The Old City: Leviathan (PC) - Review

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It’s rare for games to tackle topics like philosophy, suicide, and psychology without them feeling cheap or failing to give the topics at hand the respect and delicacy they deserve. Titles like Ether One, which delved into the serious topic of Alzheimer’s disease, or Dear Esther, which explored death and the afterlife, have pushed the boundaries in this respect whilst also providing great narratives in their own right. It’s a good thing, then, that The Old City: Leviathan uses both of these games as inspiration, as it has helped the developers at PostModSoftworks to craft a fantastic story that also explores important ideas and poses great questions.

For the vast majority of The Old City: Leviathan you’ll be exploring an empty and desolate world, one which has been ravaged by war and has finally given up supporting life. You’re given no context as to why the world fell apart, or why you’re one of the few survivors inhabiting it, instead it is your job to discover the answers for yourself. The Old City: Leviathan doesn’t hold your hand; it allows you to explore every nook and cranny of the game world at your own pace, ensuring you take in all the beautiful locales it has to offer, as well as contemplate the detailed philosophical questions the game poses in your own time. These questions are introduced to the player through narrative that is spoken by the player-character, as well as writings found around the world. 

You could actually rush through the world of The Old City: Leviathan within about half an hour if you decide not to explore the game world, but to do so would be to miss out on the content that makes this game so unique and mesmerising. It feels spooky and haunting at first, and I wouldn’t blame people more accustomed to survival horror titles for feeling compelled to rush through the world's confined corridors and abandoned power stations, but take the time to explore and the spookiness soon dissipates and is replaced with pure curiosity. 

The character you play as is one of the last survivors of this fallen world. This is driving him towards insanity, which means you cannot believe everything he says or observes about the world around him. You’ll get inklings of his encroaching insanity in the first stage alone, where he talks about the barren sewage plant he begins in as if he’s an insect scurrying around inside of a person's body, wanting to explore it all for all it’s worth. His insanity brings about some great scenes and levels, though, and even allows the creators some artistic freedom in keeping the player on edge (for example, when text appears on walls). This artistic freedom all comes to a crescendo when a handful of stages take you to dreamworlds where the player character's insanity manifests grand scenes that explain the world even further, with visual metaphors aplenty on display. 

It’s the world that makes The Old City: Leviathan what it is, with the desolate world claiming your character's sanity, whilst simultaneously making him question his very existence. PostModSoftworks’ world is barren but beautiful, with loving graphics and level design helping to push the game's narrative along nicely. Light particles will beam through the sky, bringing warmth to unfamiliar places, whilst dark tunnels will fright you into quickly moving on. All these subtle details bring the world to life, whilst the pages found throughout the world help to explain what happened shortly before the collapse of society. 

These pages that can be found, and the narrative given by the player character himself, help to push the player's knowledge and thinking in new and wonderful ways. Questions about everyone’s “truths” are frequently asked, giving players insightful and thought-provoking points to chew on. This willingness to push the boat out on what a game can question and explore is what makes The Old City: Leviathan so rare and charming. 

One of The Old City: Leviathan's weaker aspects is its lack of interactivity in general. There are no puzzles to solve, no doors to unlock, nothing to collect, there's not even much in the way of gameplay. The Old City: Leviathan is a purely narrative game at its heart, which means it's definitely not going to be for everyone. Ether One managed to tie puzzles into its powerful narrative in a very successful way, which meant your knowledge of the world was constantly tested and rewarded, but The Old City: Leviathan fails to do this in any way. 

If games like Dear Esther and Ether One were right up your street then you can't go wrong with The Old City: Leviathan. It features an intriguing game world and poses complex questions which have stayed with me well after completion. It’s so deep and interesting that I’ve gone back to explore the world multiple times, just so I can eek out every little bit of information The Old City has to offer. Whilst it certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, The Old City: Leviathan is easily one of the most thoughtful games I have ever experienced. 

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