Twitter: @BarbotRobot
Nerd confession: I haven’t really played video games in years. Ever since one of the connectors broke on my Playstation 2 back in my sophomore year of college, I’ve just sort off fallen of the gaming train. That being said, as a writer for a Latin website, I haven’t been this excited for a video game since before my PS2 broke. I might be late to the game (pun intended) here, but this indie title Papo & Yo has this nerdy lit major all a-tingle. Seriously, watch the teaser:
Are you tingly, too? It’s gorgeous and, well, so thoroughly Latino. Call me a sucker for artsy games, but check out how deeply the game concept is rooted, not just in the literary tradition of magical realism, but in the creator’s expression. The video below was my first experience with this project, and it blew me away:
You had me at “The monster is my father.” It’s that kind of storytelling we’ve been conditioned to expect by the likes of Guillermo Del Toro. Latin-ness aside, I just get excited every time someone treats video games like the totally legitimate artistic medium they are…or, well, could be.
Sorry for all the breathless anticipation, but somewhere between the unabashed artsiness of that developer diary, the lush beauty of the graphics, the Gustavo Santaolalla-sounding music, and how badly I want to solve puzzles by lifting houses, I’m only worried that there’s no way this game will live up to my hopes.
Papo & Yo might make me a gamer again.