The Secret of Nara (Ralfe Rich)
Played 8th April (in browser)
(Spoiler warning: I talk about endings in vague ways in this review. If that might bother you, you should just play the game first, since it’s pretty short!)
Here’s a pleasant, short Twine game about a deer coming down from a life of solitude on a mountaintop. I found five ending, and none of them take longer than 5 minutes to read through. The whole game takes about 20 minutes tops.
In most playthroughs, the player character explores the world beyond the mountaintop and meets other deer. Your choices are usually between approaching or keeping your distance. As you might expect from a game about resisting solitude, approaching is a good tactic which opens up a world of new friendships and experiences for your character.
But what surprised me was that keeping your distance is also a worthwhile choice. This approach leads you to endings where the player character leads a more introverted lifestyle, and these endings are treated as just as valid as the others. A less vague ending spoiler: The only “bad” ending is staying on the mountaintop and resigning yourself to loneliness. The Secret of Nara is not suggesting a dichotomy between extroversion and total solitude; rather, it argues that the most important choice is the decision to come down from the mountain, and it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it.
As someone with a social anxiety disorder who’s been working very hard on talking to other people more, The Secret of Nara resonated with me. In the bad ending, I recognised the way the player character convinces themselves that they’ve made the right choice despite the loneliness. And I appreciated the recognition that total extroversion is not the only valid way to reach out to others.
I have a couple of gripes. I think the writing could be improved. It’s a little too wordy, and it seems to stumble over itself in some places. Maybe some editing for conciseness would have strengthened the writing. On the other hand, it’s also lush and pretty when it works well. (And I’ve been accused of being too wordy in my own work, so what do I know.)
I would also have liked more styling on the Twine pages. Vivid colours are described throughout the story, yet the game is white text on a black background. I think there’s a missed opportunity here for making the game look beautiful. (Though I like the shade of orange used for the links.)
Not a bad start at all to my Spring Thing!
Ribbons: The Secret of Nara is sweeping the board so far, since this is my first Spring Thing review. Looking at the 2020 ribbons for inspiration, I think it’s a contender for Most Heartwarming. Maybe Best Player Character too? I didn’t get around to mentioning it, but I like how things get a little abstracted through the perspective of a deer.