Vidar

Death is very common and mundane in video games, especially in shooters, which usually feature hundreds of casualties per minute. However, some games put a lot more emphasis on the finality of death, as is the case with roguelikes and some RPGs. Granted, the quickload button is always there to scare the grim reaper away, so there’s usually no need to fret at the sight of death.

Vidar is a very interesting role-playing game that centers on death as the main mechanic, but not yours. Instead, you have to worry about others characters randomly dying and changing the story along the way. As for the actual gameplay, there’s nothing unique or exciting in the mix, which might be a bit disappointing if you were hoping for something new in this regard.   In short, the whole thing takes place in a small village by the name of Vidar, where a mighty beast lurks in the darkness, killing innocent people. Every night it takes a different person, and the game randomizes these deaths to provide you with a different playthrough every time. Hence, some quests might not be available sometimes, and the plot as a whole changes depending on who’s alive and who’s not.

Even if the game looks like a classic top-down RPG, there is no combat as you would expect. Instead, you have to explore caverns and caves underneath the town in order to investigate the origins of the mysterious beast. Here you find all sorts of riddles and puzzles you must overcome, and they are far from simple most of the time. On the other hand, they really make up for the lack of combat, which is nice.   Lastly, it’s worth noting that the designers have managed to do a great job with the artwork, even if it comes in very low-resolution tiles. The town is quite pretty, and the environments are not as repetitive as you might expect, so the sights do not get boring quite as quickly. The music plays a major part in the overall atmosphere as well, so the package is pretty much complete.

All things considered, Vidar gambled a lot on the interesting death mechanics, and the bet paid off. Hence, you can have quite the time with the game, especially since it doesn’t get repetitive even after a few playthroughs.