Goodbye World (Switch)

Goodbye World is a remarkably ominous title for a game with such a friendly and cute cover, but it is a powerful tool for the narrative this short game tells. No matter what part you’re at in its tale, there is always a nagging feeling about what that melancholy title might refer to, how it might connect to this story that is gradually beating down its key players and not shying away from brutal realism. A dreadful march forward where you keep thinking surely the implications of the words Goodbye World might not lead to the plot’s expected terminus, because surely if such grim acceptance of a premature death was the idea going in, the narrative might hint at it early on or more clearly bill itself as a tale examining suicide.

What Goodbye World instead does it focus in on the rough realities of game development. Kanii is a game programmer with an interest in older games and a desire to create something outside the current trends, and while taking a game design course, she encounters a girl named Kumade. Kanii’s sense for game design catches Kumade’s eye while Kumade’s artistic skills help Kanii overcome her game creation weak point, and this friendship and its unfortunate fracturing is the core of Goodbye World’s sad tale. Kanii struggles to fit into the modern world, failing to keep the kind of steady job needed to fund independent game development. She’s poor at socializing and struggles to focus on things that don’t interest her, but Kumade is a more outgoing and understanding person who has to be the one to bring up the harsh truths Kanii would rather just ignore.

The friendship between the two is framed and built up rather well through a course of events running in the present as well as flashbacks to their early interactions and the first game they created together. Kanii’s perspective is clearly the window we have into this world, Kumade’s more social and friendly nature sometimes seeming like a surprise when we get deeper looks into Kanii’s thought process surrounding it. Kumade is the character here who sees the way the world works better and can’t just survive on emotions and idealism, but because of Kanii’s mindset we’re repeatedly shown how tragic it can be when you’re in a world that feels like a poor fit for you. Kanii tries to adjust and tries to make things work but we are not spared the harsh rejections and rough times that people can face chasing a dream, and it’s not unlikely that there are indie games out there that never made it to production because they were on a similar path to the projects Kanii and Kumade try to make work.

It’s easy to say Goodbye World is a brutal tragedy, but it is a clever one at points too. It doesn’t shy away from being dour, but it’s not a relentless wave of negativity, this helped quite a bit by those flashbacks where we can see the triumphs and more optimistic moments. At the same time that is framing for the tragedy of where they find themselves now, but staying to see the last moments after the credit also adds a bit of context and a helpful reveal that elevates the story into something even deeper than the already sorrowful reflection on how reality can press in on those eager to create unique art. There will certainly be some players not ready for something as negative as Goodbye World even with its message and the intriguing shape it ultimately takes with some vital late game information that impacts your evaluation of it, especially since this narrative is set in stone. The plot is the main draw, the scenes throughout using a pleasant pixel art style but almost never do they involve any input from the player and they’re meant to be watched and read as you’re on the inexorable course to a singular outcome. In this story about game design and sticking to what you believe you should be making, Goodbye World does not want you off the rigid path required to experiencing its tale, and it is at least a compelling if short narrative so having some ability to divert it would be missing a good amount of the point and it would clash with the characterization of Kanii to boot.

However, Goodbye World is not without direct gameplay and involved interactivity, but it is all focused instead on a little game called Blocks. Most chapters in Goodbye World begin with Kanii turning on her Game Boy to play a a level in a little puzzle platformer. The decision to have it presented as a game for a very old system is definitely one tied to Kanii’s mindset and it leads to some design elements of this little game that both fit the narrative but wouldn’t be the best idea for a standalone game. A Game Boy has only two action buttons that Blocks needs to use for its puzzle elements, so you do find yourself jumping by pressing up, something that can make later stages that require pinpoint jump accuracy a little testy. At the same time, this lines up with Kanii’s rigidity in her mindset, a flaw in that it leads to inevitable issues but it also allows her to find new and interesting ideas that traveling the safe paths might not have lead her to.

