Game EXP: MANDAGON (PC)

MANDAGON
Systems: Windows, macOS
Release Date: August 4, 2016
Publisher: Blind Sky Studios
Developer: Blind Sky Studios
Time Spent: 31 Minutes
Playthrough Video on YouTube

I don't remember where I first heard about or acquired MANDAGON, but it's likely that I saw that the game was free and added it to my Steam account.  Then, I promptly forgot it existed until going through my Steam library from the bottom up (when sorted by recently acquired) and didn't recognize anything about this game.  The game is described as taking inspiration from Tibetan Mythology, of which I know absolutely nothing about, so I'm not even going to try to make connections between the visuals and gameplay and anything to do with Tibetan culture.  There is a thread on the Steam forums that delves into the symbolism that I didn't catch, and I'd recommend reading through it if you want a 100% deeper analysis than what I have here.

MANDAGON is a pretty simplistic platformer.  You control a square-shaped bobbing head capable of a massive vertical leap.  There are no power-ups, no enemies to fight.  There are collectables of sort, in the form of totems scattered around the map that either give hints to the story or nuggets of Tibetan philosophy.  There are also six tablets that you have to collect to open the final door at the center of the map.  There are elevators you can unlock (although I didn't unlock them all), ladders to climb, water jets that propel you out of the water, and, for lack of a better term, a tethered jetpack to help you reach out-of-reach platforms.

I don't really know what else to say about this game.  It was short, just over 31 minutes, and was not at all complicated.  When I used the first of six tablets the illumnated the central door, I was afraid that the subsequent tablets were going to be more difficult to obtain, but that wasn't the case at all.  The map is helpful in this regard, as knowing where buildings are that you can enter (to find the tablets) and where the tablets are supposed to go is visually obvious; doors are black on buildings, and pedestals for tablets are white buildings.

It was just really nice to sit down and play an entire game in just over 30 minutes.  To experience a work of art that integrated symbolism and meaning from a culture that wasn't my own, but that I could still appreciate on several levels.  Reading analyses from the Steam thread above offered more of a heartfelt story than I knew existed.  Kind of similar to how I interpreted the story in Last Labyrinth, or really a lack of interpretation.

That's really all I've got.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
The Rapture of Grief is All