Flower (PSN, PS3)

I have decided that this is my favourite game of all time.

After years of established genres which I did and continue to thoroughly enjoy, Flower offers a combination of elements that provide an experience absolutely unique, many of which are dead-ringers for the things I dearly treasure in art;

– Minimal game-design in both mechanics and control-input.
– Freeform.
– Subtle audio-design.
– Gorgeous and immersive visuals.
– Wonderful, subtle music.
– Abstract.
– Quietly poignant.

I love complicated games, shooters, stats, spells, running and jumping and much dialogue, but Flower strikes me at my naturalist and minimalist heart. I’ve played and replayed the levels as often as I can when over at my friend’s place and I never tire of it, even the very first level. The ability to freely fly about the levels at leisure is already immensely rewarding in itself, but the music and audio-design contribute to make the experience phenomenal.

This is what I want from gaming.
Cerebral, subtle, quiet and beautiful.

There may never be another title quite like it, but that it was made at all is miraculous, and I’m humbled and grateful that I was alive to see such an amazing transcendence of the medium.