Of the many great lines that came out of the American version of the Office was the one from Andy Bernard: “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them”. The thinking here is that you don’t seem to know how great a particular time in your life was and you kick yourself for not being able to enjoy it more. A corollary that I came across recently posited that our sense of nostalgia is driven by the lossiness of our memories; that over time we shed all the thinking that burdened us in one way or another until all that’s left is the core kernel of something that we truly appreciate. Thus, it follows, is that the good old days are today, no matter where you happen to find yourself in your life, you just need time to unburden you from the parts that, for now, are not making it seem so.
Whilst it wasn’t during my musings on nostalgia that I came across LEILA, it was likely during my usual perusing of Steam releases and I’m a sucker for hand drawn games, it has since occupied the same brainspace as I’ve tried to tease out my thoughts on it. The game’s opening moments setup the premise: Leila has been bugged by her daughter to put on some new-fangled device that will allow her to rifle through her memories. Not directly though, more in an abstract way that will enable Leila to see things differently, like she’s the director in a movie about her own life. Each of these parts can be explored independently, showing a different pivotal moment in her life and how that’s influenced the choices she’s made.
PLOT SPOILERS BELOW
My first reactions to Leila as the character were that she seemed like many of the older folks in my life: not wanting to relive past events due to the potential pain that might lie within. Reflecting on it now I think it was more just because of her apprehension to engage with something that her daughter felt might be healing for her, how dismissive parents can be when children finally come of age and start giving them advice. Suffice to say that the chapters following that did a lot to humanise Leila to me, showing that she too was once one of the cool kids with a head full of dreams that the world took ample opportunity to crush.
Indeed LEILA manages to realise the main character well due to the showcase of flaws that both she and others had, all participants taking blame for the outcomes they were a part of. There are parts though where the surrealism aspects hurt the narrative more than they serve it though, like the robot scene which I’m struggling to remember what the exact point of it was. Others, whilst still supernatural in their representation, at least get to Leila’s core motivations in a clear way whilst giving you ample room to interpret things as you see fit.
What drove most of it home for me though was watching her struggles as a mother being at home. It’s something I’ve seen myself first hand, how the drudergy of the everyday can wear a person down as they feel their last slivers of personality being sucked away by the simple routine of existing. It was also empowering to see that the way out of that spiral was to do the “selfish” act: doing something for herself rather than always being in service to others. It’s something I’ve heard far too often from new and old mothers alike and whilst LEILA isn’t going to change that societal narrative anytime soon it should at least form part of a touchstone for others to talk about it.
PLOT SPOILERS OVER
LEILA is a charming surrealist puzzle game, one that’ll drag you in with its hand drawn visuals and great sound track and keeps you engaged with its story. It’s an approachable, well crafted game that’ll certainly resonate for a lot of people. The surrealism might get a bit out of hand at points but I will admit that part of that might be due to some of the themes expressed there not resonating with me completely. All that considered though LEILA still wins my approval as one of the more interesting narrative focused games I’ve played of late.
Rating: 8.0/10
LEILA is available on PC right now for $17.75. Total playtime was 2.0 hours with 30% of the achievements unlocked.
