azureda How is this not on console yet?
Reviews for "Perdition"
Stellarvore This is a highly thought-provoking game. I know, it’s rather dorky of me to think so deeply about a flash game, but hear me out. I won’t go into discussing the technical/gameplay aspects of the game, because I’ve never been good at that, and prefer to look at the bigger picture. Just a warning to future readers, this review contains spoilers.
Over the past year and a half, I’ve played Perdition several times, mainly for the “True” ending. Most — if not every — time, upon my completion, I’ve been left alone with my thoughts and internal commentary. But as I play it, I tend to imagine myself in Eve’s shoes, thinking of what she may be thinking during her journey. To list a few examples I like to imagine that initially, whenever Gomadi orders her to do something resulting in her demise, she’s naturally appalled and ignores him, and when Tanas commands her to kill the blind android, she immediately starts to rethink her opinions of Gomadi … until he orders her to kill the sentient androids. After this, she decides that it’s time to put an end to the both of them. Whether or not I do it without any circuitshed (if I may coin a term) tends to vary.
Where Gomadi and Tanas are concerned, I have a tendency to despise Gomadi, yet to feel bad for and sympathize with Tanas. My reason being for this is partly that I’ve always had sympathy for diabolical archetypes like Tanas, those seemingly malevolent beings who seek to bring truth and enlightenment, albeit at a horrible price. Of course, there’s no denying that his actions are objectively cruel and treacherous, but is he truly evil? All he wanted in the end was for Gomadi to be destroyed (whether or not this is intended as an act of revenge for casting him out, his disgust for his “crueler half’s” treatment of the androids, or a combination of both, I don’t know), either by his own hand or someone else’s. He doesn’t seem to show any real pride in his android-siphoning.
Gomadi, on the other hand, did certainly have a good reason for hating androids: they started out with free will, but ended up going haywire due to a malfunction in their circuitry, and, well … we can see the results of that throughout the entire game. So, in a way, his actions aren’t entirely bad, either. However, he does have a rather sadistic streak. He makes it pretty clear that he enjoys making the androids suffer, executing them, harvesting their energy. And even then, his solution of slaughtering them wholesale is quite akin to his biblical counterpart’s decision to drowning the world because he tired of humanity’s wickedness, even if they were never truly “wicked” or “sinful”.
I’d also like to talk about the soundtrack. It breathes a sense of life to the game that I feel wouldn’t exist without it. Not to say that it’s bad on its own by any means, but just that it enhances the experience. From the moment I first set eyes upon the suffering, blind androids, desolate vibes sweep outwards from the game and into my mind. When I traverse the abyss for the final time, I can feel an immense pity for Tanas that I wasn’t able to feel after his order to kill a defenseless android. Finally, in the epilogue (for the “True” ending), I’m left devastated. Although these machines have wiped out most organic life on the planet, LoPinto’s score brings with it a sympathy for their plight. I’m not gonna lie, my eyes have a tendency to water in this final scene. But then Eve resolves to teach the blinded ones, “to feel … to fear … to choose.”
Overall, a masterful game! I look forward to Trinity!
PS
Are the executioners supposed to be androids? I ask because even when I kill them, I can still get the True ending.
By the way, to the other reviewer, in order to get that ending, what you have to do is avoid killing androids, ignore Gomadi when he orders you to “leave this place”, and if you’re not wearing the halo when you approach Tanas, tap your left and right keys rapidly, like you did when you got caught in the wire trap earlier.
Carrill responds:
Executioners are something separate from androids, yes. Unlike androids, they cannot become self-aware. They're minions of Gomadi.
And thank you for enjoying Perdition! :)
Daemon-hound Amazing game, this inspired me to write music after playing and inspired a deep dark emotion in me that I haven't felt in a while. Who says a good game has to create good feelings in you?
i like this, but i can never seem to get the free will ending. any suggestions as to how i go about that?
Wow it took me almost a year to figure this out
I now have all the medals. You need to be very forward thinking and resilient against your "programming"
i realized it now
YOU are the androids
YOU, the gamers are
the androids are a metaphor on how you either play following every rule blindly that the game gives you without thinking for yourself, or cling to your usual ways of playing the game (usually seduced into indulging in violence to reach your goals)
without even considering that the only way to truly win is by not fighting at all
true peace, true pacifism, true hope for the future...
and it leaves that ending gap open for imagination, what will happen after this?
will Eve teach and liberate the other Androids as she has been liberated?
will she find a way to rebuild the world to it's prime?
will conflict arise again and Gomadi with it?
will they even bring humanity back somehow? or at least watch over the planet and it's wildlife?
this game is entirely underrated, it deserves so much more credit than it has already
my favorite game on newgrounds hands down
no contest, congratulations Carrol
10 out of 5
truly a gem among rusted metal
