TRAUMA

Overview

TRAUMA was developed and published by Krystian Majewski for PC and Mac. It tells the story of a young woman who is recovering in hospital from a car accident. The story elements are divided into four 'levels' which represent the woman's disorganized collection of memories, moods, ideas and musings in the wake of her accident.

Structure

TRAUMA is structured around the traditional point-and-click gameplay used in many adventure games with an added gesture mechanic to navigate the levels and perform certain functions. Each level in the game is visualised using a series of snapshots of the woman's memories, and the player can navigate the levels by clicking on or gesturing to investigate a new snapshot or area within the level.

Each level is introduced as a "dream" of sorts, a kind of amalgamation of all the woman's memories and ideas meshed into four different surreal locations which serve as abstract manifestations of the woman's exploration of her own identity in the wake of her near-death experience. The woman provides narration in a flat, mostly emotionless voice throughout the dreams. Clicking around the environments leads to her free-associating certain thoughts and memories, and she will occasionally recognize an area as a real-life location she once used to know, or else will talk about the surreal dreamscapes as if she has been through them many times before.

In each level there is one "main" ending to be found, based around one of the four specific gestures discovered throughout the game. In addition there are three "alternate" endings that can be found using the remaining three gestures that were not used in the "main" ending. These lead to more short philosophical musings by the young woman.

There are also nine polaroid photographs to be discovered in each level. These photographs contain either instructions on how to use basic symbols such as "turn around", clues to finding the alternate endings in the other levels, or snapshots of events from the woman's life, which will spark a brief reverie from her. Finding all the endings for a dream will unlock the "photographic sensor" for that level, which helps you find the missing polaroids by telling you how close you are in proximity to them.

Levels

The Next Hurdle

"This is the dream where I find my old teddy bear wedged under a weight."

A teddy bear is pinned under a large circular stone in some sort of courtyard. This level can be completed almost immediately by simply painting the 'lift' symbol on top of the stone, however painting the 'back' symbol reveals a larger area to explore. The woman eventually recognizes the cafe nearby as one she used to frequent as a student. Further back in the trees are a large pile of smaller stones that look identical to the large one in the center of the courtyard. The woman associates them with her fears. Above one of the buildings, a security camera surveys the area. A storm cloud in the sky resembles a muddy drain.

Upon completion of the main ending to this level, a scene plays in which we hear the young woman conversing with her doctor.

Following Role Models

"This is the dream where I am chasing a ghost."

A large, abandoned-looking industrial building towers against the night sky. From its front door streaks a blur of color which resembles afterimages of a human being moving very fast, as if captured through a particularly long-exposure camera shot. The woman mentions that this is a ghost she has been chasing for longer than she can remember.

The shining trail of the ghost leads past an empty railroad and a large crane framed by the starry heavens above. As the woman finds photos from her past, she muses on the idea of childhood role models and wonders why she ever admired them. Finally, inside the building from which she started, the woman catches up to the ghost. Painting the 'catch' symbol ends the level.

Upon completion of the main ending to this level, we return to the hospital room where the young woman has a conversation with her doctor about her role models.

What They Expect

"This is the dream where I am supposed to follow the road."

A deserted street alight with blinding street lamps. Turning around, the woman comments that she has never gone this way. Heading straight forward leads to an underpass in which the road dead ends into a stone wall with a small drain embedded in the middle. Painting the 'catch' symbol causes the wall to drain into itself, leaving the road clear. Upon moving forward, however, the woman finds herself back to where she started, and the image pulls back to reveal a tiny planet on which the road loops back onto itself. "I seem to be running in circles, but I didn't make any wrong turns. The world is just too small."

The Path Less Traveled

"This is the dream where I am looking for a hidden path."

Yet another deserted street, this time more dimly lit with flickering yellow street lamps. Following the road beneath the underpass only leads to a seemingly endless road which runs far off into the horizon.

PC System Requirements

PC

• • OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7
  • Processor:2.0 GHz Dual Core
  • Memory:2 GB RAM
  • DirectX®:5.0
  • Hard Drive:200 MB HD space

Mac

• • OS: OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later.
  • Processor:2.0 GHz Dual Core
  • Memory:2 GB RAM
  • Hard Drive:200 MB HD space