Review of "Fireworks": If you can't handle people, how can you handle ghosts

For horror games, cute players generally exhibit a two tiered attitude: those who like them flock to them, and those who don't like them don't even touch them.

So in order to win more audience, horror game developers often adopt a polarized approach:

1、 Continuously adding actions or RPG elements in horror games, striving to win the favor of relevant types of players;

2、 Continue to increase the concentration of horror elements in horror games to generate topic effects and attract the attention of more horror game players.

These two methods cannot be said to be bad, but they may have some negative effects on horror games. The first method weakens the terrifying nature of horror games, which raises suspicions of a lack of accuracy; The second approach is to turn horror games into "Jump Scare" theme parks, making the fun of horror games increasingly flat.

Fortunately, "Fireworks" did not adopt the above two methods. Or rather, Fireworks has achieved a good balance in the face of the theme of horror games. This balance is by no means mediocre, because as a domestic horror game, Fireworks has its own unique feature - the taste of fireworks.

A versatile art style

Fireworks is a 2D horizontal axis game. In many people's inherent prejudices, 2D greatly limits the expressive ability and sense of presence of the image, but it is precisely because of the seemingly "innate" disadvantage of 2D games that developers must make great efforts in artistic style, striving to be unique and enhance recognition rate.

The artistic effect of "Fireworks", in my personal opinion, is to highlight the sense of "silent film" projection, whether it is the occasional spots that only appear on the screen of old movies, or the absence of voice acting for the characters throughout the entire process. These two characteristics make the appearance of "Fireworks" feel like watching an old-fashioned horror movie, allowing players to delve deeper into it. At the same time, the silent film style strengthens the sense of documentary, making players not only participants in the game world, but also witnesses.

The above is all about feelings, which vary from person to person and cannot reflect the true visual representation. From the perspective of the visuals in "Fireworks", the work adopts the color scheme of "red+black" and "red+dark green". This tone, commonly known as "underworld color matching," is believed to be commonplace for players who are well versed in horror games and have been honed by many works. But what sets "Fireworks" apart is that, in the specific process of the game, the color scheme style is actually rich and varied.

Whether it is the colorful cartoon style, the panoramic realistic style, the abstract and difficult to understand black and white style, the strange tone negative style, and so on, all appear in the game, forming a complex and varied artistic style that is difficult to define in detail. However, this kind of variability is not a flashy competition, but rather exists to consolidate the theme of the game itself. Therefore, the purpose of the varied art style is to follow the dynamic unity of artistic style.

This feature is somewhat similar to the soundtrack of "Fireworks". Even if the characters are not dubbed throughout, the game's sound effects are very realistic and just right. This rare and refined feature even makes "no dubbing" not a disadvantage.

However, the relatively unified visual style, combined with the horizontal axis game mechanism, is likely to make the game monotonous. Moreover, there are no action or RPG elements throughout "Fireworks", which invisibly amplifies the monotonous effect.

This danger is actually a challenge for Fireworks: it must be meticulously crafted on other elements of the game, and "other" tasks naturally fall onto a common element in horror games - the plot.

A complex plot

The plot of "Fireworks", to put it bluntly, can be summed up in one word: the rookie police, with their "psychic" ability, solved the tragic case of a family of four exterminating their homes in one fell swoop. But in a nutshell, it doesn't mean a glance at ten thousand years, and it's not entirely accurate. It's like not being able to describe the specific plot of Silent Hill 2 with "husband looking for his wife in tears.".

Of course, "Fireworks" cannot and does not need to be compared to "Silent Hill 2", but from the perspective of actual performance effects, combined with the size of the game, "Fireworks" is not an unrealistic ambition, and its plot completion is good.

Due to spoilers, I can only provide a rough description as follows, and the specific content still needs to be discovered by the players themselves.

As for the massacre of a family of four, it is only the most obvious and prominent case in the plot of "Fireworks". According to my personal understanding of completing the game, the real boss or larger case has always been hidden, and our psychic police protagonist is powerless.

Of course, this is not to say that the police, as the protagonist, intentionally do it or have limited ability, but rather that the "law", as one of the means to regulate social relations, cannot handle all social relations (even if it can be dealt with, the law still has a lag in "post punishment", that is, justice cannot truly be timely upheld).

So the true scope of the plot of "Fireworks" is actually the entire real society. For example, issues such as trafficking in women and children, unreasonable allocation of educational resources, superstition, and doctor-patient disputes... However, the issues listed above are still not the entirety of the plot, only the more serious aspects - I'm afraid if I list too many clever ones, you will be able to understand and laugh, and then self imagine: Oh, it turns out that the plot is about this, so my article is in vain.

In addition, "Fireworks" also adopts a "dual storyline" approach: while the protagonist solves the case, it gradually reveals the protagonist's (not just the protagonist's) growth process and true state of mind. This narrative technique is not novel, as many horror games come standard. However, considering that the protagonist of Fireworks is a police officer, this technique is worth mentioning.

The setting of "dual storyline+case in case" reflects the courage of "Fireworks" to face social reality problems in the plot, which is a rare spirit in many current games, especially domestic games. And the plot logic of the game is reasonable, at least there is no "forced reversal", no "forced sensationalism", and no sudden arrival at the NPC for ending, just like many domestic genre films must have "great glory" and the ending must be "happy".

