About two days into my one week quarantine in Anamudi, I decided to pick up a video game I had been gifted a while ago by my friend but had never gotten around to playing. The Beginner’s Guide was released by Everything Unlimited Ltd. on 1st October, 2015 for Windows, OS X and Linux. It isn’t a video game in the traditional sense, but is very on brand for its creator, Davey Wrenden. Wreden was the brains behind The Stanley Parable (2011), another one of my favourite games. Like its predecessor, The Beginner’s Guide is an interactive storytelling game, and offers commentary on the art and process of game development.
The Beginner’s Guide has gameplay that is fairly straightforward, and is presented in a first person style. The narrator, Wrenden himself, walks you through a series of short unfinished and unreleased games he says were made by his friend Coda several years before. These games are surreal, often without an objective, and Wrenden offers his interpretation of them. I think it would be more apt to refer to them as interactive scenes rather, given their brevity and sometimes baffling lack of coherence. At the same time, they offer up delightful metaphors. As the player progresses through them, there is a noticeable increase in complexity and quality in these short games. I don’t want to spoil these short unfinished games for you, but each one offers a moment of ‘Wow! That is beautiful.’ when you finally understand the idea being presented by the game. Gradually, the games acquire a darker tone, with themes of despair, isolation, and creative burnout – many of which are relatable. Wrenden says he initially interpreted this to mean that Coda was signalling for help. The Beginner’s Guide can be thought of as a documentation of the relationship between Coda and Wrenden.
There is no winning or losing; there are no puzzles to be solved, experience to be collected or levels to be unlocked. Much like The Stanley Parable, The Beginner’s Guide seeks to expand the definition of what it means to be a video game. Being a strange game with little discernible structure throws the doors open for interpretation. Some people argue that Coda is a fictional character, and simply represents another facet of Wrenden’s own psyche, while others speculate that he is a real person. My interpretation of the game is that it wants to represent game development as an artform that is a medium of expression for its creators. Each step of the way, it reminds you of the fact that it was constructed from the imagination of a real person, and invites you to draw conclusions about its creator. It also brings up some popular questions in game development: should games be playable, and puzzles solvable? Are games worth anything if they never get released and played? To what degree does the player actually have free will in the game, if its structure has already been predetermined? I could go on and on about this, but the last message of the game prevents me from doing so. The Beginner’s Guide is self-aware of the fact that it is an open ended game, but isn’t under any delusions of self-grandeur about its own artistry. It notes that not everything in it is a metaphor, and the player shouldn’t bother themselves with looking for hidden meaning where there is none. Sometimes a blue curtain isn’t an allegory for sadness or depression; it’s just a blue curtain. And so trying to sit here and offer up interpretations of the game seems pointless.
Coming to the gameplay itself, there isn’t much to say. Whatever few puzzles are scattered throughout the game, Wrenden hands you the solution to them. He is definitely the most prominent part of the game, and his role as the narrator is commendable. Some critics disliked him for supplying the player with his own interpretations of the games before they had the chance to form their own impressions. I would disagree with them, because I believe that the game is meant to give the player a direct glimpse into Wrenden’s mind, his feelings, his passion for game development, his relationship with Coda (whoever that may be), and his narration – where he voices his thoughts – is imperative to that objective. This game can be finished in under one sitting, and lacks replay value, but I don’t see that to be to its detriment, but rather as a natural consequence of the message it was trying to convey.
I would highly recommend this game, although it is not everyone’s cup of tea. It is far more emotional than it originally lets on to be. If you enjoyed his other games, you will enjoy this one as well. It is unique in almost every aspect, and I look forward to seeing more like it.
This article was originally written for Ether Magazine. Thank you to my friends at Ether for editing this piece