Playing God | ‘Mountain’ An Indie Game Impressions

<p><em>Mountain<&sol;em> is a downloadable indie game &lpar;let&&num;8217&semi;s call it a game for now&rpar;&comma; recently released for PC and IOS by David O&&num;8217&semi;Reilly&period; It is a self described &&num;8216&semi;god simulator&&num;8217&semi; and is something far from any other god game I have played before&period; Almost all god games focus on giving the player power over their own creation&comma; be it a person or an entire civilization&period; <em>Mountain<&sol;em> however&comma; takes a much more passive approach&period; Rather than having power over the fate of your creation&comma; you simply act as a passage for it to exist&period; In theory&comma; a game where you have no control over anything that happens sounds unappealing to me&period; However&comma; my concerns were met with surprise&period; I was almost immediately engrossed by the mysterious presentation&comma; as I watched my mountain slowly spin in the inky black night&period; To say I was taken by surprise would be an understatement&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;07&sol;05091047&sol;Mountain&lowbar;2&period;png"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-63517" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;07&sol;05091047&sol;Mountain&lowbar;2&period;png" alt&equals;"Mountain&lowbar;2" width&equals;"516" height&equals;"516" &sol;><&sol;a> <em>Mountain<&sol;em> opens by asking you a selection of questions such as &&num;8220&semi;What is sadness&quest;&&num;8221&semi; or &&num;8220&semi;What is Fear&quest;&&num;8221&semi;&period; You answer these questions with a  rough freehand sketch from your mouse&comma; and then your mountain is generated&period; No two mountains are the same&semi; this procedural generation combined with the opening questions make the game feel deeply personal&period; After the generation of your mountain&comma; you simply sit watching&period; You watch the seasons change&period; You watch new trees become old as they wither&period; You watch storm clouds gather&period; You are a spectator of your creation&&num;8217&semi;s life&period; What makes this so compelling is down to your personal response with your mountain&period; The sense that you are the sole creator of a unique object leaves you with an emotional response to how your mountain behaves&period; At random points&comma; your mountain shares a brief thought&comma; portrayed through text and a soft piano strike&period; The first thought my mountain presented was &&num;8216&semi;I feel great serenity in this empty night&&num;8217&semi;&period; It caught me off guard and immediately made me invest more of my interest into my mountain&period; It built the sense that it was a real living thing&comma; and a reflection of my initial answers to the questions&period; It then dawned on me that something very strange was happening&period; I was relating and becoming attached to my mountain&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;07&sol;05091035&sol;Mountain&lowbar;4&period;png"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-63519" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;07&sol;05091035&sol;Mountain&lowbar;4&period;png" alt&equals;"Mountain&lowbar;4" width&equals;"507" height&equals;"507" &sol;><&sol;a> As Fullbright&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Gone Home<&sol;em> did last year&comma; <em>Mountain<&sol;em> is reigniting the argument of what classifies as a game&period; Whereas I felt <em>Gone Home <&sol;em>could easily be classified as a game&comma; I think it would be much more apt to describe <em>Mountain<&sol;em> as an experience&period; It is also easy to understand why someone would dislike this game&period; Your enjoyment is very reliant on your personal reaction to the game&comma; making it very understandable if someone fails to connect with it&period; No matter what your own experience with <em>Mountain<&sol;em> brings&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s almost impossible not to appreciate it&&num;8217&semi;s enigmatic nature&period; You can buy Mountain <a title&equals;"now" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;mountain-game&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">now<&sol;a> for the cheap but appropriate price of &dollar;1&period;00&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;