Maize (2016) - Review

Are "weird games " a genre? Maybe they should be. It's hardly a new phenomenon, just look at that fish person game for the Dreamcast. I think games just allow themselves better for exploring some really odd ideas, for me the interactivity of the game medium seems to mean I have a lot more patience with the shenanigans of other people's minds. I am the complete opposite with literature and film, where I find whacky or seemingly arbitrary story beats tiresome. But there is something about being part of the crazy, not just observing it, that makes it a lot more interesting to me. Suddenly I am ok with whacky and seemingly arbitrary.

You'll see a lot of corn, and a lot of gags.

Coincidentally (?) I've ended up playing two fairly weird games simultaneously, Saint's Row IV and Maize. But where Saint's Row IV is shock full of crazy things to do, Maize is a much more straightforward and simple game, I'd even like to call it a walking simulator in how scaled-down it is in its gameplay elements. In that way it has been interesting to play these two games side by side, since they've chosen to approach the idea of whimsical from opposite ends of the gaming spectrum, and both have succeeded with that goal in their own ways.

In Maize you wake up in a corn field and make your way around. You initially find and explore areas like a farm house, a silo and a barn. The atmosphere is suitably creepy, you have no idea where you are, who you are or why you're doing what you're doing. In the initial part, before you find your choleric side-kick, you feel like it could go either way and just as well be the setup for another Resident Evil game. 

But it doesn't take long before you realize that the theme of the game seems to be "stupid", you will hear and read a lot about it. Almost everyone you encounter, either directly or indirectly, are referred to as stupid or idiotic at several points in the game and none more than yourself.

You'll end up picking up the oddest things,  like a cut-off hand, a chair or a water cooler, some times just to collect them or put on your head, some times to put them in places and/or combining them with things to advance the story. The game blocks your path when needed in not very subtle ways (perfectly fitting with the theme though) so you won't spend much time running the wrong ways and it is by no means a difficult game. 

You rarely pick up things that make sense.

It's probably easy to think it's barely worth your time - the puzzles are rarely more difficult than finding an item and putting it in the right place, and the right item and right place are always very clearly marked. There is no danger at any point, nor risk to fail. There are almost no mini games that require timing or anything that requires much of any thinking - maybe this is also intentional to fit the theme of the game.

So what's left is the writing - the story and the characters. And it's a story so charmingly odd it keeps you curious and smiling the entire time. Or not. I feel this game could probably go either or with most people. Either you go along for the ride, or you find the humour neither funny nor interesting. I guess it was my kind of chuckles however, and definitely that of my kids (6 and 11 yo) who ended up loving this game.

The game seems to be set in the 80's.

The character roster is small, you won't come across many... things... to talk to. But your side-kick Vladdy makes up for that, a smart choice to not make the game feel too lonely and silent as you mostly run through areas that seem to have been abandoned not too long ago. Figuring out what has happened and what was going on in these abandoned rooms and corridors is part of the mystery, and it will keep you interested throughout the roughly 4-5 hours the game takes to play. The less said the better, this is one of those games where you want to go in knowing as little as possible for the best experience.

I just got to respect a game where the creators had an idea and decided to run with it even though it probably made little sense on paper. It's one of those "you get it once you see it" kind of things. The end result is entertaining enough, and worth your time if you want something unexpected that might give you a chuckle.