Games You Might Have Missed: Far From Noise
Far From Noise is a narrative, choice driven game by George Batchelor. It was released on November 14th, 2017.The game finds you in a clunky old car that somehow ended up balanced on a cliff’s edge. Any sudden move could send you careening off the edge, and you spend the first section of the game holding your breath at the approach of any passing squirrel or change in the breeze. An unexpected stranger appears, and together you delve into the meanings of life, death, and the differences our choices can make.
All gameplay focuses on choosing dialogue options in relation to either the situations happening around you, or the questions your mysterious companion is posing. Your choices create your character’s backstory, influence what you’ll see during your time on the cliff, and ultimately shape how the game ends.
Visually, it’s a beautiful game, relying on cell-shading and richly saturated colors to capture the wonder of the natural scene around you. The scenery becomes key to the conversations you have, and makes playing a joy as there’s always some new detail to take in during the pauses between speech bubbles.
Far From Noise is a nice touch on the existential dread that seems to permeate young people’s lives. While it doesn’t shy away from the sense of hopelessness and being overwhelmed that many of us feel in the face of deciding what to do with our lives, it’s not overly depressing and handles things with a sense of humor. Many of the dialogue options are dark jokes about the situation you’re in, and you generally have the option for a melodramatic rant. Using these techniques, Far From Noise captures the feeling that any wrong move might send you over the edge into the abyss, but if you joke about it enough, it might turn out okay.
If you want a game that understands your millennial dread more than your parents ever will, Far From Noise is the game for you. At only $7.99, it’s a steal you definitely shouldn’t miss out on. Pick it up on PS4, Steam, Itch.io and the App Store.
