Bit like Croydon |
When you start the game an eye opens on your screen, as if you have just woken up (or fallen asleep and started dreaming) and this sets the tone for the rest of your experience. The world that Proteus provides for you is very similar to our own - with trees, clouds, rain, the sun and the moon - but also quite different. There are secrets hidden away and there are things to see, hear and enjoy all around. You can go wherever you like, and night will fall and seasons will pass. The sun will rise and clouds will form overhead and you are free to explore its similar yet different landscape to your heart's content. It reminds me of going for a walk in the Summer in the English countryside. That may sound like a strange thing to say, but the quality of the light in it and the sounds that you hear evoke exactly the same feelings. It brings back clear memories for me of being a child and walking through a local nature reserve in the sunshine. It's a brilliantly peaceful experience and there's something quite wonderful about that.
Toowhit. Toowhoo. |
This sceptr'd isle |
I recently wrote something about how playing Super Mario Galaxy with my 3 yr old son saved my immortal soul from the scourge of eternal hellfire. He played a starring role in that story but it did raise some interesting questions for me about the role of video games in parenthood. I felt a bit bad about using him to keep me sane whilst taming my inner demons, and so I have been looking for other ways to teach him how to use a mouse and become accustomed to computers than those which involve violence, or which demoralise him by being too difficult. Proteus is perfect for this. There's no way to die, there's nothing he can do wrong. I give him the mouse, and give him the keyboard (he just presses "W") and then we can talk about where to go and what to see. "Let's go there and see what that is", "What are those statues doing?" "Daddy, it's raining!" "Look at the size of this hill!"
This is a game where the commands are "walk", "look around" and "sit down and take in the view" (and no, I've not made that last one up), so it is an absolutely perfect thing for a bit of adult child interaction. It makes a welcome change from collecting things, hitting things and falling off platforms into black holes and while it's obviously not quite the same as actually taking a walk in the open air, it's as good as you're going to get in Britain in January.
Proteus is still in beta stage so it's not quite finished yet and I have encountered a few instances when it won't load properly from the desktop shortcut, but you trust that this will all be sorted out by the time it is released. You can visit the world by going to its website and buying access to the beta for about £5. It is also going to be released on Steam on Jan 30th. Why not give it a go and try out something truly unique? I'd recommend it.
PS - Since writing this Proteus has been released. An updated version is available on Steam for £6.99 (currently 10% off too.) I still think you should give it a go. ( & that bug has disappeared.)
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