It’s time for another entry in our series of spotlight posts looking at the winners of the sixth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1928! We’ve already featured Best Visuals winner Flight from Podunk Station and Best Adaptation winner Mickey Party, and today we’re taking a closer look at the winner of Best Remix: The Burden Of Creation by Menéndez Guerra.
Although Steamboat Willie gets all the attention, there were actually several early cartoons that entered the public domain this year, and what better way to compete for the Best Remix award than by using a whole bunch of them in a game? That’s exactly what The Burden of Creation does, using images clipped from several 1928 animated shorts including and especially the early appearances of KoKo the Clown from Fleischer Studios, alongside multiple Disney releases, and putting them all together in a mysterious and moody walking simulator.
It’s tough to capture good screenshots of the game, as its pixelated low-res aesthetic only really work in motion, and the exact quality of graphics seems to vary for different players — but some animated GIFs provided by the designer convey the feel:
The game starts with the player outdoors, moving towards a strange building, and soon you’ll find yourself wandering its gloomy gray hallways and encountering various characters and tableaus clipped from cartoons. Some scenes have intriguing dialogue, some doors are locked, some hallways have strange signs on the walls, and soon it becomes clear there’s a mystery hiding in this place.
The player can unravel that mystery by engaging in some light puzzle-esque gameplay, which will result in some surprising revelations and striking changes in scenery — but I don’t want to give too much away, as it’s best experienced firsthand at the game’s slow and thoughtful pace, underscored by period-appropriate music that seals the dreary atmosphere. For those who don’t want to play but would like to see it unfold, two different commenters on Itch linked to videos of their own full playthroughs.
As we continue to see works from the era of early American animation enter the public domain each year, there will always be some entries that capture the lion’s share of attention, none moreso than Steamboat Willie. So it’s great to see a designer casting a wider net like this, shining a spotlight on some other great cartoons, and putting them all together in such an intriguing way. For that, The Burden Of Creation is this year’s Best Remix.
Congratulations to Menéndez Guerra for the win! You can download or play The Burden Of Creation in your browser on Itch. plus don’t forget to check out the other winners as well as the many great entries that didn’t quite make the cut! We’ll be back next week with another winner spotlight.
