Sacramento

Sometimes art is not required to have a reason or a goal, but it always has some kind of meaning, even if not all the admirers can notice it. Whether it’s a portrayal of the beautiful or the ugly, artists are constantly trying to make their emotions and views known to the public. Video games can easily be classified as art as well, so it shouldn’t come as a shock to see games that do not follow the rules in regards to gameplay, graphics or storytelling techniques.

Sacramento is a first-person walking simulator and exploration game in which the main goal is to waltz around a very colorful world and try to make sense of it. There’s no actual storyline to follow, nor are there intricate character connections to study. Instead, the game resembles a still wet canvas on which the artist tried to represent an abstract idea, and it’s up to you to make heads or tails of it.

As mentioned before, walking is your main activity, but the landscape is constantly changing around you after every step. The theme of the game is memories, so you can imagine the landscapes as being fragments of your subconscious fading away year after year, making it more difficult to recall a specific scene or conversation.

In terms of gameplay, there’s not much you can do, other than walk and jump. This comes in handy a couple of times, but you don’t need to fear difficult platforming sections, because they do not exist. Instead, it’s much more important to orientate yourself, otherwise you might end up going in circles. Thankfully, the environments can be pretty suggestive sometimes, so it’s usually easy to figure out the right direction.

As for the graphics, the style is certainly unique, which is always good news in the genre. Hence, the game world like likes the doodles of a bored artist, yet it’s incredibly beautiful sometimes. The carefree outlines that never seem to be in tune with the actual colors might be distracting sometimes, but they are part of the charm as well, as is the calming soundtrack.

In the end, Sacramento’s beauty is difficult to put into words until you see it for yourself, because it’s not a matter of graphics engine power, but a matter of atmosphere and feeling. Thus, you are certainly in for a treat if you decide to give the game a go.