Superb Platforming with a Subtle Story
A Story About My Uncle is a first person platformer. The genre is exceptionally rare because first person platforming is tricky to get right: it is difficult to judge distance between platforms and see where you are landing. A Story About My Uncle helps mitigate these problems by introducing you to a powered high jump, a grapple mechanic and eventually a rocket booster. The game has a sense of rhythm and momentum that feels utterly liberating when you successfully jump from platform to platform. Ironically, A Story About My Uncle doesn’t really tell much of a story and is seemingly just a set of 5 platforming levels that can be completed in a few sittings.
The narrative is about a father telling a bedtime story to his daughter. He decides to tell a tale about his uncle Fred. The father reminisces how he loved his uncle and would visit his home. One day, the father discovers that his uncle is gone and has left him a crystal powered grappling suit. The father journeys towards his uncle’s observatory and is transported to a mystical world where he believes his uncle may have traveled to. The rest of the story is mostly told through narration as you jump from platform to platform.
It’s hard to put into words why the platforming in A Story About My Uncle works so well, so I recommend watching videos of it in action. There is a sense of freedom, flow and creativity to the grapple mechanics that is exhilarating. This game seems designed for speed runners in mind. A Story About My Uncle also adds glowing symbols to areas where Fred has used his grapple to help guide players along. Overall I was impressed by the grapple mechanics, until the last level where there is a noticeable spike in difficulty. The last level adds on a severe amount of challenge that feels unfair especially since the game is presented as a light-hearted first person platformer.
The game ends rather abruptly once you discover uncle Fred. Some might be disappointed that there wasn’t more meat in the conclusion, but I would disagree. To discuss more would go into spoilers. It took a couple of hours for me to think about the plot and I replayed the prologue and epilogue over again, but I think the game’s story is rather deliberate and ingenious. The game’s story doesn’t need to be overly dissected and can still be enjoyed as a pure platformer. But for those who want to dig deeper...
SPOILER ALERT!!!
SPOILER ALERT!!!
SPOILER ALERT!!!
A Story About My Uncle is really about the father coming to terms with the passing of his uncle. The father still greatly misses his uncle and decides to tell his daughter a fantastical story as a form of grief. Madeline is an extension of the father’s younger persona and a depiction of how he thought of Fred then. The 5 platforming levels represent the 5 stages of grief.
Sanctuary (Denial) - The father talks about how he doesn’t care about where he is going and how he will get home
Villages (Anger) - The anger comes from the argument between the village elder and Madeline where he tells her not to follow the father to find uncle Fred
Chasms (Bargaining) - This level mostly takes place in the dark, as if the father was looking for answers but couldn’t find any
Star Haven (Depression) - The father “returns home” to reality. This level is mostly optimistic until the end where he parts ways with Madeline (his younger self) and finally faces the truth of what happened to his uncle
Acceptance (Ice Caves) - This level is noticeably less fantastical then the previous 4 levels because the father is finally accepting uncle Fred’s fate. If you’ve paid close attention to the Prologue, there is a poster that says that Fred was a mountain climber. It can be implied that Fred got caught in an avalanche from the Seismometer collectibles throughout the game. It can also be interpreted that Fred survived the initial avalanche but got stuck in a cave and lit numerous flares in hope of rescue (the flares become more apparent the closer you get to Fred). Once the father meets Fred, he reminds him to pay a visit to Madeline and take care of her; in reality he is asking Fred to take care of the father’s younger self.
The epilogue shows that the whole story that the father told to his daughter was made up. There was no crystal powered grappling suit or teleportation device. The father is happy that his adventurous uncle was still able to instill a sense of adventure (albeit in a metaphorical sense) within him through the father telling the story to his daughter.
