medium it makes the strengthens the story. This can only be done through such a medium as the player is fully engaged in the story as opposed to something like a book or movie where the audience stands idle.
The game itself is quite a refreshing change of pace from all the high action games out there. Moreover, Know By Heart really stands out as it carries emotional weight leaving the player thinking about how their friends are doing making sure there is a heartfelt message left after playing. After playing the game, it can be stated that it is wholesome yet bittersweet reminding us that life has those moments, often reminding the player that life has its ups and downs. Know By Heart, by Ice Pick Lodge, gets a 9/10 for its highly driven story reminiscent of a short novella that makes you want more from the author to keep writing more stories. Ice Pick Lodge is a studio that should be on the radar for its decisions on making great gameplay, music, and story.
For more information, visit: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/know-by-heart-switch/
Related: Reviews by Kyle Manila
I would describe myself when interacting with games as a strategist with a pension for stealth and loud explosions.
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