Paradise Marsh, review – Nerd4.life

It doesn’t happen often, but in some rare and magical cases, a video game can turn into a meditative experience of self-discovery and one’s place in the world. It takes place with Paradise Marsh, where the silence of the swamp invites the player to rediscover the slow pace of what really matters in life, immersed among frogs, crickets, bees, snails, and butterflies.

Not unusual animals, but common beings, as simple as Umberto Saba’s poetry: like “vulgar words that no one dared”, “worn and traditional, words no poet dared to use anymore”, little animals that inhabit a swamp Etienne Trudeau They are charged with magic and beauty that completely separates them from the ordinary dimension, transporting them to the sky of the starry sky. Here, capturing them with a humble web brings us back to the wonderful dimension of childhood and the contemplation of nature around us, giving us calm and inner peace.

We tell you about this independent gem in our country Paradise March review.

The swamp is not what it seems

A shower of falling stars brings an unexpected gift to the protagonist: a net to catch insects and small animals. We are in a quagmire, we are completely alone. Except for some traces of human existence – an abandoned bicycle, some axes for cutting wood, some snowflakes, a soccer ball – only the little creatures that inhabit this place make us accompany us. change placewhere heaven and earth pass from day to night, and the seasons alternate within a few minutes.

As will soon be discovered, the target of the Paradise Marsh is Catch all the pets Living in the swamp. These are not griffins, or fire-breathing dragons, or other unusual beings: our traveling companions are spiders, frogs, dragonflies, and humble and ordinary animals, but they are able to awaken our inner child and make us live an intense poetic adventure in their palace. The lyricism of Paradise Marsh almost unfolds three hours, but this quiet and serene swamp can be rediscovered as needed, when you feel the need to return to a safe and reassuring virtual place, and it will be procedurally created with each new game. We don’t want to tell you anything about the plot developments of the game created by Canadian Etienne Trudeau, because revealing his surprises will involve a change in the players’ experience: we can only say that in the swamp nothing is what it seems, and that the greatest wisdom comes, sometimes, One of the most humble animals.

Owls, crows, and sparrows always have an ode to us, while bees demonstrate their hard work ethic, snails their cosmic pessimism, and frogs call to free our minds to welcome the realities of the universe. Each dialogue with the little creatures of the swamp is intense and full of sarcasm and harbinger of meditationAs well as the messages in the bottles that come out of the water and give us snapshots of life and meditation.

Paradise Marsh invites players to follow Rhythms of nature And to appreciate the changes, sometimes the best thing to do is sit on a log and contemplate the ephemerality of existence. How do we want to live it? What are our values? Are we sure we’re giving things the right weight? The swamp asks us about this and much more, but it is up to us, and only us, to find the answers we think are the most correct.

Catch them all!

As mentioned, the goal of Paradise Marsh is very simple, and so is its purpose Play: From a first person perspective, you have to shake your net and capture all the animals that inhabit the mysterious swamp. All of this takes place within an absolute value artistic framework, vividly inspired by colors and pixel art by A Short Hike, in a mystical accord of earthly and celestial colors that live in constant and wonderful change.

You cross a small world, but you are constantly renewing itself, and there are many biomes, distinct and distinct from each other: the wet forest, inhabited by snails, the Japanese garden, favored by butterflies and frogs, the snowy expanse, and many more. All senses matter: we have often succeeded in catching an elusive snail or spotting a frog stuck in a well thanks to excellent acoustic clues, the result of excellent sound design work by his disaster (Author of the soundtrack for Fez, among others). The combinations help to maintain a state of calm and contemplation, in the context of a video game in which it is not the completion of the task assigned to it that matters, but the existential reflections that can arise in the mind of the player.

Born out of a game jam in 2020 and gradually expanded by Étienne Trudeau, Paradise Marsh has become one Umberto Saba’s poem, able to give value to modest things, vulgar only in appearance, because what is important is the ability to marvel in the eyes of those who watch them. The swamp is a family of creatures that reflect in the sky and whose kindness inspires a similar mood to the player: we discover the beauty of small gestures that seem only insignificant, such as throwing seeds around to give birth to yellow and red flowers, then feeling the gentle tension of slowing down and drawing our net to prevent a butterfly from flying away from Perch her plant, and catch her off guard.

a few of them Technical problem The Nintendo Switch version doesn’t affect the overall high quality of the adventure, but we still had to report slight drops in frame rate, and on one occasion we had to close and restart the app due to a sudden freeze. Nothing can affect the experience, keep in mind. We advise you to take a tour of the options to try out the different options on the pixel bean: the aesthetics of the swamp is in any case an uncommon beauty. At this moment is No Italian translation And in Paradise Marsh there is a fair amount of text, which is absolutely necessary to fully appreciate the plot of the game and the reflections of our animal companions: a good knowledge of English is therefore required.