What if life gave you another chance to learn to love again? This question serves as both the beginning and the main motivation of Seen by Polychroma Games. An interactive, story-based text game, Seen is an interesting example of how video games can tell engaging stories in unconventional ways.
In Seen, you take on the role of a high school student named Mark, texting to his fellow student and love interest, Nicole. The game follows the two as their friendship grows stronger and potentially evolves into something more. Players can choose Mark’s responses to Nicole’s texts about life, change, and love. Ultimately the goal of the game is to win over Nicole’s heart, but the story takes several twists and turns that make such a goal very difficult. It’s a near-perfect blend of humor, romance, and tragedy that is surprisingly heartwarming.
No matter what the player types into their phone’s text input, Mark’s responses are almost always predetermined by prior choice. You can type gibberish into your phone, and Mark will always type out his response. This is a great mechanic that really engages the player in the progression of the story while simultaneously giving Mark character. You can see every backspace and every second thought that he has. One of the best examples is during a text session with Nicole’s cheating ex-boyfriend, in which Mark types, “Go fu-“ then backspaces and opts for a more neutral response.
What I found the most appealing about the game is its focus on philosophy. Nicole in particular raises several pressing questions that can resonate with almost anyone: Why are we so nostalgic for the happy days of childhood? Why do people have to change? If you were given a second chance to fix past mistakes, what would you do? Would you even want to change anything?
While I doubt the game has much in the way of replay value, I am eager to return and see just how much the story changes based on different responses. The game also includes a Story Maker mode that allows players to create their own chat-style games, as well as a remake of another, creepier story called Annie96 is Typing…
In all, Seen is a heartwarming tale of friendship, love, loss, and second chances. Its engaging characters, storyline, and philosophy are quite unlike other mobile games I have seen. It’s a unique gaming experience, a great story, and an experiment in human relationships that I will not soon forget.
Seen can be downloaded for free on the Google Play store here.
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