Unfinished Business

Proteus

Ed Key & David Kanaga

PS3 (2013)
____________________________________________________________________

SPOILERS AHEAD. Not that there's any semblance of plot, but if you wish to keep your expectations in the dark.

I knew nothing about Proteus going in and intentionally stayed away from any explanation of its purpose. I was intrigued by the game's Myst-like non-direction, and wanted to figure out what I could on my own.

For a while, I wandered about this crudely pixelated and randomized island at a sluggish pace. I could sit, walk, take screenshots, and close my eyes slowly which I quickly learned was the way to quit.

I walked and walked, but didn't find much. I found what seemed like frogs that sprang musical notes with each hop. More animals that would do the same. I found one house with no entrance. That's about it.

The musical score of washy tones is decent, but I wasn't blown away by the animals trotting along with the music; we've seen music accompany actions in games like Rez and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The bright and simplistic art direction wasn't that impressive, either. While I strolled around this tiny island, I wondered if the music and graphics would gradually improve if I hit the right triggers... Maybe that was the objective. As it were, it felt like a terribly unfinished version of Skyrim.

I walked around the same dull, but admittedly tranquil island. I saw some sweeping mist and fixed myself into its pull, and raced along with it for a few seconds until it formed a swirling ring. I sat inside of it like in Journey, which I think was unnecessary. The season changed. I had another long look around and found nothing new except the seasonal aesthetic. I repeated the mist routine once more and changed the season again. And again.

And then, for some reason I was doing something I would define as hardly flying, and then the game ended as a trophy popped along with the credits.

Afterwards, I checked the trophy list and the internet to see if there was anything deeper. The trophy list seemed to make me think there was, while all online explanations of the game remarked on its interactive simplicity and pure exploratory nature- another "soothing" experience. On the game's Wikipedia page, one of the creators admitted that he was attempting to make an Elder Scrolls type game but grew discouraged and gave up. I guess I wasn't too far off.

Should Proteus be regarded as an artsy release that challenges the classifications of a video game, or should it be considered unfinished and unworthy of the fifteen dollar price tag? I feel a bit ripped off. Let's leave daring questions like, "what is a video game?" to thatgamecompany. The hoopla around Proteus should beg a different question: can the implementation of trophies turn a hardly interactive game of nothing into an exploration game with objectives?