Today we take a look at the third part of Uri's series, The Boogie Man.
The Boogie Man is the story of one Keith Baring, hard boiled detective. While on vacation with his wife, Helena, Keith finds himself in the middle of a mistery. On the night he and the other vacationers arrived at Livingstone Castle, a centuries old castle that was recently remodeled to become a tourist attraction, Keith found that one of the staff members had been murdered. Putting his detective skills to use, he is forced to set aside his emotions so he may deal with the killer: a monster that calls himself The Boogie Man...
The Boogie Man is one of those games that you either LOVE IT to death or HATE IT with a passion. It's either wild and convoluted with plot twists that make no sense and come out of nowhere, or its a thrilling masterpiece with plot twists galore that keep you guessing while on the edge of your seat. It's either a FANTASTIC addition to The Strange Men, or the point the series Jumped the Shark.
I'll mince no words; I loved the game. I found it thrilling, the puzzles challenging, and the characters interesting. But this isn't a review, it's an analysis, so my opinion on the game is moot.
Like the two previous Strange Men, the main theme of the game is Mental Health, and here the theme is presented, as always, in an unequivocal manner. And like the previous two games, the game shows us just what dangers await us when we neglect our mental health, only this time, we're shown just how badly it can screw us over.
Keith Baring is a man with a heavy emotional chip on his shoulder. His 5 year old son, Tod, was not too recently killed in a car accident, and frankly, Keith did NOT handle it well. In fact, Keith handled it piss poorly: he shut down emotionally. He became cold and distant to his wife, his GRIEVING WIFE! He barely answered his phone, which caused him to have auditory hallucinations. Even his vacation was forced on him; his boss insisted he take the Mrs on a trip to a castle, which Keith would have otherwise ignored.
Throughout the game Keith shows a no-nonsense attitude. He also demonstrates brashness, bluntness, and overall a sour attitude. However, the obstacles put in place by the Boogie Man force Keith to grow as a man and confront his inner demons. And good God does he have inner demons to face.
Of the entire Strange Men series, this is the game where the Danger Level is at its highest, due in no small part to the fact that, unlike the Crooked Man or the Sandman, Keith isn't the prey, it's the other tourists. Keith is the one who not only has to CHASE the Boogie Man, he has to do so in order to prevent MORE deaths; as many of the castle staff had died that night, killed by the Boogie Man himself.
This is why Keith's mental health state is SO important; other people are literally placing their lives in his hands, regardless of wether they want to or not. Keith is the sole difference in wether six people will get to see another sunrise; one of those is a teenage girl (a returning Sophie Grundler) and one is his WIFE. As stated before, Keith has a heavy chip on his shoulder.
One thing I have to respect the game is that it is DIFFICULT to earn the Golden Ending. The previous games all had Bad Endings, sure, but they were easy to avoid; just pick the right answers and you're fine. In this game, however, you need to do some...detective work.
...goddamit, I only just now realized that.
Keith Baring is a detective, so that means he has to explore every nook, every cranny, and remember every detail he comes across. The player is ALSO expected to do the same if they wish to get the Golden Ending. That means backtracking often, checking for clues, finding easily missable objects, etc. To many players, myself included, this was a pain in the ass.
To many players, this is a point of contention; it was either too much for too little, or it was a brilliant challenge. I'm not here to debate either side. But I WILL say that this is the first (and only) game in the entire series that I had to START OVER just because I missed a minuscule detail that locked me out of the Good Ending.
But I want to point out a sort of metatextual reason for the Golden Ending being so hard to obtain, and to do this I need to compare Keith to David and Sophie. David suffered depression, so his game forced him to come to terms with his own shortcomings by helping others. Sophie suffered depression, so her game forced her to come to terms with her emotional baggage by seeing how others suffer from their own baggage. Keith, however, didn't have the luxury.
Keith is a man with a HEAVY chip on his shoulder; losing your kid will do that to you. It's often called the greatest tragedy that can befall anyone, an indescribable pain so horrid, so unthinkable that there isn't even a word for it. We have a word for when you lose your spouse (widow/widower) for when you grow up without parents (orphan) but not a word for when you lose your child. It's horrific, and it isn't easy to recover from.
Keith's emotional damage is far greater than David's or Sophie's; he's lost his child. His CHILD!
In a meta sense, Keith's journey for a Happy Ending is representative of how difficult it is to get over the loss of a child. It's painful, incredibly painful. It takes a lot of therapy, time, and there will always be moments when the temptation to give up is strong. Sometimes it feels as though it's impossible to get over the loss. But the first step, the one Keith didn't take yet, is to give oneself permission to mourn.
It's OK to mourn a loss, in spite of how awful it feels. Sometimes we may be tempted to brush aside our sadness, to not let it get to us. But this is unhealthy; worse, it is self destructive. You NEED to mourn this loss. Let yourself feel sad. Cry it out. Tears are cleansing.
Ultimately this is what the Boogie Man is trying to tell the player: CRY IT OUT. Let yourself mourn your loss. Don't let it fester inside you, eating away at your very soul. Cry. Fall down to the ground and let those tears flow. There's no shame in it.
