Goodbye, Auf Wiedeshen, goodbye.
The premise of having a game within a game is very interesting to me. That goodbye world leans very deliberately towards this device, given that the two game developer protagonists lend an air of authenticity to the progression. Well, the lackluster presentation and frustrating and sparse gameplay are what keep it from selling well.
Goodbye World begins with programmer Kany trying to resolve a conflict in college, clashing with an artist whose vision does not match hers. At the same time, her graphic artist Kumade was right around the corner and offered to work with Kanye on the game. Their story unfolds in a series of 13 short vignettes, each beginning with a chance to play a level in a game being developed for what appears to be an obvious Game Boy stand-in. The story itself is touching at times, but it doesn’t have much substance, and some chapters are only partly dialogue boxes to a black screen.
A game-within-a-game, Blocks is a 2D puzzle platformer with rapidly escalating difficulty. You control a tiny dinosaur-like creature that can destroy and create blocks, climb over obstacles and eliminate enemies. You can only call as many blocks as you have already dismantled, and time will stop each time you activate the mechanism to drop blocks. The downside of this game is that some sections require a lot of precision. This is difficult if the jump is assigned to pushing up the stick. Worse, even a simple mistake near the end of a stage can force you to start over. For example, picking up a block that shouldn’t be there, or jumping off a ledge before you fully know what’s in store for you. Interestingly, he needs three lives to complete each level, but he doesn’t actually need to do so to progress through the story. Game over breaks out of the block and returns to Kanii and Kumade’s lives.
Goodbye World’s eShop listing is clearly misleading and that affected my impression. Although it is advertised as a “narrative adventure game”, it basically has no adventure elements. No exploration, no decision making. There are very few characters other than the two main characters. It’s like an hour or two visual novel with puzzle-platformer mini-games built into it, but it doesn’t have the dialogue choices or even the routes that other visual novels do. I had to push myself to move on.
Not being able to control Kanii or Kumade or explore their worlds makes it very difficult to connect with the story of Sayonara Sekai. but the package on that subject is not attractive. The metagame Blocks itself is equally mediocre, and the feeling you’re left with after the credits roll is largely one of disappointment. Despite the amusing conceit, parting with Goodbye World really isn’t a sweet sorrow.
