Walking I Simulated: Proteus

Proteus
Walking Simulation
1 Player
System: PSN
Developer: Curve Studios
Year of Release: 2013
Hiked: August 8th, 2014

Apologies, I was hoping to stay on top of this blog, yet I allowed myself to slip. Truth is I haven't really beaten many games recently. I've been stuck jumping back and forth between RPG's lately. I'm sure at least someone will understand my current (admittedly self-inflicted) problem. I did manage to walk through Proteus though!

Funny enough I actually played this game around the time of it's original release date on PC. I had read a couple articles about it and really liked the art style. Going in I understood that there wasn't really a game to be had here, but that didn't help to stop me from pretty much immediately turning it off. My experience on PS3 actually almost ended the same way. Before uninstalling it I jokingly checked the achievements and... turned out there was actually a goal. I hadn't even fathomed that possibility.

Honestly the only thing that drew me to this game at all were the aesthetics. The simplistic look really called to me, I can't even really describe why but something about the use of colors and the overall low-fi look just worked for me. I understand why people wouldn't enjoy the art direction however. My friend played it and was put off by it from the outset, I had to tell him there was some objective to fulfill to get him to keep playing. He was pretty pissed once he realized there wasn't really a point.

This was before I had bothered checking the achievements. But when you get down to it, there still really isn't really much to do in Proteus. Apparently the entire point is to discover a circle of stones on the island and hang out in it at night to fast forward a season. After going through all four seasons your next chill session in the circle of stones has you ascend to... heaven, I suppose? I don't really know or care.

At the end of the day I still love the aesthetics. I haven't even touched on the music, the other major plus in my opinion. It's this dynamic mix of mostly sound effects where walking near certain objects causes different sounds to play and it works pretty well. I mean it is simplistic, but really this just matches the whole image Proteus is going for.

I hesitated writing that last line. Originally it read, "but really this just matches the whole image this game is going for." and you might have noticed I haven't referred to it as a game at all. A lot of coverage of Proteus focused on whether it was a game at all, and naturally this quickly devolved into the whole "are games art" argument. I don't really want to dredge all that up (he says after baiting the hook) but I really do agree that this is not a game. I don't think that devalues it as an experience, but it just lacks anything that would make it a game.

The whole goal feels really artificially implemented, like as they finished up the season change system they realized "shit we don't have an ending!" While that's unabashedly pure conjecture Proteus undeniably feels hollow, like a test engine but they just didn't add anything to it. I would love a fleshed out RPG using Proteus as a base for the world, or an adventure game. Anything, something to add a sense of purpose to it all.

I got this for free through Playstation Plus, and for free I really do like and even recommend Proteus. It's worth wandering around to see the randomly generated island, and to at least experience how the music works in the experience. Ultimately though, this isn't worth any money, and certainly isn't worth more than a fleeting glance.I really do love Proteus, but only in regards to the possibility of it being a game engine that leads the way to something greater. I hope the creators take this and add some real content to it or expand on it in a future project. I think a lot of neat things could come to fruition, but as is Proteus just comes across as half cooked.