And trust your loved ones. Keith's mistake was shutting himself away from his wife instead of trusting her. The Golden Ending of the game has to do with Keith actively seeking Helena; this is no coincidence. Only by opening himself up to her, letting her know how badly he's hurting AND that he wants to stop hurting, can Keith begin to heal.
Only by acknowledging your pain can you begin the healing process.
And that's what makes The Boogie Man one of the finest narratives I've ever played. If I'm honest, I'm at a loss over wether Boogie Man or Crooked Man are Uri's best games; I can make a strong argument for both. THAT debate, however, is for someone else. But how does The Hanged Man compare? Well...tune in next time to find out!
For more information on how to recover from losing a child, click this link: http://belovedhearts.com/Grief_Center/Coping_as_a_parent.htm
Keith Baring is a man with a heavy emotional chip on his shoulder. His 5 year old son, Tod, was not too recently killed in a car accident, and frankly, Keith did NOT handle it well. In fact, Keith handled it piss poorly: he shut down emotionally. He became cold and distant to his wife, his GRIEVING WIFE! He barely answered his phone, which caused him to have auditory hallucinations. Even his vacation was forced on him; his boss insisted he take the Mrs on a trip to a castle, which Keith would have otherwise ignored.
Throughout the game Keith shows a no-nonsense attitude. He also demonstrates brashness, bluntness, and overall a sour attitude. However, the obstacles put in place by the Boogie Man force Keith to grow as a man and confront his inner demons. And good God does he have inner demons to face.
Of the entire Strange Men series, this is the game where the Danger Level is at its highest, due in no small part to the fact that, unlike the Crooked Man or the Sandman, Keith isn't the prey, it's the other tourists. Keith is the one who not only has to CHASE the Boogie Man, he has to do so in order to prevent MORE deaths; as many of the castle staff had died that night, killed by the Boogie Man himself.
This is why Keith's mental health state is SO important; other people are literally placing their lives in his hands, regardless of wether they want to or not. Keith is the sole difference in wether six people will get to see another sunrise; one of those is a teenage girl (a returning Sophie Grundler) and one is his WIFE. As stated before, Keith has a heavy chip on his shoulder.
One thing I have to respect the game is that it is DIFFICULT to earn the Golden Ending. The previous games all had Bad Endings, sure, but they were easy to avoid; just pick the right answers and you're fine. In this game, however, you need to do some...detective work.
...goddamit, I only just now realized that.
Keith Baring is a detective, so that means he has to explore every nook, every cranny, and remember every detail he comes across. The player is ALSO expected to do the same if they wish to get the Golden Ending. That means backtracking often, checking for clues, finding easily missable objects, etc. To many players, myself included, this was a pain in the ass.
To many players, this is a point of contention; it was either too much for too little, or it was a brilliant challenge. I'm not here to debate either side. But I WILL say that this is the first (and only) game in the entire series that I had to START OVER just because I missed a minuscule detail that locked me out of the Good Ending.
But I want to point out a sort of metatextual reason for the Golden Ending being so hard to obtain, and to do this I need to compare Keith to David and Sophie. David suffered depression, so his game forced him to come to terms with his own shortcomings by helping others. Sophie suffered depression, so her game forced her to come to terms with her emotional baggage by seeing how others suffer from their own baggage. Keith, however, didn't have the luxury.
Keith is a man with a HEAVY chip on his shoulder; losing your kid will do that to you. It's often called the greatest tragedy that can befall anyone, an indescribable pain so horrid, so unthinkable that there isn't even a word for it. We have a word for when you lose your spouse (widow/widower) for when you grow up without parents (orphan) but not a word for when you lose your child. It's horrific, and it isn't easy to recover from.
Keith's emotional damage is far greater than David's or Sophie's; he's lost his child. His CHILD!
In a meta sense, Keith's journey for a Happy Ending is representative of how difficult it is to get over the loss of a child. It's painful, incredibly painful. It takes a lot of therapy, time, and there will always be moments when the temptation to give up is strong. Sometimes it feels as though it's impossible to get over the loss. But the first step, the one Keith didn't take yet, is to give oneself permission to mourn.
It's OK to mourn a loss, in spite of how awful it feels. Sometimes we may be tempted to brush aside our sadness, to not let it get to us. But this is unhealthy; worse, it is self destructive. You NEED to mourn this loss. Let yourself feel sad. Cry it out. Tears are cleansing.
Ultimately this is what the Boogie Man is trying to tell the player: CRY IT OUT. Let yourself mourn your loss. Don't let it fester inside you, eating away at your very soul. Cry. Fall down to the ground and let those tears flow. There's no shame in it.
And trust your loved ones. Keith's mistake was shutting himself away from his wife instead of trusting her. The Golden Ending of the game has to do with Keith actively seeking Helena; this is no coincidence. Only by opening himself up to her, letting her know how badly he's hurting AND that he wants to stop hurting, can Keith begin to heal.
Only by acknowledging your pain can you begin the healing process.
And that's what makes The Boogie Man one of the finest narratives I've ever played. If I'm honest, I'm at a loss over wether Boogie Man or Crooked Man are Uri's best games; I can make a strong argument for both. THAT debate, however, is for someone else. But how does The Hanged Man compare? Well...tune in next time to find out!
For more information on how to recover from losing a child, click this link: http://belovedhearts.com/Grief_Center/Coping_as_a_parent.htm
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