In Praise Of: The Music Machine

If it weren’t for a late play through of the incredible Undertale David Szymanski’s The Music Machine would be my pick for game of the year for 2015 (admittedly I played very few new releases but beating out the likes of the excellent The Beginners Guide is no small feat). Clever writing, incredible aesthetic, horrifying environments and subtly intelligent game design all combine to make for a fantastic game that sadly hasn’t seen anywhere near as much praise as I believe it deserves. Why does it deserve so much praise? Read on to get my view on one of the more intelligent and unique takes on horror (in any form) I’ve ever experienced.

The Music Machine – how to describe it? Horror? No, not quite, although horror plays a large part in the game I find horror is somewhat restrictive as a label, including such disparate experiences as the Five Nights at Freddy’s games alongside the likes of Alien Isolation or Resident Evil just doesn’t work and to group The Music Machine among those games would do it a great disservice (I liked Alien Isolation a lot, but the experience is very different and people would likely be disappointed in one or the other should they expect a similar experience). Art? It probably does qualify but there’s definitely a game in there too, this is no mere interactive animation even if the gameplay is somewhat sparse. Walking simulator? Absolutely not. Many have pointed to The Music Machine as being a part of the same genre of arty but ultimately pointless games that make up the somewhat derisively labelled “walking simulators”. While the focus on atmosphere and mood is a significant part of the formula by which David Szymanski operates (I have also played Fingerbones and A Wolf in Autumn from his catalogue) gameplay and interactivity are core to the experience of The Music Machine and understanding the two protagonists.

Of course protagonist is an awkward word here; Quintin is a vindictive ghost inhabiting the body of Haley; a 13 year old girl with the intention of killing her. I’m not sure though that antagonist would better fit Quintin however, in a strange sense they work together and keep each other company; Haley having control only over her mouth but none-the-less helping Quintin along the way toward his goal out of a sense of friendship that, although not entirely explained, has an authenticity to it that many games don’t manage to achieve between their characters. Indeed through much of the exploration of deeply unsettling locales their back and forth discussion is laced with a curious humour that effectively enhances the unsettling nature of the environments rather than fight it. The entire game feels very much like a David Lynch film and the stunning aesthetic pairs with this atmosphere wonderfully.

On the note of the aesthetic quality of the game I think there’s a lot to say about it despite its apparent simplicity on first glance; indeed it becomes part of the gameplay in a wonderful way; one can’t always see the next area they need to head too from certain angles and often one must venture into the darkness to find the next pool of illuminated brick or concrete in order to progress. Lights must be turned on in order to show otherwise hidden obstacles and the visuals and the way you almost need to fight with them becomes a part of the gameplay. Others have noted this as something of a problem, but to my taste the slight difficulty I have with interpreting the world becomes a part of the game’s charm and the manner in which Haley sometimes fills in details impossible for the player to understand creates something of a connection between Quintin’s disconnect from the world and the players; further rooting the player experience in Quintin’s manipulation of Haley as the Game’s protagonist.

Gameplay-wise The Music Machine is very interesting as well in some subtle ways; random planks, cups and rocks all throughout the island can be picked up and thrown; a seemingly pointless feature until one enters one of the portals to other worlds one can create later in the game to find that some rocks are part of the ground or that some books are part of the bookcase.  All these instances add to an unsettling theme of recreation without understanding that plays a large role in the plot. And what a plot it is, The Music Machine boasts a narrative that achieves a great deal more than I expected it too with surprisingly well written dialogue that, although a tad pretentious at times, explores some interesting themes from unusual perspectives.

I was quite sceptical of the dialogue at first; it seemed an obvious way to fit in exposition but it ultimately came to address a problem I tend to have with a lot of horror games. Quintin is very much deliberately moving Haley towards danger while Haley comes to have genuinely horrified reactions towards the end of the game’s roughly 2 hour narrative. In many horror games I feel very disconnected from the protagonist as their abject terror or perhaps lack-there-of wasn’t matched by the actions I was making in order to progress (or indeed wasn’t making out of fear). The dialogue between Quintin and Haley solves this problem; both have very different hopes (at least initially) for how the events will eventually play out and this allows for horrified reactions from Haley while allowing you as the player to continue progressing. It allows you to care for, or alternatively hurt, the playable character (Haley) as the player (Quintin). It’s a simple way of approaching the difference (or similarities) between the character on screen and the player behind the keyboard, but it’s extremely effective. That really sums up the whole game for me; extremely effective. The atmosphere is in my experience peerless, the dialogue consistently great with well implemented elements of both humour and horror that don’t fight with each other and the art style makes the limited capabilities of a one man team look far better than a lot of “AAA” titles (I have and will always argue that aesthetics are more important than the amount of polygons you can cram into a game). As a whole The Music Machine offers a lot more than just a beautiful aesthetic and some clever writing. A dream-like atmosphere permeates the feeling of the whole game, there are some interesting philosophical asides that lend some weight to otherwise somewhat inane discussion and all the while there are layers of themes and metaphors that add a lot of depth to the brief story that ground the rather unusual (to say the least) narrative in ideas a little easier to understand through in our own world. I wanted to say as little as I could about the story as it’s more layered than one might expect and picking apart these layers of meaning is one of the surprising joys this game has to offer on top of the arguably more obvious aspects, please play the game for yourself, if a “Lynchian” atmosphere and phenomenal aesthetic sound at all appealing I think there’s a lot more to like about this game than you might actually expect.