Review

Indie games have a stereotype of being happy to tackle subjects and use mechanics that major titles don’t want to touch. Disorder would be one of those games. The story is core to this game, and I’d recommend going in blind, so you can skip past that later.

 

Gameplay

Disorder, at a glance, is a basic platformer with a world-switching mechanic you might recognise from Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. There are two worlds: light and dark, fear and love, positivity and negativity, although neither is inherently…bad. It’s a strange concept, although entirely realistic in a game with a theme around mental health where the very negative thoughts are logical. As you swap from world to world platforms can start or stop moving, walls can disappear or reappear, enemies can fire in a different direction, and more. The ‘puzzles’ are generally rather simple, it will only take a few tries to work out the correct path to take and when to swap worlds.

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Here, the purple platforms move in the ‘dark’ world

While the jumping and running isn’t great, it’s no Super Meat Boy with how responsive it is, it works well enough for the levels. The gameplay is just average. However, in a strange way, that adds to the game, but I’ll have to explain the story first, so more on that later.

While the game does the world swapping nicely, and there’s a visual glitching effect every time you do, it’s nothing special. It provides the necessary complexity to really make Disorder a fun game, but nothing more. Certain areas have nice mechanics, with really original ideas, such as where the level is in complete darkness, with the character gaining ‘vision’ through moving. The sounds of his footsteps allowing him to ‘see’. Again, though, it’s fun to a point.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is nice, you can give it a listen on their soundcloud here. Every level has two tracks, for both worlds, although I did find myself wishing I could be in one world more so than the other just to hear the soundtrack. The ‘dark’ world has, as you may have guessed, a much more bleak soundtrack, and the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ variants for each track are thematically appropriate. Thankfully, it’s done in a way which means you’re not listening to the beginning of each soundtrack constantly. They swap over, and feed into each other.

Graphics/Aesthetic

I really enjoyed the aesthetic of the game. The design for the main character is slightly reminiscent of Lone Survivor. The backgrounds and level design are simple but not bland, anything more complex would result in a mess whenever you swap worlds, because of the glitching effect.  One criticism I do have is that some collectibles are behind ‘hidden’ walls. Sometimes they require you to jump into a wall, and it’s not really clear which ones are regular walls and which are ones that hide something. Those who have the secret ‘intuition’ after playing many games will have a good idea, but those who don’t might find themselves stuck on the secrets.

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Clearly he’s not reading that sign up there

Length

The game is short, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the length was an intentional design choice in order to prevent the game from becoming stale. Anything shorter wouldn’t allow for the story to be fleshed out, any longer could make it a drag. There are a few collectibles scattered throughout the levels, which can be activated to cause different (usually negative) effects when replaying levels. Some are actually very interesting, such as one which causes the ‘glitching’ effect of swapping worlds to be permanent, giving the game a pretty big difficulty boost. On top of this, there are multiple routes in each level, so those who enjoy the story, the gameplay or simply collecting everything will have a lot to do. In 2 hours I managed to complete the game and get a few of the collectibles, it’s not the longest game. Getting the achievements and collectibles would add a considerable amount of time to your playthrough, if you wanted, but they’re by no means necessary. Certain achievements are puzzles in themselves, their titles and descriptions are subtle hints, making it just that bit more difficult to 100% the game, compared to if they were obvious.

Story

If you don’t want any story spoilers, look away now. I’d recommend going in as blind as possible, so I’ll be keeping many specific points to myself. However, if you’re still here…

The story is magnificent. The narrative is told through a journal the main character keeps, as well as quotes from him spread in the background of the levels. The quotes even change, more positive thoughts in the ‘light’ world, negative thoughts in the ‘dark’ world. You play an older brother who has recently lost his younger brother. The two were inseparable, “two sides of a coin”. The older brother is distraught, and it’s heavily implied he was not in a safe place before the incident.

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The quotes fill in the pages in the main character’s journal

The levels take place in the older brother’s mind as he relives parts of his life and moves forward. Certain pieces in the levels are clues as to the character’s state of mind and being. The story is embedded in the backgrounds, the journal and the quotes. The journal is wholly optional, but it gives a lot more perspective on the older brother’s state of mind. It makes for a much more immersive experience, and means that you get so much more by giving the game that little bit extra if you choose to do that bit of reading.

While I will not spoil the last level, it is exactly what you might hope for. The story is brought to a close in a satisfying and fulfilling manner. It really gives you a new perspective on the game, especially with your new hindsight on the previous levels.

I mentioned earlier that the average gameplay and platforming is a benefit to the game; early on in the story it is mentioned that the younger brother loved games. All sorts, from marbles to “complex” ones. This would lead me to believe that you, the older brother, are not a fan of games. You are not the hero of a game. You barely know how games function. There’s no pixel-perfect jumps, you can’t double jump, and you die in one hit. This does not make the gameplay itself better, instead I feel like it really supports the indirect form of storytelling that the game has. That’s just one interpretation you could make. One would be that the main character is simply your average boy. He has no special powers. Another could be that he simply doesn’t have the mental strength to do more. His brother leaving him has made the older brother weak. He can’t just traverse levels in a traditional manner you’d find in other games. The whole game and all its elements can be interpreted, and it’s a feat to make an ambiguous game that still draws in the player.

I can’t stress enough how fantastic I found this game. Difficult topics can be done badly in games, resulting in something offensive and insensitive. Disorder is the opposite. It takes a basic, general platform, and builds a story around it that I adore. Mental health is not treated as just a game mechanic, as it would be easy to do, instead it is a topic discussed through this medium.

The gameplay, the soundtrack, every traditional element of the game is good. It all compliments the story and theme, and it’s the first game of 2015 I’d recommend to anyone. Disorder is available now on Steam for £9.99/$12.99 or your regional equivalent.