Arthouse games are always a hard pill to swallow in the modern state of the industry. Every game is interactive in some way, but arthouse games strip back most traditional tropes you’d expect from the medium in favor of a narrative designed to illicit a very specific emotion in the player. These can take the form of so-called “walking simulators” like Gone Home or games that feel more like interactive films, such as That Dragon, Cancer.
Quite frankly, though, I’ve never been a fan of these types of games. The stories they tell often feel too bare bones; they focus too much on coaxing raw emotion from the player without any sense of nuance, and they are often unsuited for the medium in which they are being made. So, Goodnight Universe had a lot of work to do to sell me. Created by the makers of Before Your Eyes, Goodnight Universe focuses on the life of a seemingly average baby that turns out to be anything but normal.
I went into this game expecting some dark and depressing story where something horrible happens to the baby, and so I built my expectations around that assumption. Thankfully, Goodnight Universe managed to surprise me with a narrative that is both delightful and emotional in equal measure, while still capitalizing on the gaming medium’s storytelling strengths.
Follow The Most Normal Baby in the World (Not Really)
Goodnight Universe begins with you entering the perspective of a baby by the name of Isaac. Isaac’s grandfather looks over him with a cigarette, saying that a family will be coming soon to take care of him, and that when the time comes, they will get him “home.” As Isaac’s grandfather passes away and his parents and sister approach, you are greeted with the title card and the reality that you’re playing as a perfectly normal baby.
Except, there’s just one caveat: Isaac is anything but normal. As he gains consciousness, a mysterious narrator with far more intelligence than you’d expect from a baby begins to speak from Isaac’s perspective. Isaac’s inner voice yearns to communicate with his family; he has articulate thoughts about his surroundings and his future, and as the story continues, we learn that he has latent powers that are awakened by mysterious symbols in his grandfather’s journal.
These powers range from being able to telekinetically move objects with his mind to being able to peer into the thoughts of the people around him. As a result, Isaac has to grapple with two different versions of himself: the powerful intelligence who yearns to be seen by his family and the perfectly normal baby whose only thoughts pertain to eating and crawling. Along the way, the truth behind Isaac’s background begins to unravel as certain forces begin to grow fascinated with his true nature.
This premise is truly great. On the surface, it feels derivative of the likes of E.T. and other similar sci-fi stories. Yet, it manages to differentiate itself thanks to the sheer quality of the writing and performances. It’s hard not to feel for each member of Isaac’s family as you gain insight into their minds and learn more about their unique struggles. His mother wants nothing more than for Isaac to be a normal baby; his father wants Cleo, Isaac’s sister, to make a lot of money out of science, and Cleo herself intends to choose her own path and become a musician.
Then, of course, there is Isaac himself. Isaac’s desires clash constantly throughout the entire game. At first, he wants nothing more than to be normal to protect his family, especially his mother. Then he wants to express himself and his abilities. As you learn more about the voice speaking for Isaac, you become aware of his conflicting concepts of home, and it’s hard not to feel for both Isaac and his inner voice.
Part of that empathy comes from the voice behind the Narrator: Lewis Pullman. Pullman is a great actor known for films like Top Gun: Maverick and, more recently, Thunderbolts*. Here, he does a great job of conveying the emotional complexity of Isaac. He ranges between being loving, frustrated, and curious, emotions that continue to expand as Isaac learns more about his true history.
Something else I really liked about Goodnight Universe was its “prose,” so to speak. Multiple characters in the game are writers, and their views on the world are conveyed in beautifully fascinating ways. One of my favorite parts of the game is a segment that focuses on the journal of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s. We see his chicken scratch translated into carefully woven words as the man holds onto his sense of identity and tries to convey meaningful lessons to his family.
In general, I love the way Goodnight Universe uses the medium to tell its story. There are several interactive moments, which range from timing a button press so that a baby can take its first steps to moments where you have to move a camera out of the way telekinetically. Each segment feels meaningful and adds to the overall narrative. The former, in particular, is a motif that is repeated multiple times, not just with Isaac learning to walk, but with the aforementioned Alzheimer’s patient struggling to walk over to his car.
