Calling Burly Men at Sea a video game feels like a bit of an embellishment. You use the directional pad to your characters around, you interact with certain on screen elements, and there's an agency placed on you to make decisions, but after that, calling it a game feels like a stretch. In fact, I'll go so far as to say Burly Men at Sea is not a game.
It's a gorgeous series of Nordic micro-folktales that you to stitch together into your own grand tale based on how curious and bold you are in any given moment of choice.
In Burly Men at Sea, you play as three brothers who love sailing but feel a desire for adventure. that takes them outside of their village. Before long, they're all of them Jonah and trapped inside a whale. Once inside, there are three options on how to escape. All of those lead to to different outcomes. I think in total there are between 12 and 15 different endings, and all it starts there in that whale. From there, you get to other branching points which all have their own branching points. All of the different stories give each of the three brothers, Steady Beard, Brave Beard, and Hasty Beard their own moment to shine.
With all those endings, the devs (wife and husband duo, Brain&Brain) were smart and made the game last between 15 and 20 minutes. Yeah. You can play this once and beat it before you're done with an episode of Seinfeld, but beating the game once isn't the point. The gameplay 'loop' that keeps you hooked is a literal narrative loop that keeps you engaged and committed to explore all the possibilities that the story can allow. The game always starts the same exact way and it always ends the same exact way (except for the first time) but the entire game addresses that and does its best to show that it's never the destination, it's the journey.
Unfortunately, this isn't Bioshock Infinite; there's no grand statement on the necessary elements of story, and why there's only so much wiggle room at certain points, it simply shows you the possibilities and trusts your ability to discern meaning on your own. it gives you questions, but not answers.
And that's fantastic, but as far as texts on narrative go, it firmly straddles novelty and only skirts the edge of poignancy. It had something interesting to say, and rather than say it, they attempted to show it, but they only showed the surface, never a definitive statement.
All that said, the very good game you do play is better than the transcendental game you don't play - and there's so much in Burly Men at Sea that cements its status as a very good game.
First things first, this game is absolutely stunning. I'm getting a little sick of minimalism (working in advertising and spending a lot of time with Swedish art directors will do that to you) but the style here is so fucking charming, and the abstract, whimsical nature of the game's loose narrative lends itself so well to the art direction. The bright colors, the geometry of the world - even the score itself is minimalist but as a consumer of media and audio-visual stories in general, the player understands the archetypes of everything on display so you don't need a full orchestra, you don't need an incredibly detailed face on the the three brothers.
I mean, hell, even their names are minimalist. But again, their names aren't names, they're personality traits, further lending itself to the importance of the role archetypes fill in stories, letting audiences understand a great deal very simply. I don't need to say how that's problematic in a lot of instances, and how usually a good character arc revolves around subverting established archetypes to show depth and change, but rest assured there's a genuine nature on display here that never makes you question the inherent simplicity of it all - it all serves a direct and I'd argue necessary purpose that you can't get in other games, particularly those that try to show how much they can squeeze into their game.
You're able to see everything, understand the intent and the implications and inject yourself. The art direction serves a point and the entire thing looks like a children's book that's interactive and oddly infinite in its beautiful possibilities. The point of the game isn't to beat it. The point of the game is to see everything. And the overflow of charm make you want to see everything.
In case you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed my time with Burly Men at Sea. It's available on a ton of platforms, and while I played it on PS4 (thanks, PSN for such a steep discount), touchscreen may be the best way to play it (or Vita or Nintendo Switch). This is a game you want to play before bed, letting its 20 minute story be something you see a different shade of every night for a few weeks. So much of this game seems designed around putting the player in a good mood and with 12-15 endings, that's a whole lot of happy you can find yourself lost in.