I knew from my first moment laying eyes on the trailer for this game that I would have to approach this game differently. I knew I would need to approach slowly and methodically, understanding what this game really was. That Dragon Cancer is a memoir to the passing of a real life child named Joel Green who was afflicted with cancer. He died at 5 years old, too young and too short a life by any imaginable standard. His parents Ryan and Amy Green created this game as a tribute, a diary, and a message of who Joel was and as a reflection of what he had to endure at such a young age. While I knew what to expect from the game from the moment of its inception, I never truly knew how affecting it would be until the credits rolled. I truly have not played or experienced a work of art quite like this because it his almost wholly unique. This game lies on a plane beyond gruff action protagonists, high score chasing and the pursuit of dominance or “bad-assery” that the majority of the game industry covets and chases at all costs. It is personal at the highest level, a bittersweet invitation into the hardship and inevitability of a real life struggle that the Green family and numerous others around the world have and continue to face every single day. It’s an in-depth look at the role of faith and God in the lives of everyday people, and how it brings reflection and comfort in the most difficult of times. And while this remains a review of the game you’ll be receiving, it’s also a hesitant, judgment-free and meticulously gentle word to compliment the immense payoff you’ll receive from playing the game.
The game has a simplistic and geometric visual style grounded in abstract expression. Many of the textures and details are purposely omitted in favor of primary colors to express concepts and ideas. The visuals evoke many of the games deeply human concepts effortlessly, whether it be mentally in the minds of Ryan, Amy or Joel, or through the depiction of a story accompanied through dialogue and more. Even the digital forms on screen are simple in design but effective enough to know exactly what you are looking at. The music is non-intrusive, harmonious and decisively melancholic, allowing you to get lost in the flowing of emotion on-screen and within ourselves. Even the dialogue spoken by characters is distinctly soft, but poignant due to the subject matter. It’s clear the aesthetics were designed solely so you could get lost in the spirally roller coaster of Joel’s battle with cancer, from his initial diagnosis and all events proceeding it. The games presentation is so hard hitting and vividly affecting because it is all real. These are digital recreations of real events and the thoughts within the Green family’s minds. This is not a video game with a fictional premise or epic narrative. It’s a family surviving the most difficult moment life can bear: the inevitable and helpless loss of a child. Every narrative moment and dialogue delivery held my attention with utmost respect and complicity because I knew these events actually happened. Every moment felt like I had payed to get a personal glimpse into the most haunting and excruciating moment in the Green family’s life, which gave me pause every time the thought crossed my mind.
The gameplay, outside of a few sections, continues the trend of non-intrusive interaction. Relying almost entirely of pointing on objects and directions to proceed for the next piece of narrative. The game will often let you interact with its world and writings, but almost always in limited fashion to advance the story. It is purposely minimal in scope and practice, which suits it because it’s difficult to imagine a single genre that could adequately encapsulate and push forward this tale by mere gameplay alone. The game has some diversity in various sections that work beautifully as game-driven storytelling. It has a driving section in the Green’s home where you briefly take a third person driving view within Joel’s wonderful imagination. There is a simple side-scrolling section with a few enemies and the head of a dragon which match a somber story being told to Joel with cancer as this powerful dragon that many of tried to conquer, to no avail. These are mostly solid, but there are times where it feels like the game was grasping at straws trying to find something interactive to do to fill its gameplay sections, even though I would have been fine simply existing in this space as a bystander and not sticking to normal game conventions in this case. Everything fits well in the context of Joel’s imagination though and these sequences often gave us a breath of air in a deeply reflective and contemplative experience, showing how at the darkest of times humans must sometimes retreat and engage our imaginations to escape a terrifying reality. That Dragon Cancer nails this feeling at almost every turn.
Once again, I’m floored at how I feel I must construct this section of the review differently. Value is a very strange metric to measure, since its objective nature leaves it on a person-by-person basis. The game retails for $15 for about 2 hours of game, which is a price/length ratio that has been criticized heavily in the past. However, I believe the subject matter, personal nature of the family’s struggle and general unique atmosphere and drama of the title lends it weight that few other games have ever matched. The price feels like a mere inconvenience in all honesty, a simple step you engage in to gain access to the work and I paid without a second thought merely due to my desire to view their experience close up. You could easily do research on the Internet to find out Joel’s ultimate fate or watch a Let’s Play and save the money, however there is something about supporting the family and viewing it in my own way that was extremely important to me. Objectively though, the game admittedly offers minimal gameplay and interaction, with only a few sections to speak of on that front, with the rest offering a viewing experience or clicking on papers to read with voiceovers. Gamers who focus heavily on gameplay will likely not be satisfied with what’s on offer, however lovers of narrative driven experiences with gameplay as a simple tool to experience the world will love this title. This title will be poignant in the highest regard to players whose friends or own families have been affected by the wide reaching effects of cancer in real life and to those people, it will likely be a quicker decision.
That Dragon Cancer is a very special and personal game. No other video game I’ve ever played has ever given such a blunt and harrowing view into the lives of real people. Often times it feels like the player is opening the diary of the family and peering into the darkest recesses of their hopes and fears, all as they fight and eventually accept the ultimate fate of their child. While terribly sad, it also shows the incredible power of hope and how faith can give us strength in impossible circumstances. Engaging with that sense of inevitability and powerlessness is ultimately this game’s most superb yet surreal achievement. The visuals are simple but effective enough to serve the purpose the game is trying to fulfill. Gameplay purists may leave the title with buyer’s remorse, but that may likely be overridden with the other gifts the game can provide. This game will truly offer very different things to different audiences, something powerful that cannot be fully valued. For me, I also leave the experience with a sense of pride in the game industry I haven’t felt in years, learning the lengths that games continue to strive towards to provide artistic experiences. If art is meant to touch the soul of a person and make them reflect on their life, That Dragon Cancer may be one of the finest examples of art our medium has. I am extremely grateful, humbled and saddened with my experience with the game, one that I know I will remember for many years to come in the most bittersweet of ways.
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