That Dragon, Cancer Review
A significant number of us have likely had a similar observation: As a medium, video games have evolved a substantial amount over a relatively short period of time. I know that when I was young, and in our basement playing games like Mario 3, the last thing I would have thought would have been "I wonder if Video Games can make me cry." Now, here we are twenty-some-odd years later, and to a lot of people, Video Games have become the medium of choice to express themselves. Just in the past few years, we've seen extremely personal stories like Papo & Yo, and Cibele become mediums for storytellers to express themselves. One of the more recent examples of personal strife, made into a game for the purpose of catharsis is "That Dragon, Cancer."
That Dragon, Cancer was developed by a small indie studio known as Numinous Games. That studio is not a substantial team; but they are very dedicated. They are headed up by Husband & Wife duo Ryan and Amy Green. The impetus behind this game was to document the pain they faced when they learned their son, Joel, was diagnosed with cancer at only 12 months of age. The game takes us from the birth of Joel, through the excitement of a new child and the reactions of his sibling, and learning about his condition, to the pain Joel faced on a daily basis from his treatments, and finally to the existential struggles Ryan and Amy began to face as Joel's condition worsened.
The story of That Dragon, Cancer is an extremely moving tale. It is not something I will soon forget. The pain that the Greens felt throughout their experience is tangible through the audio tapes heard over the entirety of the game. It is sincere, it is honest, it is brutal, and it is affecting. There are points where you hear Joel screaming, and screaming, and screaming, while Ryan's voice breaks through, clearly in tears, just begging him to stop. You can feel his pain, in wanting to help; but ultimately, feeling utterly helpless. There are individual scenes which will stick with me forever, such as when the doctor is revealing the severity of Joel's condition to the Greens, and the room is slowly filling with water. There is the moment where you're walking through the hospital, with cards written to Joel hanging from the ceiling - every one of them inspectable. I want to applaud the Greens for being so completely open and willing to expose their weakest moments like this, I respect them immensely for having done it.
Though I applaud the Greens' efforts, I have to say that I do not recommend That Dragon, Cancer. If you simply must experience it, and want to be exposed to Joel's story, please, disregard the score I give this, and disregard my feedback that follows. I will not fault you for pursuing it; but I have a significant amount of criticism which hindered my enjoyment ("enjoyment" perhaps being too strong a strong word, given the subject matter) of the final product. If you're willing to hear me out, please stick with me; but I respect if you cannot follow me down this road.
I firmly believe that a Video Game was not the correct medium for this particular story. There were moments which were marred by very poor game design, where I found myself stuck in a puzzle, or clipping through a wall, or struggling with simple controls, or "failing" over and over again without any feedback as to why. If it had been one or two moments like these, I would discount them; but throughout my 2-hour experience, I'd say at least 35% of the time was spent struggling with these issues. I was pulled out of my immersion, and - in some ways - felt these issues lessened the quality of the story as a whole. There were also moments which just felt ill-conceived. There is a moment where the game turns into a sort of "Mario Kart" parody. I understand what they were going for, and though parts of this section were indeed effective, the tone shift felt awkward, and the actual act of playing it was frustrating beyond belief. There were moments later in the game where gameplay got exceptionally bad; but I do not want to spoil them, in case you still want to experience the story.
Had this been a film (which I've heard they are also working on), this would be something I would recommend to you without a moment of hesitation. I believe a documentary, or short cartoon - even with the same style and scenes - would have conveyed the story in a far more controlled manner, and ultimately, would have been far easier to immerse oneself in. That is not to say that I believe this game would have been impossible to have created properly. I realize the team is small, and was under a time limit. They created the best game they could in the time they were allotted, along with the resources they had at their disposal. With that in mind, I applaud them! They did it, they got a full experience out the door, and it is something which can be finished. Unfortunately... I feel the ultimate product may have benefited from more time to polish the act of actual gameplay which surrounded the great moments.
My last bit of criticism is something which I do not think everyone will agree on, but I personally need to address. As the game approaches its conclusion, it became extremely uncomfortable for me to continue playing. It became extremely preachy with its religion, to the point where it felt like proselytization. I would like for my position to be completely clear: I am not a religious person, and I played through this game with my Catholic best friend - I have nothing but respect for those who have faith, especially for the Greens and their situation. As the credits to the game began to roll, my friend and I turned to each other, and the first thing she said was "why did religion have to become the core at the end? It felt like the game stopped focusing on Joel, and more on God." She echoed my thoughts completely. Simply put, as the story drew to a close, my immersion was completely broken by this sudden change in tone and subject. I was uncomfortable, my friend was uncomfortable, and my feeling was "this story lost its thread." The final scene ends strongly, and devastatingly; but that scene was marred by the twenty minutes which came before it.
If you feel this is unfair criticism, I accept that position. I am simply relaying my personal experience with the game, the story, as well as its impact on myself (and my friend, for those few moments near the end). I wish nothing but success for the Greens, even though I do find the notion of monetizing this game for profit a little distasteful. My hope with this review is to find grounds for productive conversation, to understand others' criticisms of this product - especially if you have finished it, as well. I would love to hear perspectives which differ from my own, or those which mirror mine as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.