This is the most in depth review I have ever seen on any game ever! Amazing channel you have! I heard this game is about 2 hours long and just watching this review would mean its 1/6 of the entire experience of the game. I feel very satisfied with what you created! thank you!
I only just finally played this a few days ago. I was convinced that the King was actually his mother (until the end reveal that it was his father). One of the storybook segments (in the Seawall, chapter 2:5) seemed like such strong allegory for a miscarriage, and the statue of the king even has a whole in its centre in the shape of a foetus. Turns out I was wrong, but I loved that it was open to interpretation! Great game.
Thanks so much! Yeah it's really unlike anything else and the devs went on to do such amazing work on What Remains of Edith Finch so it's well worth checking out where they started.
@@thinreaper I didn't know that was the same devs but I need to play both. I recommend Home is where one starts which is a pretty simplistic game but a heart felt one at that. I also recommend Firewatch and a gane I've recently started Hourglass which is more of a puzzle game but very beautiful.
Great review the bit about the father cycle finally made a line make since to me which is when the king says "someday they'll say he's a better man than his father" I always thought it was a very weird thing to say
Really interesting critique work! One other connection between Unfinished Swan and Journey that you missed (and that I suspect is the reason behind the easter egg): both Giant Sparrow (with Unfinished Swan) and thatgamecompany (with Flow) got their start in USC Games' MFA program, before teaming up with Sony to publish their work.
About that third chapter. Isn't a sense of fear and anxiety towards the world around us a natural step in growing up? It was for me, right after I had started forging my own path in the world.
thinreaper Love to contribute. That still leaves us kind of in the dark on the multiple dimensions part though doesn't it? Could that perhaps be about finding your way through all of the pathways life offers us once you work your way through this anxiety? The building of blocks could be about deliberately working towards goals you set throughout your life, though this could be too much of my own interpretation as I'm not sure this is something universal enough for all people to relate to.
+LukeSparrow Yeah that could be it, another interesting interpretation! I guess, having thought more about the game since this review, if I stick to my idea of the game being about life, the beginning where you have to splash paint around in order to see represents you literally discovering the world for the first time, the second chapter represents you being able to interact and colour that world and the building of blocks in chapter 3 could represent you actually creating and influencing the world for the first time by building things, which would tie into the themes of the father wanting to create and leave a legacy behind. Not too sure what the multiple dimensions bit would represent and again, the whole ball thing still isn't clear to me. But I mentioned in the video how I might just be too hung up on 'symbolism' and should instead try to embrace how the game is trying to make me feel and I think your interpretations, about anxiety in the third chapter, are a good example of this. It's like I'm too stuck in my head about what the game is trying to say on a cognitive level and you've been able to channel your experience into an emotional understanding of what the game is conveying and that's really cool. If you think about the game along those lines, perhaps the feeling of being lost in a maze is supposed to convey the overwhelming moments in our childhood such as our first day of school. Perhaps the sudden and unsettling feeling you get from the shift into a different dimension is supposed to evoke the transition of becoming an adult and the satisfaction of making progress through problem solving reflects our move towards independence as adults. It's really interesting to think about how the feelings the game is trying to evoke might also reflect the game's themes as well and that's something I never really thought about when I played it so thanks so much for your comments! You've really given me some interesting stuff to think about and shown me a different way to interpret the game. I think it's testament to The Unfinished Swan that, years later, I'm still able to have discussions like this about it and learn about other people's experiences!
thinreaper It truly is a testament to the game, no doubt about it! It's fascinating to me how a game like this or Journey can truly get you contemplating you reflecting inwards by getting you emotionally invested through its game mechanics. I'm actually writing an analysis on how Journey gets you emotionally invested in its narrative and the lessons a game designer could draw from this game. It repeats some of the things you and others have already noted, but I believe it has a unique angle by focusing on these lessons. It's one of the pieces of a portfolio that will hopefully get me into a school to become a game designer myself. Would you perhaps care to read it? (feel free to say no) Feedback from someone as keen-minded as you would certainly be appreciated, and might help improve my analysis. Thank you for the conversation Thinreaper. It's been very intriguing. I must say I'm very much looking forward to more of your content!
it's actually all about his mother, she is leaving Monroe "unfinished" cause she is dying too early when he's still a child, and the way to teach him how to grow up not like the king, someone who can be a metaphor for a father figure, but more importantly who is a child-adult; he is the what-if fairy-tale scenario of Monroe if he never matures from the experience of losing his mother, her fear is that she's leaving him unable to "finish himself" as a person, someone who keeps thinking like a child (royalty and immaturity are common relations, remember "where the wild things are", etc), someone who hasn't learned how to positively deal with the short-comings of life, someone who will always feel encumbered by the incompleteness of life, instead of making something beautiful out of it (and that's where art comes in). Beauty is also fleeting, art usually comes from a place of discomfort, but we end up reshaping our experience through creation, she left everything incomplete so he would feel the need to pick up the brush and complete it, she taught him art, a way to deal with whatever happens in his life while she is not around to teach him anything herself anymore.