In the case of Blocks, the unique concept is that you aren’t just trying to clear dangerous jumps or leaping over dangerous frogs and bats. There are destructible blocks in each stage, and when you break one, it’s stored for later use. When you want to place a block, you press a button to freeze time, the block able to be placed elsewhere on screen so long as it is atop a flat surface but only in specific spots based on elevation. Essentially, your blocks can not be placed underneath any existing blocks, meaning taller levels can sometimes obstruct your ability to make staircases and platforms. When you want to place some blocks to jump on to reach new areas, you need to figure out where they can go so you can effectively jump on them and reach where you need to be. Rather quickly Blocks reveals that resource management is a strong element, a single wrong placement making a level impossible and the player even has to account for how to build things so they can reclaim blocks later. Enemies can be taken out with blocks, you can place blocks while jumping, and sometimes you will need to sacrifice a block in a spot where you can’t break it later to be able to reach new areas.

Blocks ends up being a pretty entertaining brain-bender at times even if the need for jump precision can feel like it lets it down a touch. One other area that could definitely use some improvement is the fact that every chapter starts with some time playing Blocks, but you don’t need to beat it to continue. If you lose all your lives before clearing the stage, the game continues on like normal and the next chapter will still present a new level. This is good for people who just want to see the plot unfold, but it also lets down the effective level designs found in Blocks since if you do want to clear them, you’ll have to quit to the main menu in order to get a few more lives and another shot at the stages. There are no checkpoints which impacts some of the longer levels, and while completing the story unlocks the ability to play Blocks without interruption, it also includes the lives system. Luckily, scene select instead allows you to revisit each Blocks level, but experiencing this puzzle platformer is made cumbersome. Thankfully it is still possible for those who do enjoy Blocks’s concept, but it can feel like the ability to appreciate the game despite its flaws could still connect to the narrative thanks to things like the jump controls and difficulty without the lives system pushing you out of Blocks before you’re necessarily done playing it.

THE VERDICT: A tragic tale of independent game development, the difficulty of realizing a creative vision, and how rough the world can be to navigate for someone who doesn’t fit in, Goodbye World is certainly a sad short story most of all but with the moments of bittersweetness and meaningful substance that make it more than some sort of bitter condemnation of reality. The narrative is there to be considered and evaluated due to its linear shape, but the puzzle platformer Blocks contained within as its form of interactivity is a clever way of playing Kanii’s world view. It’s rough in parts but it has an effective idea that makes it entertaining to engage with, although Goodbye World does unfortunately make playing Blocks a bit harder than it needed to be thanks to the lives system.

And so, I give Goodbye World for Nintendo Switch…

A GOOD rating. Sometimes obstructing play for the sake of a message can be obnoxious or even turn the player against that message, and that is certainly a way to get labeled pretentious. Goodbye World seems to understand this to some extent by making playing Blocks optional, but it can also feel like it’s burying a rather entertaining part of its design that already could have conveyed its message well otherwise. Blocks does end up in a hard position since its design is definitely meant to more subtly convey Kanii’s mindset about game design but the story’s importance means grinding things to a halt and forcing the player to clear Blocks properly would likely scare off players who might potentially be enraptured by the tragic tale of an artist told by the more direct story moments. Goodbye World doesn’t need you to be patient to understand its message because it made Blocks an optional part of the plot though and that possibly absolves it of some of the complaints that might have arose around the jumping, and it even frames those rough parts of the design as intentional rather than a clear part for improvement. If Kanii’s go-to game to play was some cleanly designed masterpiece you’d be a fool not to play and it wouldn’t work so well in a narrative about struggling developers. If it was too rough though, then Kanii would seem like a fool for believing in the potential of a game like Blocks. Instead we’re given a game with a compelling central mechanic and levels that make good use of its concept and even evolve its use over time, but you still won’t be as ready to praise it as easily as something neat, tidy, and safe. You are given a good puzzle platformer though and a story that keeps you invested as you desire success for the pair of friends at its heart but can’t deny the incursion of reality on their ideals.

Ultimately, the drama inherent in the title is a good signpost for players who might have an interest in Goodbye World. It is an emotional tale, one with hard knocks but one with a point beyond suffering and tragedy. It tries to provide a picture of independent game development that isn’t squeaky clean idealism but not absolutely dire either, although it certainly leans towards negativity. Having two characters you get to like at the heart only means it tugs on your heartstrings more, but Blocks can be a useful breather between heavy scenes as it keeps your mind engaged but with the very thing at the heart of these girls’ lives. Goodbye World is a thinker, and while it might only take a couple hours to clear, it spends that time well investing you in the fate of two talented game designers.