Of course, the ending of the plot of "Fireworks" may have some regrets or some unfinished feelings, but from my personal perspective, it's okay if the regrets are still well intentioned. It's precisely the highlight of the story, not the shortcoming.

Unsatisfying decryption

Speaking of thousands of words, games are meant to be played. Okay, I admit you can also take a look at the game, but Fireworks is not a walking simulation game. To put it simply, developers want everyone to have fun by at least enduring certain tests, which are called "decryption".

Unfortunately, I didn't stand the test because, um, the decryption of this game is not difficult at all.

Firstly, the solution to the puzzles in "Fireworks" appears in a single area, where the puzzles in this scene can be solved. There is no scene where "A's key appears at B", nor is there a scene where "two keys are obtained at the same time, but three doors are encountered". Secondly, the clues to the puzzles in the game are very obvious, so obvious that they can be solved as long as they are not blind, deaf, or even require special observation.

For example, there is a puzzle about the position of the washing machine button, which requires players to twist the washing machine button to specific three positions. Except for one position appearing in the mirror, which requires the concept of "mirror reversal" (it doesn't matter if there is no such concept, the game will specifically remind you), all other positions are clearly indicated.

For example, a puzzle that examines "music theory knowledge", I thought it would be difficult, but another protagonist actually told me the answer very frankly, even revealing the principle through dialogue; The puzzle tip of "Fireworks" is also very obvious: when encountering clues that need to be investigated, the protagonist has a "magnifying glass" symbol on their head, so the combination of the three is that almost all the puzzles in the game can be solved easily without relying on other knowledge reserves.

If "the puzzles themselves are too simple" is a disadvantage, then "the unique puzzle settings" are the advantages of "Fireworks". Many of the puzzles are vivid and interesting, giving people a refreshing feeling. For example, the "Camera Riddle" is a game mechanism that uses a black and white camera to capture black and white photos and search for the answer to the puzzle in a black and white scene. It cleverly implements the game mechanism of "crossing into the inner world to find clues, and returning to the outer world to decrypt" in a 2D environment

There is also a mechanism for using a single picture decryption, where a picture as a clue suddenly comes to life after investigation and then appears as a decryption scene. Such examples cannot convey the novelty of the first encounter through written expression, and the timing of such puzzles is also quite in line with the progression rhythm of the game plot, not out of thin air. In short, the puzzle setting of "Fireworks" seems to have put a lot of effort into it, rather than decrypting it for the sake of decryption. This feature is rarely seen in such a large 2D game, and it is even rarer in horror games.

Is that really scary or not

Terror is a function word because individuals have different levels of resilience. Some people fall off their chairs while playing "Hong Kong Chronicles", while others feel that playing "Escape" is like an eagle catching a chick.

Horror is also a concrete word, and depending on the connotation of the work, it can be roughly divided into different types. While constantly "Jump Scare" can make players dumbfounded, the feeling of loss and extreme fear after completing the level may awaken a more genuine sense of horror.

From a virtual perspective, "Fireworks" is not terrifying. There are no particularly sudden and terrifying conspiracies, nor are there supernatural forces that are absolutely evil and dominant in the game. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, "Fireworks" does not include action elements and RPG elements. It only advances the game from a relatively "normal" perspective, reflecting the reality that we will face, or many people have already faced, and even have already penetrated into it but are unaware of it; From the perspective of actual words, "Fireworks" is also very terrifying, because things that are easy to accept and seem strange to Sikong have been completely changed, making it even more terrifying. It goes from being unattainable, to love giving rise to hate, and finally to evil coming from the edge of the gallbladder, which makes people feel even more sinister and terrifying.

More importantly, Fireworks is a domestically produced horror game, and the prefix "domestically produced" does not mean that we need unconditional support for it. Instead, it should be considered as an objective standard.

In my personal opinion, in terms of values, Chinese people are deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and Confucian culture has always upheld a rationalist attitude towards supernatural phenomena represented by ghosts and monsters, such as the classic Confucian concepts of "not talking about monsters, strength, chaos, or gods" or "unknown life, how can one know death".

The reason behind this lies not in blindly rejecting or rejecting pragmatic attitudes, but in concentrating the focus of the problem on complex human nature. Traditional Chinese culture believes that all personal psychological anxiety and unease are the root cause of terrorist illusions or psychological crises. To solve this crisis, one must rationally and objectively view oneself and society, rather than blindly immersing oneself in the "protection" brought by religion, using a more unknown and unquestionable mysterious idol to resist the power of ghosts and gods, because in Chinese culture, this is a futile escape and self deception. This is also the truth of "how can we deal with ghosts if we fail to deal with people".

Based on this standard, I personally believe that "Fireworks" is qualified, and can even be said to be excellent.

The game did not deliberately stack horror elements, and the behavior of using the image of a long haired female ghost to chase players and deliberately put pressure on them did not appear throughout; This work also does not use the guise of "folk customs" to repeatedly create a terrifying atmosphere by repeatedly using the "unfamiliarity" and "ritual sense" in religious activities, and thus frequently set puzzles. Fireworks, on the other hand, utilizes the plot of "case in case" to generate a unique domestic horror game concept through chemical reactions.

Personal fate will be subject to social pressure, and more importantly, to everyone's inner selves. Just as the protagonist of "Fireworks" inadvertently interprets "fireworks" in the game: Fireworks are ultimately human fireworks, which can be seen as a byproduct of despair and ashes, and can also become small drops of warmth that warm people's hearts.

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