One of my favorite aspects of video games as a medium, and in fact a common theme in this very column, is the approach to storytelling. The interactive nature gives an immediately unique perspective that can really only be rivaled by rad imagination and a well-written book. This is apparently yet another on the long list of things I have in common with Elijah Wood, as shown in Transference, a title made in collaboration with his production team SpectreVision and Ubisoft Montreal. With this game, his team set out to create something that makes you “feel like you are in a movie,” and I think they do just that.
Transference was originally designed with VR in mind, which is absolutely apparent in the gameplay. It is standard “walking simulator” fare, with you in first person looking around rooms, picking up and inspecting items for clues, and collecting items and/or keys to move forward. The game sets you where, in Wood’s own words, “you are experiencing the uploaded memory data of a traumatized individual used for research purposes,” the location of which is constructed to look like the home of an aspiring mad scientist named Raymond. While that barely makes sense at first read, it is a set up that wraps around a gripping, dark story about perspectives and desires that unfolds slowly and dramatically.
The environment is a particularly nice place setting for a video game narrative, as the digitally constructed, and corrupted world can use the common issue of glitches as a feature. Amplifying the unease with locations and items changing appearance and interpretation. Doors closing, locking, or disappearing on their own; voices ringing out from every direction; the environment twitching and seizing with digital code; light switches rearranging the world around you. All of these things add to the sense of unease and urgency that do well to propel you forward.
In order to keep the story grounded amongst all of the digital chaos, there are video files that can be located around the property and watched through the menu. These videos feature Raymond, his wife, and child, full-motion video style portrayed by actual human actors. The videos feature monologues from Ray and various family life events seen through each person’s different point of view. They fill in the gaps of the story nicely, and the actors do very well at conveying the complex feelings sometimes hidden behind their practiced familial platitudes. It works incredibly well to make the characters feel real, as the dialogue doesn’t have to be conveyed through traditional 3D models that even at the best of times can have emersion breaking lip-syncing issues and at worst, dead doll eyes. It also keeps appearances of any digital apparitions of them unsettling, as their bodies will glitch out and their faces are never fully rendered.
The setting does very well to lower the risk of what is known in gaming as ludonarrative dissonance. This is when the narrative told through the gameplay of a title contradicts or conflicts with the narrative of the story presented. Think Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV, shouting that he’s tired of all the killing he caused as a soldier, while you the player are rampaging through the streets of Liberty City guns a-blazing. Transference bypasses this by taking place in a digital construct to begin with. You’re hitting keys on a piano to light up lightbulbs, or you drop an item and it fades away to return from whence it came, because “video game.” But also because of the whole thing Elijah said up there about “memory data.” The tactic works quite well. Was there occasional screen tearing or clipping issues at times? Maybe, but they could also be part of the game, so who cares. Solving puzzles doesn’t feel forced when the missing item is representing missing data.
Transference is a very interesting take on the idea of living a movie, a deeper way to experience familiar storytelling beats. The team absolutely succeeded in their goal. The title is even only film length, being completed in under three hours. I thought I fiddled with very knob and object I could, but I’m still missing a couple of video clips. I might go looking for them for additional information, and because I enjoyed the acting so much, but even missing a few of those, I definitely got a complete and satisfying story. For Xbox folks, it is currently available for the absolutely worth it $6.24 as part of the Super Saver Sale. For PS4 and PC folks, it is a bit more of an investment at $24.99. However, if you have VR, I think it might be a very immersive title to try out. It is certainly a top-quality title made by a relatively small team, and as an experiment in filmmaking and storytelling, it is worth a look for those who are interested in that.