![]() ![]() Anything that is not immediately understood will be explained shortly, through show or tell. Such is the skill of the minimalistic writing that I never felt overwhelmed or lost amidst a vernacular that is liberally seasoned with unfamiliar names and terms. And yet, it really doesn’t have any such expectations. Story-wise, The Rewinder definitely throws you in at the deep end, almost as if it expects the player to have an existing knowledge of the characters and world they live in. Oh, and let’s not forget the giant spiders and giant-spider-people, ostensibly agents of the White Lotus, who will be trying to send you to the afterlife at every interval. You will be called upon to use your Rewinder skills to divert the flow of history, avoiding tragedies and playing peacemaker-sometimes by preventing confrontations from happening in the first place. As Yun (and a couple of companions whose powers can be used to assist along the way) you will travel back and forth between two neighboring villages, discovering the stories and relationships of their occupants. The White Lotus Clan are the suspected perpetrators of these calamities, and so Yun sets off to investigate and, hopefully, set things right.Īfter the epically wrought heaven-and-hell setup, the mission that you are left to accomplish is actually quite provincial and intimate. Their Guardian, Tu Di, has gone missing, and dozens of souls are not finding their way to the afterlife. Apparently, there is spiritual unrest in Reed River Village. This is the world that you will exist in for the 5-7 hours of playtime that The Rewinder provides, and the fact that all movement in the game occurs on a side-scrolling axis heavily compounds the living-handscroll effect.Īfter a just few sips, Yun is interrupted from his tea-drinking reverie by his celestial sidekick, Light. It bears remarking once again how immaculately the artists have been able to recreate the atmosphere and detail of handscroll art, using such an antithetically modern medium as pixels. It is a scene set predominantly in shades of black and white, with color and warmth added by a cherry blossom tree and hanging lanterns. ![]() After the introduction, we are greeted with a fade-in of our protagonist as he is having tea on the patio outside of his small mountain home. You are Yun, who is one of these final few. Over time, however, the number of Rewinders has dwindled, until now there are only a few remaining. These Rewinders have the ability to travel back in time and change the past, allowing the disturbed souls to transition peacefully. To rectify this grave situation, four guardians descended from heaven, imbuing several special children with the power of Rewinding. The cycle of death and rebirth has collapsed, and spirits and monsters are roaming the land. People are living and dying poorly, causing resentful ghosts to run amok. We are told that the War of Apotheosis has ended, but this has not caused peace to return. The same principle is put into effect here, as the screen slowly pans across the images, revealing the story in sync with the spoken Mandarin language narration. ![]() Chinese handscrolls are meant to be unfolded slowly, with the viewer pausing to appreciate each section before moving on to the next. The game begins with an introduction composed of beautiful handscroll-style paintings, exquisitely rendered in pixels. And while that potential might sometimes not fulfill the high expectations set by the first half of the game, The Rewinder still remains a uniquely worthwhile experience overall. So if you’re the type who enjoys a side of cultural exploration with their adventure gaming, chances are you’ll be won over pretty quickly here, especially since the potential for quality is evident from the word go. I have no deep well of knowledge of ancient Chinese culture and mythology to back that statement up, but sometimes you can just tell when your chicken has been Moo shued by a person of Southeast Asian origin or not. ![]()
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