Far from Noise

To start, did this game make me cry? Yes, yes it did.

Would I play it again? Absolutely.

Far from Noise is an intense narrative game created by George Batchelor and originally released in 2017. Like, I know this game is almost half a decade old and I'm sure there are much more articulated reviews and introspective on it out somewhere in the bottomless internet, but also? I chose the wrong time to play this game. So like, here's a quick warning that the rest of this post might not make the most sense?

Not too sure if it's been made clear or not but I'm very into the paranormal and occult fields and one of the main groups I'm a part of have been on a real kick with the afterlife discussions and research recently. At this point, there's just something so surreal about having just reread Raymond Moody's Life After Life and being most of the way through Greg Taylor's Stop Worrying! There Probably Is An Afterlife for bookclub when this game brings up so many of the same thought points. Despite its pastel color palette and gentle design, this is a harrowing experience to play.

You're trapped in a car teetering on the edge of a cliff and all you can do is watch the way the world doesn't stop outside your windows.

The game isn't an NDE simulator. The dialogue doesn't even go very far into the spiritual or philosophical aspects of toeing that line the way most discussions on death and dying do. Instead it sits you down in a bleak moment that lasts and lasts and lasts, not quite alone with your thoughts but still removed from everything else.

As the night progresses and the dialogue options jump through different emotional highs and lows, you and your two companions, your car (which the game gives you the option to name if you're like me and have to name absolutely every machine I own) and the talking deer you get to speak with. Depending on the options you choose, you could play seemingly the whole game in a sort of high energy snark, thoughtful desperation, or, like me, in a chaotic mix of the two.

Plenty of moments of levity and genuinely funny banter are always undercut with the both the visual scene and your understanding that you are trapped in a car teetering on the edge of a cliff. Not to mention the way your talking deer companion keeps leading the conversation into deeper and deeper topics and carefully teases out the story of what led to the situation the beginning of the game finds you in.

You're not a stranger to the cliffs you're precariously balanced on. Doubts have destabilized your lifelong dreams (at least in the route I decided to take with the director option). Night and the possibility of rescue grow darker the longer time goes on.

I'm not gonna lie, I had to keep putting this one down and taking breaks while playing because it sometimes hit a bit too close at times. Not only that, but I've had a few days to process now as I write this and can almost confidently say I can't actually remember a lot of the details of my first play through. Every so often I say I'm going to definitely go back and replay a game but I think Far From Noise has left me in both the exact same and exact opposite way that Islands: Non-Places did. Fuzzy brained and off kilter, too many emotions too quick in an interactive setting.

This was a lot. Absolutely loved this game almost beyond words but this was still a lot. I guess just be sure to check in with yourself while playing, especially if in-depth discussions on death are something you aren't used to or are comfortable with.

This is getting posted in the morning but still, happy dreams.