It used to be that you really had to get off the beaten track to find experiences that called into question what a “game” really was. Interactivity is definitely key, but to what level is often the sticking point. Interactive movies or fiction like Late Shift certainly feel like they’re not exactly games, but it’s hard to lump them in with every other movie in which you have no input into what happens on screen. Others have developed generals all to their own, ala the Walking Simulator which attracts both it’s fervent adherents and dismissive opponents. Mitoza sends me for a loop though as whilst there’s a good few game-like mechanics in here it’s really more an exploration of your own expectations and the surrealist world that Gal Mamalya has created.
Everything starts with a seed where things go to from there are entirely up to which option you click. Effectively the whole game is a very simple choose your own adventure, one that seemingly presents you with some choices that would lead to certain outcomes, but rarely do the animations play out in any kind of logical or expected format. Sure, there might be elements of the choice there but what plays out on screen is often a bizarre combination of different things acting and interacting in ways in which you really wouldn’t expect.
The art and animation styles are reminiscent of the Flash games of yore which, surprisingly, isn’t a coincidence as this game has apparently been a web based game for over a decade now, only coming to PC and mobile platforms now due to the deprecation of Flash by all major browsers. To be sure, part of the Internet died that day, but if it means that some of the more popular ones find their way back to reality through methods like this then I think we may be all the better for it.
The developer was also kind enough to include fast forward and reset options for players (like myself) who after cheerfully exploring for a while felt compelled to go down every branch and find all the endings. You also can’t skip an animation you haven’t seen before which is great, meaning you’ll be sure to see everything even if you’re madly clicking through to try and get back to the branch you were just exploring.
Really there’s not much more to say about Mitoza. If the idea of exploring a weird, surreal world of animated nonsense appeals to you then it’s there, free for you to explore. It might not be long but honestly I had a great chuckle for the half hour or so I was playing it and I can’t really point to any other kind of experience that’s like it.
Rating: 8.5/10
Mitoza is available on PC, iOS and Android right now for free. Game was played on the PC for 25 minutes with 91% of the achievements unlocked.
