That Dragon, Cancer Review

Videogames get a bad rap. The industry makes more money annually than Hollywood yet games are still not taken as seriously as movies. There have been many attempts over the years to have videogames seen more as an art form and less as a play thing. Some, like The Beginners Guide and Heavy Rain have been a great success at making that point. (We’ll pretend that MadWorld didn’t exist if it’s OK with you, dear reader.) The latest game to try to make that point is That Dragon, Cancer.

As the name suggests, the tale told by this narrative-driven indie title is not a happy one. This is something that you don’t see often in games and this makes the game unique. Other forms of art will commonly tackle serious issues that don’t have a happy outcome. Schindler’s List, Philadelphia and Sophie’s Choice for example all give a story about terrible things. It’s a grounding experience to watch a tragedy and something that has been the case for literally thousands of years, going back to the classic Greek Tragedies. Is this perhaps what gaming as an art form has been missing? We have Drama and Comedy, but I can’t think of another game yet which stands as an out and out tragedy (although I’m sure people will suggest many of them in the comments for me!).

The game tells the story of developers Amy & Ryan Green dealing with the illness of their son Joel. Joel sadly passed away from cancer at just five years old. His parents created this game to serve as a tribute, and to tell the story of how it is to live with such a dreadful situation. We already know this before the start of the game, so there’s an immediate sense of inevitability with the title and that only serves to heighten the atmosphere.

Essentially the game takes the form of an interactive novel, possibly even the first interactive biography. You are witnessing events from a number of viewpoints throughout. A rather clever way of telling the story, this sees you viewing events through different eyes in different scenes, in some cases even seeing different viewpoints in the same scene. Sometimes you are a simple onlooker, as in the opening scene of the game where Joel, his big brother and his father are all feeding the ducks; you are watching from the eyes of the duck. This detachment and lack of coherent narrative is very much intentional. It serves as a way to illustrate the disorientation, confusion and conflicting emotions that come with a disease such as cancer.

Whilst it is the case that there is much disorientation, it’s not so much that you can’t follow what’s going on. It’s also not so much that you can’t share in the happiness of the scenes like the above one. There’s plenty of scenes of joy, showing the happy times that the family had with their child. It’s worth noting that although he dies tragically young, Joel lived to a much greater age than his initial prognosis suggested. Throughout the game, there’s a great deal of reminding that whilst this is a sad story, there was some good throughout. That said, there are also scenes of immense sadness and quite frankly if this game doesn’t make you cry then you are dead inside. There was one scene where I had to stop playing for a while because I cried so much I could no longer see what was going on.

The presentation is very interesting. Characters don’t have faces and the art style is very minimalist. Initially I felt that this was just bad artwork but as time went on in the game I realised it’s another intentional aspect. By having the characters appear vague in this manner, it serves to make the story less directly about Joel. Like in a good book, you find yourself projecting onto the characters and that makes it a whole lot more emotionally engaging. I genuinely don’t know if it was an intentional choice or a limitation of the Ouya hardware the game was initially planned for but it’s either a stroke of genius or a lucky accident. Either way, it fits the game perfectly.

The sound is done very well and adds a lot to the game. There’s a lot of ambient music with a very spacious, open feel to it. Almost Pink Floyd-esque in its nature, this music serves to reiterate the confusion and disorientation that I already mentioned is a central theme. It is interspersed with some tremendous voice acting by the developer and his family themselves. Some of it sounds like it may even have been taken from home movies. We know that this isn’t pure acting, this is raw emotion and you hear it. This isn’t an actor paid to tell a sad story, this is someone detailing the most painful experience of his life and even though it may be hard to hear, it engages you wholly.

There’s a few interesting sections of traditional gaming thrown in. There’s a go-kart racing section, a scrolling platformer and a few puzzle sections. These serve as metaphors for particular events and whilst they’re not great games in themselves, they serve to mix things up a bit and make the narrative a little more interactive.

The attention to detail is wonderful. The game world is littered with tributes and messages. There’s pictures drawn by other patients in Joel’s unit, photographs of lost loved ones, paintings created by those coming to terms will their illness, and so many cards of dedication I couldn’t get through them all. It’s all there to serve as a reminder that there are so many people suffering of all ages. Joel wasn’t alone in his plight and by including little fragments of the people around him, the creators are reminding us of that. Although the story is told through Joel, there’s an obvious desire to make this a more general story about the disease and its indiscriminate cruelty.

Ultimately, this is a game about emotion. It touches on themes of hope, happiness and sadness. It covers spirituality, hopelessness anger and fear. That Dragon, Cancer is a rollercoaster ride of emotions that made me laugh and cry in near equal measure. This is not a game with a huge degree of action in it, but that’s not what it is designed for. If you’re looking for a game which is driven by a strong story that will stay with you long after playing, then pick it up. I genuinely feel that this is a game that pushes the medium as art and it fills a void that we needed to fill in order to get our passion recognised with other, more traditional forms of media. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some more tissues.