Awesome reasoning! But then (if you still remember the game 3 months on to have this discussion), what do you make it of the king's story. Is Monroe IN the king's dream? What is this dream? This reading is awesome and I'm inclined to agree with it, but it only takes in consideration the storybook sequences, and not the in-game story told through panels and imagery of the king.
Fábio, o sonho do rei na verdade confirma. Era só uma confirmação sobre a figura paterna dele. Em que o próprio diz "espero que as pessoas digam: ele (Monroe) foi alguém melhor que o pai".
Good reasoning! But I believe this is a spin-off of What Remains of Edith Finch. Spoiler-- Milton disappears when he’s a kid and his mom dies way later, after Edith Jr. is a young adult
+thinreaper Hi, really enjoying your design investigations. If you're taking suggestions I'd really like to see you cover *Ori and the Blind Forest* - which was definitely one of the best surprise wonders of 2015....I'd love to hear what thoughts you might have about it - it really surpassed all my expectations for it! :D
I just finished (what remains of edith finch) I thought you had a video about it please just play the game I feel like you're missing out on a masterpiece.
I’ve played it and I loved it! But I don’t think I’d have anything to add to the conversation on it. I recommend Joseph Anderson and Super Bunnyhops videos on the game though.
This is the most in depth review I have ever seen on any game ever! Amazing channel you have! I heard this game is about 2 hours long and just watching this review would mean its 1/6 of the entire experience of the game. I feel very satisfied with what you created! thank you!
I really enjoy your reviews. plz make more. they are awesome.
I only just finally played this a few days ago. I was convinced that the King was actually his mother (until the end reveal that it was his father). One of the storybook segments (in the Seawall, chapter 2:5) seemed like such strong allegory for a miscarriage, and the statue of the king even has a whole in its centre in the shape of a foetus.
Turns out I was wrong, but I loved that it was open to interpretation! Great game.
Such a cool and unique game that I've had on my wishlist for a while. Great video btw.
Thanks so much! Yeah it's really unlike anything else and the devs went on to do such amazing work on What Remains of Edith Finch so it's well worth checking out where they started.
@@thinreaper I didn't know that was the same devs but I need to play both. I recommend Home is where one starts which is a pretty simplistic game but a heart felt one at that. I also recommend Firewatch and a gane I've recently started Hourglass which is more of a puzzle game but very beautiful.
Great review the bit about the father cycle finally made a line make since to me which is when the king says "someday they'll say he's a better man than his father" I always thought it was a very weird thing to say
Great review very in depth brought alot of points that hadnt come to my mind
The toast is just "the child book" part of the game. There is also a giant mug as well.
Really interesting critique work!
One other connection between Unfinished Swan and Journey that you missed (and that I suspect is the reason behind the easter egg): both Giant Sparrow (with Unfinished Swan) and thatgamecompany (with Flow) got their start in USC Games' MFA program, before teaming up with Sony to publish their work.
Ahhh that's interesting! That is almost undoubtedly the actual reason behind the easter egg haha thanks for point that out to me!
Great review!
Great review, can't wait to see more.
About that third chapter. Isn't a sense of fear and anxiety towards the world around us a natural step in growing up?
It was for me, right after I had started forging my own path in the world.
+LukeSparrow That's a really interesting interpretation! I'd never considered that, perhaps that's exactly what they were going for!
thinreaper
Love to contribute.
That still leaves us kind of in the dark on the multiple dimensions part though doesn't it?
Could that perhaps be about finding your way through all of the pathways life offers us once you work your way through this anxiety?
The building of blocks could be about deliberately working towards goals you set throughout your life, though this could be too much of my own interpretation as I'm not sure this is something universal enough for all people to relate to.
+LukeSparrow Yeah that could be it, another interesting interpretation!
I guess, having thought more about the game since this review, if I stick to my idea of the game being about life, the beginning where you have to splash paint around in order to see represents you literally discovering the world for the first time, the second chapter represents you being able to interact and colour that world and the building of blocks in chapter 3 could represent you actually creating and influencing the world for the first time by building things, which would tie into the themes of the father wanting to create and leave a legacy behind. Not too sure what the multiple dimensions bit would represent and again, the whole ball thing still isn't clear to me.
