Reviews

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  Souren high

  Apr 7, 2023

  We follow Emily's life in this visual novel, it has 3 endings and i implore you to find them all
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  EdenStarGazer

  Jul 28, 2016

  [h1]Emily: Displaced is a choice based visual novel that allows you to see the effects of refugee camps, border crossings, and seeking asylum from a child’s eyes.[/h1] I bought the “Help: The Game bundle “ specifically for this game, as well as for Malkia, and Savana which I will also be reviewing. If you enjoyed playing This War of Mine, and/or you care about children’s charities, then this game is something you can enjoy for an hour, with no replay value. The whole bundle is worth about $5.00, so you can consider the other ten dollars a donation. Malkia would not launch on any computer I tried. I felt like I got my money’s worth with this game and Savana, as well as the donation to a worthy cause. [b]Narrative:[/b] The story is presented in simple on-screen text, with the ability to click through the story in the same fashion as similar choice based games. You progress through 3 chapters each play-through; but the story is built around a flowchart that will change based on your choices. Within each chapter, your choices have only cosmetic effects on the story. But, at the end of the chapter you are only allowed access to a certain route on the flow chart based on those same decisions. So, yeah… those seemingly unimportant choices mattered. The earlier choices seemed simple, like ham or cheese choices. But, the later choices were things like, ‘Should I go and search for my Father, or remain here where I’m safe?” I finished the 1st play-through in 30 minutes, even with time to reflect as I read. Twenty minutes would probably be average time. After that, you are able to choose restart points from the flow-chart to attempt opening other directions of the story, without going all the way back to start every time. This is a great feature. All in all, it took me an hour to unlock all routes, because getting “The Border” ending seemed a bit random to me. But, it was the best ending by far, so totally worth the hour I spent. [b]Graphics:[/b] The graphics are simple 2dimensional drawings. Screenshotting doesn’t work, so you must copy/paste if you want to save image files. It looks good, does the job, nothing spectacular or emotional here. Moving right along. [b]Help: The Game[/b] The title “Help: The Game” is simply a sub-browser for launching each of the 12 games. You can simply launch them from within Steam, but the sub-browser gives a little more overview. Charities raise money for diverse causes every day and you are presented with many requests, even here where you are gaming. Ultimately, you have to ask yourself if, one, this charity is a cause you’d like to help, and 2, if what you are getting in return is worth it to you. I feel it safe to say that most people want to help where they can, and it’s great that in this case War Child (and 11 game studios) have teamed up to give us something in return for our donation, while also raising our awareness of the problems children face in war-torn countries. But, keep in mind that the entire project was completed in only 6 days, so it’s a simple set of quickly developed, donated-time games. [h1] Emily’s story is emotionally charged, and something you will be glad you experienced. I recommend this visual novel for those interested in the experiences of children in war.
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  EasyLuckyFree

  Aug 1, 2016

  Short but interesting/moving little visual novel, telling the persoanl story of a family and those they meet, during a time of trouble. The nature/causes/politics of the troubles are not discussed as the narrative is very tightly focussed on a very small number of characters. There are number of branching possibilities which occur based on your narrative choices. Some seem a little arbitrary and there isn't always an obvious causal link but the game is so short, it's easy to get all the endings through trial and error. The art style is appealing, though some assets, primarily the non-central characters, are reused with differing shading/colouration. That isn't surprising though, given that the game was made in 4 days. All in all, it's a nice little VN, telling an important story for a good cause. I'm yet to play the other games in the compilation, but this one is a very nice start. Recommended.
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  Longshanks

  Nov 25, 2016

  If you haven't bought the Help Bundle then please do.
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  SteveJones313

  Oct 2, 2017

  This game will pull on some heart-strings and really make you think about society as a whole, especially in the contexts of war and how we help others. If you're an emotional soul like me, this game WILL get you, so be prepared to feel like hell. Also if you're an animal lover...you might not want to play this game.
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  QwanGetMad

  Mar 30, 2021

  I bought this game within the 'HELP: The Game' bundle, a charity bundle for supporting children who are suffering from the effects of war. I was moved by the charity, and interested to see how they'd handle such a sensitive subject with only4 days for the project. This is the first game of the bundle I've played and I'm extremely impressed. I was surprised by which behaviours could lead to different routes, but it felt quite realistic. The idea of your choices only effecting how others see you and thus might direct your life was an extremely powerful way to show the vulnerability and powerlessness of childhood alone, even without it being a child struggling through civil war. While actively striving to get a different route in a game is nothing like the actual struggle to reach asylum or a safe zone, I felt it was a good implementation of multiple ending VN narrative, to give some element of that feeling of striving and struggling for a destination, when you're unsure how ideal that ending might be, and how safe it'll be. And ultimately, whether it'd even be possible to call it home, or is it just another unsafe pitstop full of uncertainty and stress. I think the tone, delivery and sensitivity of this game is great, and it's going to have a special place in my heart. It's an extremely simple game, it doesn't really delve into emotional processing (you could argue this is because the characters don't have time to process their emotions at this point), but for a 4 day project, I feel like it's a decent amount of content, and not so long that it becomes emotionally draining. Although I honestly would like to see a more indepth version of this game, or kind of game. ACCESSIBILITY: In terms of accessibility, I found this game visually easy to process, with a good contrast of colours for the text, and mild musical accompaniments. The chapters are short and transition smoothly. At the end of each arc your choices are highlighted for your notes, and there is a arc/route page map, which is a nice touch for showing your progress and route options. There's a button to reset your progress so you can start the route options fresh. There was no Skip button, which made replaying a little more tiresome physically, as I had to keep clicking. TRIGGERS: *War, Injury, Potential Death, Guns, Poverty, Despite the heavy content, I believe this game is child friendly, and any potential triggers are handled in a way that is supposed to be suitable for the 12 year old protagonist, with no visual representations of anything harmful. I would recommend this game (and bundle), it might even be helpful in some classes to help children at least consider some of the difficulties their friends might have gone through, who've dealt with escaping war or countries of unrest.