Mu Cartographer is a contemplative game experience that combines colourful sandbox and experimental treasure hunt. Learn to operate an abstract machine in order to shape and explore colourful landscapes and find the mysteries hidden in a shifting world.
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Me and the boys up at 2 am looking for BEANS
Came looking for a fun vibe generator, surprised with a very intelligent experiment in non-euclidean gameplay and discovery.
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Like nearly every game I play at this point (I am 6 months to 6 years behind on almost every release) Mu Cartographer has been sitting around in the periphery of my library as something Im Pretty Certain Ill Like Once I Get Around To It. But I could have never guessed in a million years the experience that was actually waiting for me.
This is like exactly my kind of shit.
A disclaimer: I think basically all the value in Mu Cartographer lies in playing it. Theres no way I could talk about this game that wouldnt dissolve the point of playing it. If youre gonna play it at all, you should play it before you read about it. I disclaim this cuz I think the ruin-able parts are the most interesting parts to talk about and this needle only moves in one direction. Not to oversell it or anything, just trying to be…. articulate.
Anyway.
- Mu Cartographer is a game about interfacing. I have no clue how on purpose this is, but Mu contextualizes what everyone already does for every game theyve ever played: they figure out the controls. This is a universal experience, anyone who has ever tried to play a game must interface with that game somehow, figure out what their means of input are and what the results of that will be so that they can perform actions with intent. This process is usually subconscious and mechanical but Mu makes this the gameplay —
— and the thing that makes that cool and smart is that: it actually works. The game starts out completely incomprehensible, with wordless knobs and dials and a wiggling wobbling shifting circle of terrain in the middle. Bit by bit, players can coax and tease out what these controls signify, until players are able to thoughtfully navigate the game and complete its objectives. This is likely the part thatll make or break some players depending on how theyre extrinsically motivated, as the games only intrinsic motivator here is intrigue and discovery (and I wouldnt blame anyone not being immediately sold on that)
- More philosophically, Mu Cartographer is about exploring. Its in the name (cartographer, a person charting a map) and in the subject (youre looking at funky terrain). If you were paying attention, youll also notice I used words like “navigate” to describe how players figure out the controls, you explore the controls, you navigate the game. This is that cheeky “ludonarrative harmony” you might hear some nerds talk about (not me) and I think its almost always a good thing a game should try to do if possible. Themes of exploration almost always resonate well in video games just by their nature of being learning experiences.
- Much less high concept but I think the narrative is cute in its, you know, slightly unsettling depiction of explorers getting lost in a shifting landscape. Theres an “Abnormal Object” type vibe to the experience and I eat that shit up.
- I also, in general, like the sleek colorful presentation. Heres my one gripe tho: if your game primarily features alot of bright white backgrounds, give that shit a Dark Mode. Theres some legibility issues with searching through bright ass yellows and greens to locate a blinking white pin and thats kind of harsh on the eyes also. Hard to complain about anything else tho, very stimulating game for your reptile brain.
v
v
v
v
v
Like nearly every game I play at this point (I am 6 months to 6 years behind on almost every release) Mu Cartographer has been sitting around in the periphery of my library as something Im Pretty Certain Ill Like Once I Get Around To It. But I could have never guessed in a million years the experience that was actually waiting for me.
This is like exactly my kind of shit.
A disclaimer: I think basically all the value in Mu Cartographer lies in playing it. Theres no way I could talk about this game that wouldnt dissolve the point of playing it. If youre gonna play it at all, you should play it before you read about it. I disclaim this cuz I think the ruin-able parts are the most interesting parts to talk about and this needle only moves in one direction. Not to oversell it or anything, just trying to be…. articulate.
Anyway.