But I mentioned in the video how I might just be too hung up on 'symbolism' and should instead try to embrace how the game is trying to make me feel and I think your interpretations, about anxiety in the third chapter, are a good example of this. It's like I'm too stuck in my head about what the game is trying to say on a cognitive level and you've been able to channel your experience into an emotional understanding of what the game is conveying and that's really cool. If you think about the game along those lines, perhaps the feeling of being lost in a maze is supposed to convey the overwhelming moments in our childhood such as our first day of school. Perhaps the sudden and unsettling feeling you get from the shift into a different dimension is supposed to evoke the transition of becoming an adult and the satisfaction of making progress through problem solving reflects our move towards independence as adults.
It's really interesting to think about how the feelings the game is trying to evoke might also reflect the game's themes as well and that's something I never really thought about when I played it so thanks so much for your comments! You've really given me some interesting stuff to think about and shown me a different way to interpret the game. I think it's testament to The Unfinished Swan that, years later, I'm still able to have discussions like this about it and learn about other people's experiences!
thinreaper
It truly is a testament to the game, no doubt about it! It's fascinating to me how a game like this or Journey can truly get you contemplating you reflecting inwards by getting you emotionally invested through its game mechanics.
I'm actually writing an analysis on how Journey gets you emotionally invested in its narrative and the lessons a game designer could draw from this game. It repeats some of the things you and others have already noted, but I believe it has a unique angle by focusing on these lessons. It's one of the pieces of a portfolio that will hopefully get me into a school to become a game designer myself.
Would you perhaps care to read it? (feel free to say no) Feedback from someone as keen-minded as you would certainly be appreciated, and might help improve my analysis.
Thank you for the conversation Thinreaper. It's been very intriguing. I must say I'm very much looking forward to more of your content!
+LukeSparrow Yeah I would love to read it! You can message me on here or on Twitter with a link and I'll get to reading it as soon as possible!
it's actually all about his mother, she is leaving Monroe "unfinished" cause she is dying too early when he's still a child, and the way to teach him how to grow up not like the king, someone who can be a metaphor for a father figure, but more importantly who is a child-adult; he is the what-if fairy-tale scenario of Monroe if he never matures from the experience of losing his mother, her fear is that she's leaving him unable to "finish himself" as a person, someone who keeps thinking like a child (royalty and immaturity are common relations, remember "where the wild things are", etc), someone who hasn't learned how to positively deal with the short-comings of life, someone who will always feel encumbered by the incompleteness of life, instead of making something beautiful out of it (and that's where art comes in).
Beauty is also fleeting, art usually comes from a place of discomfort, but we end up reshaping our experience through creation, she left everything incomplete so he would feel the need to pick up the brush and complete it, she taught him art, a way to deal with whatever happens in his life while she is not around to teach him anything herself anymore.
Awesome reasoning! But then (if you still remember the game 3 months on to have this discussion), what do you make it of the king's story. Is Monroe IN the king's dream? What is this dream? This reading is awesome and I'm inclined to agree with it, but it only takes in consideration the storybook sequences, and not the in-game story told through panels and imagery of the king.
Fábio, o sonho do rei na verdade confirma. Era só uma confirmação sobre a figura paterna dele. Em que o próprio diz "espero que as pessoas digam: ele (Monroe) foi alguém melhor que o pai".
Good reasoning! But I believe this is a spin-off of What Remains of Edith Finch.
Spoiler--
Milton disappears when he’s a kid and his mom dies way later, after Edith Jr. is a young adult
Loved the video!
Thank you!
I remember playing this at Walmart when I was younger. It was really fun
Wow, this was great. Wish you could get more views and this game was more popular.
ThePyroGunner Thanks! Yeah, I think The Unfinished Swan is definitely an often overlooked game.
Haven't ever heard of it before watching this review.
Go support their next game, What Remains of Edith Finch!
Exactly what I was looking for thank you
Man, I should dust of my old ps3 and play this game and Journey.
+TheGangster1505 Definitely! I believe both games are available on PS4 too if that helps?
+thinreaper I only have a PC and a helluva old ps3, but thanks anyways.
+thinreaper Hi, really enjoying your design investigations.
If you're taking suggestions I'd really like to see you cover *Ori and the Blind Forest* - which was definitely one of the best surprise wonders of 2015....I'd love to hear what thoughts you might have about it - it really surpassed all my expectations for it! :D
I just finished (what remains of edith finch) I thought you had a video about it please just play the game I feel like you're missing out on a masterpiece.
I’ve played it and I loved it! But I don’t think I’d have anything to add to the conversation on it. I recommend Joseph Anderson and Super Bunnyhops videos on the game though.
Hold up toddler beat this when I was ten I couldn't even get past the square making level
Can you open subtitles?
I never played this or Journey because they were released only on PS3 :(
lastburning no man it's on PS4 too.