That Dragon, Cancer

Man, I bought this game knowing that it was going to an impactful experience. But I was not ready. I was not ready.

So, 'That Dragon, Cancer' is an indie game that was developed by Numinous Games who also happen to be the publishers. I played the game on steam, but you can also find it on iOS mobile platforms and the Ouya if you happen to own that disaster in gaming history.

Narratively this game really hit me hard since due to the immense personal nature of the story being told. It's an autobiographical game that was written and developed by the parents of the diagnosis, treatment and death of their son from Cancer and their journey along with him. The very real nature and emotion just oozes through ever single second in this game, the phone calls, the conversations, the notes. You can't be a human being who is alive and not have some kind of an empathetic moment with this game because the experience is so genuine and real and that is the strongest copy of the game.

All the other aspects of the game I feel I can lump together, the sound design, the visual design and mechanics of the game are all just secondary to advancing and following the narrative. This isn't to say that its bad, because it isn't. All the readings are done by the parents so you can hear and feel true emotion, the visual are striking yet simple, although the mechanics are simple they are a bit clunky.

This game was a really strong experience for me, not only due to the fact that its such a genuine work due to the parents developing it and taking you through their journey of their son's battle with cancer, but also due to my own experience with my mother's fight against breast cancer. This is a powerful game that I can't help but recommend regardless if you've had an experience with cancer or not. It is just so aggressively real.