We Become What We Behold is an amusing but concise game in which players act as photographers that must grab the most newsworthy snapshot to be displayed on the little television in the random field the game inhabits. Pointing and clicking around the screen, the player is quickly introduced to what types of pictures will progress the game as captions appear on the bottom of the screen in reference to each photo taken.
The players' picture taking has a direct effect on the world of the game, such as a photo of a sprite donning a hat thus causing a bunch of other sprites to start wearing hats as well. However, the players' impact on the game isn't always so benevolent. Following the first few snapshots, progression of the game is dependent on the players' willingness to photograph negative or violent encounters, as photographs of that happy couple, or even the other sprite that they infect with their positivity, generates the caption "peace is boring. violence goes viral." The player then has to continually photograph these increasingly hostile interactions taking place until chaos and mass violence ensues, all while the player keeps clicking away at that camera.
We Become What We Behold clearly wants those who play it to consider media's tendency to report only the shocking and vile rather than the mundane aspects of life, however, I think the game could also be attempting to make the player confront their own "lens" through which they view happenings in the world. My first time playing WBWWB, I only photographed things that I was evidently meant to, because they were eye-catching (or, sometimes ear-catching, I suppose). I never even considered what would happen if I altogether avoided the negativity and instead decided to photograph the grass, or a nondescript sprite doing nothing, or even the cricket below the tv screen whenever a boring photo has been taken. Obviously, there's only so far you can get into the game without photographing anything negative, but through my second time playing and deliberately focusing on the mundane aspects of the setting (lil' cricky, the group of crickets that follow it, the tv itself, etc.), it made me question my own media intake, and whether or not I similarly filter out news or stories that aren't shocking, headline worthy, or what have you. Yes, I'll angrily read through an article lambasting all that's wrong with society, but would I normally stop and read a story about someone being nice to someone? Probably not. But I should.
Overall, We Become What We Behold pretty much demonstrates what its title suggests, or at least makes you think about the title's implications through the gameplay. Although the laptop-screen reveal at the end may make feel like sort of an overdone "you are exactly what this game is about" or technology=bad ending, but I do think WBWWB was effective in prompting discussion, or at least thought, about the news that we consume.
Comments