- Mu Cartographer is a game about interfacing. I have no clue how on purpose this is, but Mu contextualizes what everyone already does for every game theyve ever played: they figure out the controls. This is a universal experience, anyone who has ever tried to play a game must interface with that game somehow, figure out what their means of input are and what the results of that will be so that they can perform actions with intent. This process is usually subconscious and mechanical but Mu makes this the gameplay —
— and the thing that makes that cool and smart is that: it actually works. The game starts out completely incomprehensible, with wordless knobs and dials and a wiggling wobbling shifting circle of terrain in the middle. Bit by bit, players can coax and tease out what these controls signify, until players are able to thoughtfully navigate the game and complete its objectives. This is likely the part thatll make or break some players depending on how theyre extrinsically motivated, as the games only intrinsic motivator here is intrigue and discovery (and I wouldnt blame anyone not being immediately sold on that)
- More philosophically, Mu Cartographer is about exploring. Its in the name (cartographer, a person charting a map) and in the subject (youre looking at funky terrain). If you were paying attention, youll also notice I used words like “navigate” to describe how players figure out the controls, you explore the controls, you navigate the game. This is that cheeky “ludonarrative harmony” you might hear some nerds talk about (not me) and I think its almost always a good thing a game should try to do if possible. Themes of exploration almost always resonate well in video games just by their nature of being learning experiences.
- Much less high concept but I think the narrative is cute in its, you know, slightly unsettling depiction of explorers getting lost in a shifting landscape. Theres an “Abnormal Object” type vibe to the experience and I eat that shit up.
- I also, in general, like the sleek colorful presentation. Heres my one gripe tho: if your game primarily features alot of bright white backgrounds, give that shit a Dark Mode. Theres some legibility issues with searching through bright ass yellows and greens to locate a blinking white pin and thats kind of harsh on the eyes also. Hard to complain about anything else tho, very stimulating game for your reptile brain.
Extremely fascinating experiment in video game topography, offering an explorative experience of an abstract space through enigmatic tools and parameters that are not immediately comprehensible, but become natural to use very quickly.
The process of understanding the elements on screen is set up in a very interesting and open way, as you are initially drawn into randomly fumbling over the controls to play with the different shapes and shades of color that can be created, while you gradually and independently find yourself understanding what variables allow you to identify points of interest and proceeding with exploration.
There is something truly profound and unique about such an experience, where it becomes necessary to take your time to consider the various interactive possibilities that change your perspective on the space to bring out the object you seek: as the exploration unfolds, the space around the player transforms, becomes enriched with different dimensions to consider that eventually connect to new points of view on the surrounding environment.
A game consisting of only intangible and ethereal forms, that embodies in a very conscious and unique way the very essence of discovery, in its most intimate meaning.
The process of understanding the elements on screen is set up in a very interesting and open way, as you are initially drawn into randomly fumbling over the controls to play with the different shapes and shades of color that can be created, while you gradually and independently find yourself understanding what variables allow you to identify points of interest and proceeding with exploration.
There is something truly profound and unique about such an experience, where it becomes necessary to take your time to consider the various interactive possibilities that change your perspective on the space to bring out the object you seek: as the exploration unfolds, the space around the player transforms, becomes enriched with different dimensions to consider that eventually connect to new points of view on the surrounding environment.
A game consisting of only intangible and ethereal forms, that embodies in a very conscious and unique way the very essence of discovery, in its most intimate meaning.
Short and sweet meditative experience that doesn't overstay its welcome. When the revelation of the UI's workings wear off, the realisation that the map contains so many secrets in such a small space feels fantastic. Though completing the last few objectives becomes an act of finding needles in haystacks, the undulating landscapes and swelling ambient soundtrack are more than enough to hold your attention. If I have any gripe, it is that some of the controls become irrelevant rather quickly, when they could have been better integrated into the primary puzzles. Still, that its 'ending' managed to widen my eyes and send me down my own rabbit hole is a feat unto itself. It effectively contextualised the gameplay in a manner not too dissimilar to Brenda Romero's Train, without feeling as though I had been tricked or made to feel ignorant.
The experience of interacting with the UI for the first time and figuring out what all these buttons do is extremely satisfying. The game is too long and the vague plot just dissolves into nothing, but that first hour of getting ever more confident at interacting with the UI is enough to make this game worth playing for an hour or two.
Interacting with this almost alien like User Interface to analyse this alien-like landscape is so intriguing and engaging. The designer basically just hoped that the player just "figures it out" by fiddling it around and using abstract cues and honestly it works amazingly. There is a narrative to be found, though I wished it was more intertwined into the gameplay instead of just used as little rewards for the player.