Review: Indie Game: The Movie

Nearly a year after the initial release of Indie Game: The Movie, Blinkworks releases a special edition that sees epilogues and extras added on top of the acclaimed documentary itself. If you’ve never seen the film before, this is an unmissable opportunity to dive straight into it and be extra astounded. But even if you’re already an owner of it, it’s a chance to build on something that was pretty damn great to begin with.

Base Package

If you think documentaries are dull, this will be the film that challenges that. Even at nearly two hours long, it’s difficult not to tear yourself away from the screen as you’ll be more hooked and on the edge of your seat than your garden-variety blockbuster thriller.

It’s absolutely serendipitous that directors Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky managed to find three subject games that just happen to provide such fantastic stories. Whilst Braid was a good choice as it had already enjoyed much success, taking the time and risk in following the creators of Super Meat Boy and Fez was a truly excellent punt. There is so much heart, drama, and peril in the journeys of these two games that makes this a phenomenal experience. 

But the roller coaster rides through these games’ developments and releases are not really what you get your teeth sunk into. Instead, it’s how Pajot and Swirsky have their subjects open up and give a surprising, unprecedented, and deep insight into the emotions and thinking behind their games. You suddenly share a profound understanding about these projects, and that they aren’t just a cynical way of making money: they are complex creative and social outlets.

It’s this empathy that you end up having for the people involved that absolutely make this movie. You’re rooting for them, biting your nails, and experiencing their heartbreaks and highs completely unrestricted and utterly willingly. It’s as emotionally exhausting as it is satisfying.

Augmenting this is Pajot and Swirsky’s exceptional direction and cinematography. Not only are there hosts of gorgeous shots throughout the film, everything is very well paced and dynamic. Gameplay footage, animations, and miscellaneous clips keep you engaged as visually as your are cerebrally. Jim Guthrie also provides a brilliant original score that really lifts the film’s timbre and feelings.

Overall, the completed film is nothing short of exquisite and elating. It’s not just a good documentary about gaming, it’s one of the slickest and engrossing factual films ever made.

Phil Fish, creator of Fez, in a nerve-racking lead-up to his PAX showcase. Photograph: Courtesy of Blinkworks.

Additional Content

The special edition content sees a bevy of extra shorts picking up with developers where they left off. But what’s great is that these additional titbits aren’t things that are thrown in rushed or without effort or inspiration; they’re just as absorbing as the original film itself.

Pajot and Swirsky bring the same recognisable style, cinematography and ability to extract some incredibly personal accounts to these as much as the main movie. Despite being mere extras, whether its expanding on epilogues, or delving into how their subjects have managed to deal with the problem of internet trolling, it looks and feels as if none of it is secondary.

Furthermore, Pajot and Swirsky invite some new friends into their fold through these little treatsies, like Derek Yu and his game Spelunky, or Josh Rohrer’s Passage. It’s great to get glimpses into how similar, or different, other developers and games are in their own unique creations.

With over 100 minutes of these extras, it’s almost like a whole new film in itself especially as Pajot and Swirsky are by no means lack lustre. Matching the quality and insight of the main feature itself, buying them as a DLC is must, and choosing to purchase the film for the first time without these is just madness.

Indie Game: The Movie (Special Edition) is available on Steam. Owners of the original documentary on Steam can also purchase the additional content separately as a DLC. A physical collectors edition box is available via www.indiegamethemovie.com.