Platform: Playstation VITA
Murasaki Baby is the latest Vita game by the Italian indie studio Ovosonico.
It is, in many ways, a unique experience where the player must guide a little girl to her mother, using the Vita touchscreen and rear touchpad.
The game starts with the girl waking up and noticing her mother is gone. The player must then “hold” the girl’s hand and guide her through a bizarre hand drawn cartoon world with a very dark atmosphere and a matching soundtrack.
Initially, the child is very reluctant to cooperate and must be taught almost everything. But as soon as she learns how to do something, like jumping over small holes, she will gladly repeat it when necessary.
The girl is always carrying her balloon with her. If the balloon escapes she will start crying and the player will have a short time to drag the balloon back to her. If it pops the game restarts from the last savepoint, which is not a big issue since savepoints are very frequent.
The touchscreen is used to interact with the girl, items and other characters/enemies while the rear touchpad is used to interact with the world. By swiping the touchpad the player can change the background. Tapping it uses that particular background feature. New backgrounds are obtained by popping balloons that other characters in the game carry.
On the way to find her mother, the girl will meet other children in various situations and will have to help them. Later each child will pay back that help.
The game has some small issues however, sometimes the touchscreen can be unresponsive, which can become very annoying in the later parts of the game where the player has to control the girl, the balloon and the environment at the same time.
In my playthrough the game froze once, forcing me to close it and run it again. Another time, after entering a new area the game started giving me a “cannot save progress” error. Closing it and running it again solved this issue too.
Murasaki Baby is a short game, taking only 2-3h to complete it, but it is a very emotional and special experience. With time the player becomes attached to the girl and shares her concerns and worries. The only word the girl says is “Mommy”, and she says it with genuine concern and sadness, making the bond with the player stronger each time she says it.
If you like unique games with some emotional content, don’t miss Murasaki Baby!
7/10
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