Now to think of it. A while ago I was talking to a friend with whom I used to work together, a gamer much like me, we both were level designers back then (I quit it to pursue other interests while he remained), at one point of our discussion we came to the balance of game elements, the composition issues and all that. And I was telling how unbalanced modern games are and how little they seem to care to make the player to feel the universe through the consciousness, not being immersed into it with the imaginative force of the player but rather pushed with more visuals, rushing into action instead of giving time to observe, to simply walk around and enjoy the surroundings, the process I always felt to be important to the games that aim to create living, breathing worlds.
I believe Aquaria has archived that balance, the harmony where each element of the game is a note in a song, and much like magic songs in the game these also create forms, in right way adding each others abilities rather than overlapping or dominating over other elements.
And that's the thing that caught me, the way the world was revealing itself to the player. Not only though narration, visuals, sounds but also through our own imagination by gently hitting those subtle sub-consciousness nodes, resembling the way the books immense the readers into the worlds they describe. Not being told everything, given questions and not being hit with the answers, answers we sometime wish not to discover only to tickle our imagination a little more. An example would be the first city, when you first find it you do not know what city that is, why is it in such state, no answers are given but only later, bit by bit the puzzle is revealed. So the first impressions are gained by visuals and music theme, giving time for player to imagine and try to come with the theories all while exploring the surroundings and going further.
I find it very important for players to partake in the world creation while playing the game, to add something that isn't there through the imagination. Filling those gaps that are carefully put into the game. Completely different interactivity, something that I felt the old games had. In their age they simply had it because of the technical limitations, but those are more or less gone, and with them gone that higher level of interaction between the game and the player. The visuals, I find them like a guidance to the theme, and music setting our mood, giving hints while allowing much for player to think and to imagine what isn't seen in the game, but assumed to be or may be not. Like player giving a bit of self to the game, and thus making it truly two-side adventure, where both game itself and player's imagination are working together for full enjoyment.
