Ishmael was a weird experience, I'm still not sure how to feel about it.
First of all, I didn't like writing, it wasn't immersive for me at all. Tho English is very good, I didn't notice any typos. The whole atmosphere seemed so distant, so alien. But then I actually thought that maybe it's how it should be 'cause the world described in the game really IS so foreign to me.
It's the shortest novel I've ever played, just about 15 minutes long. We learn the story of a young Palestinian boy. The way children spend their free time playing outdoor games with just stones and sand wasn't one bit gloomy for me. That's practically how I spent my childhood growing in a Siberian village—playing snowballs, making snowmen, snow huts in winter, hopscotch or a great number of other games in summer. I actually believe, that time was great fun without computers, internet... But in the game the boy is bored. I didn't feel related. Of course, when it's war, occupation, death nearby it changes everything significantly.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1626375799
By the way there's a mini game and the possibility to draw on the sand. I enjoyed it! It was fun to play tic-tac-toe. I didn't expect to spend so much time playing it against all children. Oh, and I searched a lot trying to find out what ratalla means, if it resembles any of the games I was playing as a child but I couldn't find any information about it in the net and nobody I asked could explain it to me. That's killing me xD if someone knows, please, explain the rules in the comments.
The game touches some really disturbing topics. When even in the modern world people have to fight and sacrifice a lot just to keep their own land free is very depressing. When children have to see all that and live in such state is so frigging wrong. It's especially scary to realize how children, teenagers are easily manipulated and used in such bloody games. The path towards bloodshed does seem inescapable.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1626375646
At the end the game shows us real photos, some of them are quite heartbreaking. Playing visual novels I can enjoy some things completely unacceptable for me in real life, just to feel something new, experience smth possible only in the virtual world of computer games. But reading such stories you realize that everything is not just fictional, that world is still so far from being perfect. So disheartening!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1626375718
So, I'm not sure if I liked that experience. But I guess I still encourage everyone to try it. It's something new, unexpected and what is also important—free.
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