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In my post about Searching, I posited that text conversations and a computer mouse were an effective way into a character’s mind and that knowing a character’s habits and personality beforehand allowed an audience to break through that “maybe sarcasm maybe not” barrier and get to the emotional truths lying underneath. To do that, Searching basically had to use a good number of tricks to get an actor onscreen, someone who could display that character to the audience. The biggest one was using multiple screens. Phone screens, surveillance footage, the filmmakers used it all.
Secret Little Haven doesn’t get any of that. It gets a single computer screen with a simplified operating system behind it. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to do -- you can visit a few websites, play with a virtual cat and a simulated Tamagotchi clone, you can edit some fanfic or write your own, or a number of other things. The most important activity of all, though, is chatting with friends.
There are six people in total you can chat to throughout the game, and it’s in these chats that the story plays out. Again the question comes up: How can you get at the genuine emotion without the normal cues that come with a face-to-face conversation?
The answer creator Victoria Dominowski came up with was to be purely genuine in every scene. If a character doesn’t want to talk about something, they’ll say that. If they’re frustrated, they’ll say that. The word “melodrama” has taken on negative connotations, but this game employs the word’s original intent: exaggerated emotions driving pushing a piece’s themes forwards.
Nowhere is this more clear than in the game’s main character, Alex. In every conversation, in every branch of her dialog tree, she’s bursting with energy. Someone posts new fanart in a forum she frequents? That’s so cool! New movie coming out? Can’t wait! And on and on and on. It’s her belief in everybody else that makes the game’s sincerity actually stick because if she believes it, it gets the player to believe it as well.
That’s not the only device this game uses. The game uses its aesthetics as well to emphasize its conflict between Alex and her father. This part of the story occurs once a chapter, and every time it does, the game breaks down. The most noticeable change is replacing Alex’s bright and colorful interface with the most disgusting grey imaginable, but it’s not the only one.
Secret Little Haven is a game of many moods. Sometimes, it’s a silly game about beating your friend’s high-score. Sometimes, it’s a scary game about being told what’s best for you even when you know that’s not true (I definitely recommend heeding the game’s content warnings). The game is about taking those first bits and using them against the second ones because real life is scary. Don’t worry, though. You’ll figure it out.
-F
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