Mosaic Review (Nintendo Switch)

Review code used, with many thanks to Raw Fury

What A Ride

Hoo boy, what a ride this game is. Set in a not-so-distant dystopian future, you play as a lonely guy living a monotonous life that never changes.

You wake up, walk to your job, do your job, and then go home to bed.

Human interaction is basically at zero, unless you count the text messages you get on your phone sometimes. If you want, you could pass some time playing BlipBlop, a game also on your phone.

Does this sound uncomfortably close to your own life? Going days, weeks, without actually speaking face-to-face with another human being. Finding more “joy” and “fulfillment” in your social media persona?

*shudder* Simply playing this game makes me dread that this seems to be the growing trend in our world. It is becoming harder and harder to communicate with other human beings face-to-face. Why is that?

This game made me long for a simple life on a farm keeping bees (an honest-to-goodness dream of mine).

Pathetic Fallacy

This game is almost the definition of pathetic fallacy.

The colours are dark and muted because your character is sad, dark, and alone.

When the sun comes out (only ever in your imagination), or when there is colour, your character is FEELING, is ALIVE.

It is a powerful tool in cinema and video games. The weather is gloomy and rainy, and therefore you are as well.

The art style also feels slightly cubist to me as well. The humans are all slightly skewed: very long bodies, with thin toothpick legs, long faces with no distinct features, only the slightly raised indication of a nose.

It really enhances the feeling that we are walking around in a technological daze, not seeing or interacting with anyone around us in any kind of meaningful way.

…I mean, how can you see people when they’re not able to be seen…?

Gameplay

The gameplay and controls basically consist of using the joystick to walk – and it is a slow and agonizing walk that you have no power to speed up, and pressing A to confirm and select things sometimes.

As constantly indicated in the top right corner of the screen, you can hit Y at any time to access your cell phone.

It’s a bit unsettling how close it is to real life. When your phone is always in your pocket, you always have the option to pull it out and check it at any moment whenever you feel like you need a distraction.

Then you get to work and your mindless job consists of building a ladder of hexagons by moving the joystick and pressing A.

*SIDE RANT*

I have been reading a lot of mindfulness books lately; everything these books are talking about, putting away the technology more often, actually stopping in at your friend’s house rather than only texting, deep breathing, taking time to actually SEE and hear the things around you, and finding, exploring, feeling and acknowledging the things IN you – from your heartbeat to the butterflies in your stomach when you look at the one you love.

It’s basically everything I want out of my life; and this game is me looking into a possible window where my life could come this one monotonous drone note of empty loneliness.

*END SIDE RANT*

When I played the game, I really wanted to role-play as myself. Well… to be honest, when I play any game, my first play through is always me making the choices as close to myself as possible. So…

I didn’t use my character’s phone at all. I didn’t play BlipBlop, or scan anything for new apps. I tried all I could to communicate with the other black and white corporate suit wearing humans just walking past.

After playing this game, I had this deep feeling of longing and emptiness. All I wanted to do was hug my friends and talk to them and drink beverages with them in person.

Mosaic is a powerful game, and if it can give every person who plays it the feeling that they need to get closer to their friends, get and give a hug, and have more human interaction, then I think the game designers will have achieved their goal.

Apparently, All Arts Are NOT Created Equal

One of the big themes of this game is that the arts can bring colour, and meaning, to your life.

Every day your character walks through their monochrome bleak world, but at some point an opportunity comes to stray off the beaten path and suddenly run into some colour.

This “colour” comes in the form of someone playing music, just for the heck of it.

Also known as: The Arts!

As a teacher, and actor, I am all about pushing for funding for the arts. It’s been proven over and over again that kids who are in visual arts, drama, or music classes in school excel in their other studies as well.

It just makes you a more well rounded human being.

*MEGA SIDE RANT*

Here’s my issue with the message of this game, and with the world in general:

This game, as well as the world, seem to consider music to be the only art worth pursuing and being in awe of.

People look at a musician and think: “Wow, that person is really good at playing that instrument, and their voice is really beautiful, I could never do that.” And then they are willing to pay their money to go to a concert, or buy their music off of iTunes.

According to Mosaic, music is the only art worth pursuing. To give the game’s creators the benefit of the doubt, maybe it’s just the game’s character who really likes music and finds it fulfilling.

Let’s go on, shall we: Visual Arts (painting, sculpture, etc).

People look at that and think: “Wow that’s pretty good” or “PFF, a monkey could paint that!” or “Wow! I can’t believe a monkey painted that!” There seems to be some respect for visual art if it’s deemed “good” (thank goodness for the DADA movement, amirite?).

Now, let’s take theatre/acting/drama. People watch a theatre show and think “Pff, I could do that.” The powers that be (at least in my country) consider funding drama a waste of money (well, funding the arts in general). People consume SO MUCH television and film that it always makes me a little sick to think of how much people do not respect acting as an art and as a legitimate profession.

I’m currently struggling with the fact that I can’t be an actor as a full time career right now where I live because it’s just not considered worthy of being funded to the point where I could get paid for the work I do.

So, to have a game perpetuate the idea that music is the only art worth anything, well it makes MY heart feel a little black and gloomy.

END MEGA SIDE RANT

Sounds Of An Urban Landscape

The soundtrack of this game is a work of art in and of itself. I think with the emphasis on music as a way to be happy that the game’s creators would definitely want to have good music in their game too.

There are a lot of metallic sounds, and noises that feel like a clouded brain with a pounding headache.

The music feels like an empty soul and a broken heart.

When the colours happen, the music becomes beautiful and flowing, and golden and full of life.

It is an extremely appropriate soundtrack for the look and feel of this game. Good work Mosaic makers!

The Little Niggles

The game seems to be pretty laggy. I don’t really know why, maybe it’s intentional – I wouldn’t be surprised if it were intentional considering how it’s supposed to feel like your life is a meaningless plod, slow and unforgiving.

It didn’t FEEL intentional to me however, and I found it took me out of the game a bit when I’d be simply walking slowly, and the game is trying to load too many other faceless commuters that the visuals start to pause and skip.

My other niggle is my own personal one that I mentioned before about how it seems like music is the only art that society has deemed fulfilling and worthy; but that’s nothing against the game itself, just my own sour grapes towards a hypocritical culture.

Final Verdict

All in all, I think it’s one of those games that are worth getting just for the experience it will give you.

If you’re feeling like there’s something missing from your life. If maybe your social media accounts aren’t fulfilling you like you think they should. Maybe pick this game up, and take a glimpse into a possible future where things could get even worse.