We have always been much better at starting podcasts than finishing them.
Welcome to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about The Unfinished Swan, an adventure game from Giant Sparrow, the team behind What Remains of Edith Finch. This is an adventure game that has a very concrete idea and it goes about expanding on that idea in an extremely fluid way. Pun intended. The game revolves around throwing balls of liquid, which change properties throughout the game, to accomplish a variety of things including revealing pathways (the mechanic on which the game markets itself ), interacting with objects and growing plants. This is a double-edged sword because the different ways to interact are all interesting in one way or another, but because of how little time you spend with any one verb, none of them feel fully explored in the way we would like to see them. This isn’t a death sentence by any means, and the accolades this game received are evidence of that, but it leaves a lot of slack to be picked up by the game’s other elements. We’re going to be talking about the implications of the game’s visual design, the experience of playing with the different forms of interaction and about the plants and how they were mushy.
Thank you for checking out the episode! This was a game that got a lot of attention from indie game circles when it was released, so it’s always been something we’ve wanted to go back to. Plus, it was recently released on PC and mobile so it’s easier than ever to play along. Next time, we’re going from a game that was pretty universally appreciated to one with a more mixed reception: Minit. So join us then for what will assuredly be the correct opinion to hold.