The Beauty of Post-Apocalyptic Albia

 

For all my playing of C3/DS, one would think that it's probably my favorite game. And you'd be mostly right - I like the way C3/DS feels and plays the most, the way it works, how easy it is to navigate, how not-difficult it is to play on a modern computer, and all sorts of other things.

However, there's something I think I haven't talked about enough yet, and it's how my favorite Creatures game - aesthetically, musically, and pretty much everything-else-besides-the-actual-gameplay-wise - is Creatures 2.

From top to bottom, Creatures 2 has to be, in my opinion, the most gorgeous world of all those available in the different Creatures games. (Though there's certainly lots of beauty to be found in the other games, too, from official to community-made stuff alike!)

I love the way that, in the wake of a volcanic eruption, nature has (at least partially) reclaimed some of the structures left behind; for example, there's a platform on a tree looking out over a beautiful waterfall, and just below is some kind of broken industrial glass pipe that now serves as a bridge. If you just sit here in this area, quietly, you can hear soft pitter-patter-y synth-y music - I'm not great at describing music, if you couldn't tell, so I included a link - and watch birds flit about.

My Creatures never seem to like to stay in this area very long, but I do.

Just to the right of the waterfall is the swamp, which has more soft, smooth music and somehow feels a little sad. Occasionally, when I was in high school, I'd open the game and go here to listen to this music, which I found to be particularly soothing - you can listen to it here if you'd like. I also like the way the water is animated, and how you can just picture what being there might be like... I think it's quiet, and maybe a little cold, and the boards across the water are wet and musty. It might smell odd, too. What do you think?

Right next to the swamp - while it's not functioning here - is the Ettin egg layer. When I was younger, I spent quite some time playing Creatures 2 on an old laptop, and I always felt for the Ettins. They seemed to spend most of their lives alone down there, and they'd often wander off into the volcano and die slow, likely unpleasant deaths. I always wondered why they ended up in there rather than the swamp or waterfall, which seemed like friendlier environments, but who am I to judge? I'm certainly no Ettin.

I could keep rambling like this for quite some time, so instead I'll pick just one more area to look at - this beach, with the coconuts. The first time I was really, genuinely sad that one of my Norns had died, I ended up coming up here and thinking the sky was pretty (It is! Look at those clouds!) and listening to the music. It doesn't mean much now, looking back on it, but that was an important moment for me when I was younger - and the first time I realized how much I like Creatures 2's music.

I ended up using a lot of words and not saying much here, but I think what I'm trying to get down to is - in games like this, it can be easy to not think as much about stuff like backgrounds and environments, since you're often focused on things happening in the foreground (like your creatures!). But I think there's a lot to appreciate about these backgrounds and the effort put into them, too! I spend more time than I probably should just sitting around in Creatures 2's Albia and checking it out.

- Pixis