I also really appreciated how the story came to a close. Without getting into spoilers, you would expect something dark and depressing to happen in the final act. Thankfully, however, it ends on a perfectly bittersweet note that surprisingly managed to make me emotional.
The beauty of being able to re-experience a time that most of us never remember, being a baby, is something I never knew I wanted. Goodnight Universe provided that beauty, with a fantastic story, great performances, and a charming style that feels both wholesome and melancholic in all the right ways. Furthermore, I think the way it handled its gameplay was pretty great as well.
What Is Playing as an Abnormal Baby Like?
As I’ve mentioned previously, arthouse games have always felt to me as though the gameplay aspect of them is only an afterthought. If you remove the story and insert it into a movie, there would be no difference in the execution of the narrative. Goodnight Universe is certainly not one of those games. While gameplay takes a bit of a backseat, it remains key to how the game tells its story.
You will always be able to control the camera to look around, but there are certain snippets where you will be asked to take direct control of Isaac and his surroundings. There are the aforementioned walking examples, but there are a few more notable instances as well. Some of my favorites are where you get to experiment with Isaac’s powers.
At first, Isaac’s capabilities are fairly limited. He can only move around a few objects at a time and look at people’s thoughts. Later on, though, you’ll be forced to balance his different powers. In one section, you have to use Isaac’s powers to knock out cameras while also keeping him from crying by forcing him to stare at a plush goat. It’s a fun puzzle segment that’s surprisingly challenging.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are the sections where you look into the minds of the people around you. With the push of a button, you are greeted with a mind space that you have to tune with your left joystick in order to hear your subject’s thoughts. It’s a fantastic mechanic that furthers the story brilliantly. It’s also helped by the fact that, if you wear headphones, you can hear their thought bounce around you as if you’re actually in their mind.
When you really think about it, Goodnight Universe‘s overall gameplay mechanics are fairly lacking. It’s not like you can navigate through your house and have unique dialogue with each member of the family, after all. However, similarly to a game like Dispatch, it uses the limited gameplay to its advantage. Even the smallest actions, from picking rudimentary dialogue options to interacting with the environment, help to make the narrative hit harder.
Unlike other games in the genre, though, I can’t see Goodnight Universe working in any other medium. It leverages the inherent interactivity of video games to its advantage, creating a more engaging story. There’s a perfect blending between gameplay and narrative that Goodnight Universe nails, and I never felt like I could just put the controller down and stare at the screen as if it’s a film.
I was constantly immersed in Isaac’s world, even if all I was doing was moving objects telepathically and utilizing his psychic abilities. Overall, I loved the time I spent engaging with that world. The emotions and experience I gained from Goodnight Universe are ones that I’ll be thinking about for a long time.
Arthouse Done Right
Video games are a way to allow players to experience things they would never be able to experience in real life, let alone in other mediums. It’s a way to peer into other cultures, other lifestyles, and other worlds, and to immerse yourself in the thoughts and minds of a cast of characters who have the potential to steal your heart. It’s always disappointing, then, when developers use gaming as a marketing stunt, rather than a creative opportunity. Goodnight Universe is brilliant in that it doesn’t do this and instead successfully takes you back to an era that everyone yearns to revisit: childhood.
Goodnight Universe is a beautiful experience. With such a short runtime and limited gameplay opportunity, you’d think it’d be a disaster. Instead, it makes up for its limits with a fantastic story and cast of characters. The writing and performances do a great job of bringing each character to life, whether it’s Cleo, Isaac’s sister, or Isaac himself, a baby with a dual nature.
Plus, the gameplay segments that are there do a great job of immersing you into the story. Stepping into the mind of a slightly intellectual baby who is slowly discovering his psychic powers, and being able to utilize those powers alongside him is undeniably thrilling. Additionally, the use of enhanced audio design when you use headphones is a great touch and helps to add more life to some of the gameplay segments, such as with the psychic mind-reading portions.
I had a great time with Goodnight Universe. These sorts of games often get a bad rep, and for good reason, so I can confidently say that this title succeeds as one of the best examples of an “interactive story” I’ve seen. If you’re looking to step into a beautifully idealistic view of childhood, complete with many twists and turns, then I highly recommend it, especially since it only costs $19.99.
Disclaimer: Skybound Games provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Goodnight Universe for review purposes.
