A Journey Through Memory, Loss, and Self-Discovery
As you get older and wiser, there comes a lot of self-reflection. What would have happened if you had taken a certain job, or sat back and didn’t do something that changed the course of your life? It’s something that many of us think back to, imagining a possible different future, occasionally beating yourself up about the decisions you made in the past and how it’s shaped you.
Leila is – in part – a game about this process. But it also covers a whole lot more. One thing is for sure, it’ll stay with you long after completing it.
Inside Leila’s Mind: A Unique Blend of Puzzle and Narrative
Leila is a point-and-click puzzle adventure, but also a brilliant story about reflection and an insightful examination of someone’s life.
You play the self-titled Leila, travelling through her mind, so we see her as a child, as a teenager coping with social media, putting up with a disinterested boyfriend, and trying to find an image of her that she likes.
Later on in her life, we see her as a writer trying to pitch a book that fits a publisher’s wish list. She is in married life with her child, doing mundane adult tasks like cleaning, sorting and housework. We see her tougher moments and her bad decisions. And throughout, it plays out as a brilliantly told story with depth, humour, and vulnerability.
Puzzle Pieces of the Past
Leila works as an amazing mixture of puzzles and gameplay viewpoints. Sometimes you are in the first person, sometimes it is a fixed screen with you moving a cursor around, sometimes it’s third person. Wherever, you will action an array of puzzles at one point that will have you hunting objects hidden around the screen; her memories. Or perhaps you will need to clean a room up, sorting socks as you go.
There is an amazing section that plays out at one point where you have to pitch a book to your publisher. You get to make the most of some inspiration icons that you have collected, like a briefcase, a baby or atom bomb going off. You choose what icons to put into the idea machine and a story pitch is written to send to your publisher. They might not like it or ask for you to add some more detail to the story. It’s something I’ve never seen in a game before and is brilliantly inventive.
Strange and Beguiling
What I like about the game is that it isn’t as straightforward sounding as I am making out. It’s not afraid to be strange and beguiling. You go inside the mind at some points and the world does get trippy. In another section, you find yourself in a storybook trying to push the narrative forward. There are so many moments that will have you stop, think and proclaim, “Wow that’s clever”. The only criticism I have of Leila is that the cursor is annoying, too hard to see at times in the environments and I kept getting it lost off screen.
Visually, the game adds to its inventiveness and innovation with what you see on the screen. Beautifully animated cutscenes, wonderful colours, and an imaginative world inside Leila’s mind all come together to form something pretty amazing. A couple of examples of this are found in a certain sequence in a doll house, a game of ‘gossip’ in the storybook section, and the stunning animated ending.
The soundscore is also stunning, with a beautiful melody appearing and disappearing throughout. In one section you are writing a story and you get to choose your tracks from a playlist. There is also a great voice-over full of warmth and honesty of the main character.
A Thought-Provoking Puzzle Adventure
You should love the journey through Leila’s past and present. This is a game that tells a warm and beautiful story, without giving answers, but constantly pushing you towards a pretty hopeful ending. The way the puzzles are incorporated into the gameplay is super clever; a really well-worked mix of difficulties, all fascinating and challenging.
This is a great bit of game development that doesn’t dumb down to its audience and the only thing I found annoying was the cursor at times.
If you want to meet Leila, and I think you should, then buy this game.
Important Links
Confront the Demons of Your Past in the Deeply Emotional Leila on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch – https://www.thexboxhub.com/confront-the-demons-of-your-past-in-the-deeply-emotional-leila-on-xbox-playstation-and-switch/
Buy Leila on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/leila/9p9lc1x74nmx
