It Could Have Been Me

It Could Have Been Me is not a game, although it seems to have been launched on Steam as a game. This is the first of a series of problems with It Could Have Been Me, which is a VR exclusive "walking sim" art installation (not game). It's a collection of documentary stories about Afghanistani refugees. I won't delve too deeply into the subject matter, it's grim, and inappropriate for a game review. Much in the same way trying to sell this to profit from that experience is also inappropriate. The documentaries can only be viewed if you have an Oculus Rift. Usually when a game is made a VR exclusive this is because the developer knows it's a bad game and is hoping people with VR headsets will buy it to try out their VR headset, because they know full well if it was compared directly to the thousands of other games on Steam on a level playing field, it would fail dismally. Here, I'm not so sure, I think they just lacked the required skill to make this run without VR as it was designed as an art installation. Art installations aren't games, and let's be clear, this is Steam, not an art gallery, and it's not Youtube either. There's a godawful sound track featuring terrible rap music, I suppose part of the refugee experience is having your ears bleed, and they wanted to garner sympathy. I thought this was free, because, you know, struggling/failed artists are usually pretty desperate to have people see their work, and who would try to make money from this subject, but they're actually charging money for this. It's not their intention to spread their message widely, there's no clear intention for charity here. In fact, they dumped this into cheap nasty game bundles to exact as much money as they could! Now, the esotercism of trying to sell a non-game to gamers on Steam while deliberately making it as obtuse as possible, that could be described as actual expressionist art. A dramatic real world expression of adverse failure? Perhaps that was their goal all along? Bravo!

[h1]Experienced on the Oculus Rift[/h1] You can view my gameplay + review here: https://youtu.be/N-TbTTKDP18 There's always something special about Oculus Rift exclusives on the Steam store and this game / app is no exception. It's really out there. First of all, it's dealing with immigration and the stories of immigrants from Afghanistan on their journey to Sweden. Secondly, it features rap from Emilia Carapic aka Bac Nini (you can find her stuff here): https://youtu.be/ffYnctd01jY Lastly, it has some of the weirdest visuals I have seen in VR and even though it says English language is not supported on the Steam store page, it is, in fact, supported. Unfortunately, the visuals while experimental, are still pretty bad. I mean I don't mind experimental stuff and seeing trippy stuff. I consider myself a very open-minded individual who is open to new experiences. However, these visuals are so bad that they detract from the immigrant stories. It's not just the poor visuals, there's just some odd design choices like a giant chocolate bunny statue just standing in the middle of the Afghanistan environment. There's also just some poor textures, along with poor placement of objects (some are just hovering in in the air and others are like clipped off or run into other objects). The interactions are also rather poor. You can only teleport in some select scenes. There is no smooth or snap turning. You're supposed to grab some items and then put them in a backpack to start the specified mostly cinematic experience. So there are many different immigrant stories here through each of those objects you collect & put in your backpack. Unfortunately, you really have to be interested in the subject matter to be able to look past the poor visuals and bad interactions. Getting to the stories is a lot more difficult than it should be. Honestly, the best thing about this game / app is the rapping from Emilia Carapic (Bac Nini). This is a pass for everyone but those strongly interested in the subject matter. Although, IMO, they would have been better off just filming the telling of these immigrant stories on YouTube. Unfortunately, experimental in this case just meant they weren't very experienced in making a good VR experience. Still, it was amazing they got 80 people to show up for the Night of Culture in Lund ... the free punch and pie must have been part of the advertisement. [b]Rate 5/10. I got this on sale for .89 cents, it really is free to play quality though. The stories may be compelling though ... if you're strongly interested in the subject matter and willing to look past all the game's faults.[/b]