If you read my previous few blog posts about abstraction and interpretation, you might be eager to try it out. Luckily, I have a recommendation for you. I just stumbled across it purely by accident and thought that it is an absolutely perfect example of what I just wrote about. And it's one of my favorite forms of art: a video game. But don't worry, you don't have to be a gamer to appreciate it. I'd say you could even enjoy it if you never played a video game in your life. It's super easy to pick up and very short. I played through the entire game in a little over two hours.
The game is called "Arctic Eggs" and is available on Steam. Since this is an insignificant comic that nobody cares about, I think it goes without saying that I'm not sponsored or affiliated with them in any way (still waiting for that hot bucket deal though). I bought it with my own money, played through it and loved every bit of it.
The game takes place in the Antarctic (confusingly, since it is called *arctic* eggs, but there's a reason for it), in an extremely dark, dystopian, cyberpunk world. Since chicken products are outlawed in this world, you are the new poultry peddler. You walk around this dingy, eerie, depressing, world to find hungry people to fry eggs for them. That's the core gameplay: frying eggs. Every person, hungry or not, has incredible lines of dialogue, though. Playing through the game without knowing what's going on is a trippy, psychedelic, experience. It is enjoyable in it's own right.
For me, the game was elevated from being a cool experience to a masterpiece the next day, when I was making a broccoli salad. I had a lot of ingredients to slice very finely and was not in a rush. So I sat there, slicing broccoli, peppers, and apples, thinking about that strange experience. Then it hit me and a lot seemed to click into place. Some of the dialogue lines that felt so incredibly random and trippy suddenly made so much sense. It's incredible how I had missed it before. Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you. You should really go and figure it out yourself.
It also made me realize that I need to clarify something that might not have been entirely clear in the previous posts. I said that you communicate only with people who get it, who have experienced the same thing that you did. What I think I haven't mentioned clearly enough is that this experience can come from consuming the artwork itself. That's why interpreting art is such an incredible activity. It allows you to experience the artist's viewpoint more closely than words could ever describe it. It's like visiting a different world, that's as real as your own, but so distant that you'd never be able to go there yourself.
Now you might say: "Right, I can visit different worlds, cool. But the world this game takes me to is dark, depressing and unpleasant. Why would I want to go there?". I can't blame you for thinking this way and if you don't want to, I won't make you. If you're in a dark place right now, going to a different dark place might not be the right thing for you to do in the moment. But be advised that you're missing out on life if you always dwell in the light. A huge part of life is taking place in the shadows, the cracks in the pavement, and the almighty abyss. Explaining why you might want to go there is maybe a bit much for this blog post. Maybe I'll write about it next week.
Anyways, experiencing the dark parts of life through art is a relatively safe way to do so. If you feel like you can't take it anymore, you can always walk away and return to your life, where nothing has changed except you. I can only urge you to try it and maybe you want to start your journey with Arctic Eggs.
