Hey everyone!

Welcome back to another one of my blog posts! Today, I will be trying something different. I played a few games and I wanted to leave you with a review of each game. Let’s start!

Spent:

This game is about experiencing poverty in the US. Throughout the two times that I played the game, I felt very restrained in my choices. For example, most of the choices I faced made me choose between either spending the money on myself or my kid. Therefore, I was always low on cash and had to skip many things for myself so that I could save money for my kid’s expenses, such as education, medical insurance, and clothing. It felt very frustrating, and I think that this game taught me to be grateful for my life. After all, many of us wake up in the morning without having to think about paying bills or saving money. Therefore, I think the game serves its purpose well in being a wakeup call about poverty, particularly in the US. With that being said, I did not like the option of being forced to post on my social media to be able to progress with the level, it feels like a violation of the players’ privacies. Also, I think that the game feels a bit too linear, but I think changing that would be difficult – perhaps make it less than 30 days? I do not know. Still, a great game and I liked it.

Game Link: Link.

BBC Syrian Refugees:

This game is about the journey of Syrian refugees escaping from Syria. The first time I played the game I ended up stranded in Turkey, robbed of most my money. The second time I was caught in Alexandria and deported back to Syria, after also being robbed of most of my money. Both scenarios really capture how grim the situation in Syria was for the past 14 years and being in the refugees’ shoes really taught me how they lived– thankfully there is hope now. I think that the game made me feel some kind of relief knowing the after 14 years, these struggles experienced by many Syrians was not in vain, especially after seeing scenes of many Syrians returning back to their country after several years stranded abroad. Finally, these Syrians who have suffered can hope for a better future in Syria. Although I think this game does a great job of teaching players the grimness of the situation in Syria for the past 14 years, I think it has one small flaw. There are not many choices. For example, you can either go to Egypt or Turkey – what about Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon? Despite this, I do not think this is an issue because this game is about raising awareness about the Syrian refugee crisis, which I think it does in an outstanding way.

Game Link: Link.

Professional Games:

Bad News:

This game is about fake news and how easy it can be to spread lies on social media. I really liked this game and it felt both entertaining and amusing to play. The game walks us through different levels, such as playing with people’s emotions or making up conspiracy theories, and it felt both funny and sad. This game taught me how easy it can be to spread lies on the internet. This is important, especially amid today’s wild and chaotic political atmosphere, where fake news can really spread fear or worry among the population. Despite being a great game at showcasing how fake news is made, it is quite long, and I think the developers should have made it shorter. With that being said, the game was fun and amusing.

Game Link: Link.

Responsible Partying

I think this game was very lackluster and not relevant to our Egyptian culture and society, because the party represented in the game is not typical of an Egyptian party. Nonetheless, I still learned a few things. For example, the game mentions some statistics about STIs and alcoholism in the US, which I found interesting and useful to know. Yet, the game did not really anything other than that. However, to be fair, this game was probably made for students in the US, to whom many of the things included in the game would be more relevant. Even then, the game is still lackluster and not very insightful, and I think to improve the game, the developers would need to make the game more engaging somehow, such as including interactive choices with images for example.

Game Link: Link.

Student Created Games:

Orphans and Society:

This game is supposed to communicate to us what it feels like being an orphan. First off, I like that the game starts by putting us the in the shoes of an orphan, giving us a sense of agency and allowing us to feel a glimpse of what it’s like to be an orphan. Also, I like that he not only added choices, but also added images as visual aids to the text description, which further enhances the engagement with the game – kudos for including link credits as well! Moreover, I like how the author replaced the word fellows with brothers, which, in my opinion, shows the relationship between the orphans inside the orphanage and how close they are – they view each other as a family. The scenarios are great, they are concise and effectively communicate the scenario with all the feelings associated with it – simple yet effective. In addition, many of the scenarios, along with the images, made me feel very anxious, uncomfortable, and annoyed. This is important because the author is trying to convey to others how uncomfortable orphans feel in the outside world, and in the orphanage, when they are dealing with others, because other people usually look at them pity, which is disrespectful to the orphans. I thought that orphans’ lives were easier once they got outside of the orphanage, but this game proved me wrong! I was shocked to know the nuances and difficulties orphans’ face in their everyday lives, such as the violations to their privacy that they experienced frequently just because they are orphans.

This is an example of such a scenario. I think this game does a great job of bringing these struggles to light. Next time I meet an orphan I will certainly remember the things I learned from this game. Thank you, Youssef, for this insightful game!

Image Credit: Link.

Game Link: Link.

When Someone You Love is Depressed:

I want to start off by saying that I chose to play this game because I felt that it was something I can relate to personally, because I knew people who were close to me and were diagnosed with depression. I like the aesthetics of the game, such as the slides and images. This is important because this makes the game more engaging. What I like the most about this game is how realistic it is because it shows the problem of depression from many perspectives that do exist in society. For example, one of the scenarios involved telling the depressed person’s parents, and they were unhelpful because they thought nothing was wrong with their son. This is essential, in my opinion, because it shows the stigma that exists, especially in Egypt, about mental health and mental illness, which is a real thing that many people go through. Nonetheless, I think that the game had high amounts of text, which kind of ruined the engagement for me. Therefore, I would suggest using less text next time. Despite this, I think this was a well-made game!

Game Link: Link.

The Empathy Toy:

I want to start off the review of this game by saying that the game is unique and it would be unfair to compare it with the other games, because this game is much more engaging due to the fact that we are coordinating with real people and physical objects, and not just an interactive game online. I liked this game because it involved a lot of teamwork, and everyone got to say their opinion to guide the blindfolded person to make the figure that we had created. Moreover, I think this game not only teaches teamwork and coordination, but also it teaches us how to be creative with our description as a good description would make easier for the blindfolded person to build the shape. However, what was novel to me, and we discussed this in class, is that visually impaired people play this game differently, which I thought was interesting. Although I think this is a great game, I think it can be further improved. For example, I would suggest including more sophisticated blocks. It would be interesting to see how the coordination between the blindfolded person and their teammates’ would change. Nevertheless, “The Empathy Toy” is a great and well-made game about coordination and teamwork.

Game Link: Link.

Rankings:

Now that I have reviewed the 7 games I played, I’ll tell you my top 3 games!

Image Credit: Link.

I think the best game out of all the 7 games is the “Orphans and Society” game. It was insightful and engaging. I was able to experience the nuances and struggles orphans in their lives. Although it was long, but not as long as “Bad News”, it was appealing to sit through and play. Overall, great, well-researched, and entertaining game.

The second-best game is “Bad News”. The game was very entertaining to play, and the choices were both amusing and funny. This is important because it enhanced the game’s engagement for me and made it easier to go through and understand its concepts. Unlike “Spent“, the game was not linear and the choices felt interactive. However, it is a bit long and could have been made shorter – take notes from “BBC Syrian Refugees” game!

The third-best game is “BBC Syrian Refugees”. The game was concise, engaging, and full of choices.

My least favorite game was “Responsible Partying”. The game was not engaging and not very insightful. Sure, I learned a few facts about drinking and STIs, but that’s it. The game does not have any images, unlike many of the other games reviewed here, such as “When Someone You Love is Depressed” or “Orphans and Society”. Therefore, it was not as engaging as most of the games on this list. Overall, I think the author should rework the game to improve its engagement with the player.

These games gave me an idea of what I want to do for my own narrative game, but that would have to wait for another blog post.

Concluding Thoughts:

Well, that’s all for today’s blog post. I hope you enjoyed my reviews and feel free to try the games yourself and tell me your opinion in the comments down below.

See you next time in another one of my blog posts!

Header Image Credit: Link.