Try and Catch the Wind

Flower is a very serene and whimsical game that I absolutely adore, but have found very difficult to write about. The game makes me want to go frolic in a meadow though I can’t really put the experience into words. If you have the means I highly recommend checking it out for yourself. Since I don’t really know what to say about the game by itself I’ve decided to write about why I like it so much more than thatgamecompany’s previous venture, flOw.



Somehow Flower departs from every preconception you may have about what a game is supposed to be, yet it still feels more like a game than flOw ever did. While I did enjoy flOw for what is was, I couldn’t really shake the suspicion that I was playing a screensaver. I’ve heard arguments saying the size of your creature represents your score and losing a level of depth is your fairly lax punishment for playing poorly. While I can buy these ideas I still never felt like flOw was a fully realized game.

Thinking about what Flower has that flOw doesn’t in order to achieve its more game like feel resulted in two thoughts. First, Flower has a very barebones but nonetheless present narrative. There is a central theme that is constantly building, flOw has no such thing. Still, games started narrative free and some of my favorite games today still have absolutely no narrative attached at all. Games like Pixel Junk Eden, Geometry Wars, and N+ make no effort to tell a story and rely on the many other aspects games can offer, quite successfully I might add.

What is it then that separates Flower from flOw? The other thing that came to mind was the sense of accomplishment I got from playing through each level. In flOw after playing completely through with one creature the game just starts you over as another creature. After going through with all of them, the last creature takes you through the credits and that’s it. Each creature goes through the same events and the events are essentially the same thing for ten minutes as you grow, then it repeats. This is fine, the games whole slogan is “Life could be simple” and the experience sure is simple. It just doesn’t quite feel like a game.

Flower on the other hand takes where flOw left off and while keeping the simplicity incorporates a sense of accomplishment through the replenishing of gardens and later more urban environments. It also throws in a small narrative as I mentioned earlier. These things make it feel like a much more complete experience, while still keeping several of the key design philosophies from flOw intact. I don’t want to give off the impression that I think flOw shouldn’t be called a game, but as far as traditional games go, Flower has done a much better job of realizing their abstract potential while still keeping some of the tradition intact.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go frolic in a meadow somewhere.