Some gamers consider indie games a waste of time, childish and justan excuse to try to justify games as art. Though I would very muchlike to slap these people in the face I can't help but feel that theUnfinished Swan is exactly that...a good waste of time, childish atheart and one of the most striking examples of video games as art Ihave ever seen.
You play as Monroe, an orphan boy who awakes one night to find thatthe unfinished swan in a painting of his mothers is missing. As heinvestigates with a silver paintbrush he falls into the paintingitself with evidence of the swan having run off deeper into thepicture. As such Monroe sets off on a journey, painting his way as hegoes to reveal the environment in search of his unfinished swan.
It's a fairy tale story through and through, told as if it was beingread from the pages of a book with a narrator in tow too. It's anentertaining story that the more you progress becomes more and moreinteresting as you feel Monroe may have more to do with the story ofthe unfinished swan than you're being led to believe, with the taleof a king that never finishes anything and fears that his work willnot be remembered when he is gone. It isn't spectacular, nor is it atear jerker, but it is funny and will compel you to see it through toit's conclusion.
The Unfinished Swan's gameplay is perhaps what gained it mediaattention upon its release. Playing through a first person view, youmust paint your way through a blank environment to reveal the level.By throwing balls of paint the environment will build itself aroundyou, it's simple, engaging and artistic.
Beyond traversing the environment in platforming puzzles, there islittle other gameplay to The Unfinished Swan, though for a game thatwill only last you roughly 2 hours, it's a unique experience thatyou'll be glad to have experienced.
You can collect balloons throughout your journey to unlock variousdifferent extras though this is your only other gameplay featurebeyond walking, jumping and throwing paint.
The further the game progresses the harder the puzzles get and themore you are expected to do with your paint, though the game neverbecomes challenging and instead seems like more like the tutoriallevels to the original Portal before things started to get reallyinteresting.
Minimalistic best describes The Unfinished Swan in regards to itsvisuals and to its audio work. The majority of the game is eitherwhite, or black. In the later stages of the game some colour alsoappears and reveals the game to have a cel-shaded kind of appearanceto it, but all the while it's in black and white this is hard to see.
It is beautiful to look at, whilst throwing the paint things canbecome a little hard to distinguish but take a step back and let youreyes adjust to the sudden change and what you are presented with is apaint splashed world of wonder that is simply a joy to look at. Someof the larger vistas when shadows are introduced are also gorgeous tomarvel at and really show off just how beautiful the game is.
The soundtrack is also very minimalist, almost to the point where yousometimes forget it's even there. But the voice talent does a goodjob of bringing the small cast to life and telling an entertainingstory.
As a whole, The Unfinished Swan is a fun five minute time filler, butbeyond that the game has nothing to offer. It has no gameplay depth,nor is the story anything to lose your mind over. As a game for thepurpose of art it does a great job of being fun to play and lookingstunning, but as an actual gameplay experience you wouldn't be blamedfor feeling like the concept had more potential than the finishedproduct.
TheUnfinished Swan – 6/10
+EntertainingFamily Friendly Fairytale
+UniqueGameplay Mechanics
+BeautifulVisuals
-VeryShort
-NotMuch Actual Gameplay
-FeelsLike A Demo For A Much Larger Game
