(Please note that while I recommend this game, I do not recommend the Steam version of it. Please read on for more info!)
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Loom (1990) Or, The Secret to Eternal Youth (A Spoiler-Free Review)
I. WHY IS LOOM THE BEST GAME EVER MADE? (Not clickbait°)
°warning: may be clickbait.
Okay, so maybe Loom isn’t the best game ever made, but it is pretty darn high on the list. Released in 1990, this masterpiece was unfortunately overshadowed by the Next Big Thing: The Secret of Monkey Island, which went on to become a beloved franchise, well good for them. Sure, it doesn’t help that Loom was released on a confusingly high number of platforms over the two years following its release. Or that it was a transmedia project told through an audio drama, a game, a special notebook, and as a bonus, a hint book. Or that it kept teasing for a sequel… that never happened. Maybe a few mistakes were made.
That’s nothing, though, compared to everything good Loom did. An original and brilliant fantasy setting with memorable characters; a great script, with just the right amount of humour and perfect rhythm; a stunning art direction with a beautiful use of colours; and a sincere and touching poetry that flows beautifully throughout the game, helped by the enchanting music of Tchaikovsky.
But most of all, Loom stands out because of its gameplay.
II. WILL YOU GET ON WITH IT AND TELL US WHAT LOOM IS?
Loom is a point-and-click game that isn’t like any point-and-click game. Sure, you use an item from your inventory in combination with another item or character on the screen to solve a puzzle and go through the story, but that’s it. You only get the one item. A distaff.
Loom takes place in a faraway future, in a world where two apocalypses have already taken place. Welcome to the Age of the Great Guilds. Earth is now a place of tightly-knit communities that keep the arcana of their arts in absolute secrecy. The worst of them all being the Weavers, an inbred community who live in the ancient and remote island of Loom. Throughout the millennia, they have refined their art from sewing cloth to using the very stuff of light and music. But because of their way of life, their powers are now getting weaker and weaker, and they are content just making sure that the Pattern, the tapestry that dictates the future, comes to pass. But some things are not meant to be, and the coming of the Third Shadow is nigh…
You’ll play Bobbin Threadbare, the last of the Weavers, on a quest to save his own people. The only thing is: he’s very new at this. In fact, his Book of Patterns (included in the game box!) contains just the one melody to play on his distaff to weave the pattern of Opening. But you won’t get very far with only the one pattern, right? So, you’ll have to see more of the world, and hear the melodies of it. What does sleeping sound like? What could be the sound of twisting? From puzzle to puzzle, from observation to observation, you’ll fill more and more of your Book of Patterns (with randomized melodies!) and indeed become a more powerful Weaver. That’s the game: learning melodies and figuring out which ones to play and how to play them, while trying to learn the truth about yourself and your people.
This minimalist gameplay is done to absolute perfection, and with a genius twist to it that makes it both elegant and timeless. It’s a way easier game than Monkey Island or Maniac Mansion, but it feels so much more rewarding to grow alongside Bobbin and to figure things out in a very organic manner. Everything is made to make the player feel like they are on this journey alongside Bobbin, and with the help of the extradiegetic book (a PDF included in the purchase), it just works to a tee.
This is not a game about combining two random items to get over a fallen bridge. It’s not about some metatextual humour about how point-and-click are all completely absurd. It’s a game with heart that wants you to understand how its world works and to see it through the eyes of the Weaver. It is not a difficult game. It’s a journey of discovery and of wonderment, a poem made game, and a masterclass in game design, even to this day. If one day, you feel like you’ve sailed the seas of Mêlée Island one too many times, please change course and make way to a smaller, forgotten island nearby, by the unassuming name of Loom. Boy, do those weavers there have a story to tell you.
III. HOW TO EXPERIENCE LOOM?
The recommended order is to listen to the audio drama, then read the Book of Patterns, then play Loom. You may then finally read the Hint Book to discover a novelized version of the story from the point of view of Bobbin, that contains a few more details. The whole thing can be done in under four hours.
Please, do try to play the IBM PC EGA version of the game, as it is unadulterated and the one recommended by the creator of the game. I would say that the Expert mode, where the notes are not showing, and that includes an additional scene, is the best way to experience it, but to each their own!
After acquiring almost every version of Loom legally (except for the Macintosh version), you'll find my ranking in the comment section (because apparently, I'm running out of space here!).
But please note that the VGA version, and especially the Steam one, is a simplified version of the game that was butchered to fit on a CD. The music is good, but the art has been smoothened horrifically and a good part of the script has been cut. So I would suggest trying other versions, if you can acquire the files legally!
Enjoy Loom, the latest masterpiece of fantasy storytelling from Lucasfilm’s™ Brian Moriarty™!
