Thoughts on Finding Paradise (PC game)

On the surface, this post is just my ramblings about an excellent computer game that I recently played, Finding Paradise, by Kan Gao. It's a sequel to an equally great To the Moon which at the time made a really big splash, and thus I've also waited a long time for this next installment.

Beyond the surface, though, this post deals about the human concept of regret through the interesting framework that Gao's games posit. Surely not a spoiler, the main plot device for both games revolves around a very scifi-ish memory technology commercialized by one Sigmund Corp and operated by the protagonist duo, company employees Dr Eva Rosalene and Dr Neil Watts. Both player avatars have the most wonderful characters ever in any video game or fictitious work. Especially Watts is one of my all-time favorites. But I digress...

The incredible gist of the Sigmund Corp tech is actually very simple: it can alter human memories. The tech is used to grant dying people their one last wish, whatever it is that they would have wanted to change in their lives. The caveat? It will only be in their memory, taking place right before the person passes away. So in the games, Rosalene and Watts are called onto the deathbeds of their clients to do their magic and alter the person's memory in such a way that they'll die imagining their wishes are fulfilled.

In the first game we met Johnny who had an inexplicable wish to literally have gone to the moon in his life, a wish that even he himself does not understand. As the story progressed, we found out more about his life and mind and reasons for him wanting what he wanted. It was all a very sad but human story and we felt like heroes granting Johnny his last wish in the end.

However, things take a much more darker if not interesting turn in the sequel, and rightfully so. You would not want to play the same game all over again, would you? So here, Gao masterfully penned a twist in both the new patient-subject Colin, and his memory alteration procedure that not only serve to keep the story interesting, but also pose a very philosophical and moral question at the same time.

Namely, what right does Sigmund Corp and its employees have, going into their patients' memories, changing them and essentially making entire lifetimes void and taking a different path? Is it fair to the people survived by the dying person, even if it all is just in their mind and not in reality?

In the second game, we do meet Colin's wife and son who are both extremely against the memory alteration process and could not even understand why he would elect to do it. Even Colin himself seemed to be on the fence, as he initially requests Sigmund Corp to "make him happy without changing anything in his life," yet doesn't seem to be able to really mention any of his regrets.

Another reviewer echoed my thoughts so well that I'll just cite a part of his post here:

How many of you are satisfied, as a whole, with the life you lead? I’m going to guess that the answer at least for a sizable percentage of my readers is that you wouldn’t change a thing.

Now imagine you could wave a magic wand and change it right now. Fix every mistake. Right every wrong.

NOW how do you feel? Is there still nothing you would change?

And even if you DID have those niggling regrets, SHOULD you change it? If things work out differently, is that necessarily a good thing? Would you even like it? Is having the power to alter reality in ways you can barely understand a power people should have?

A friend of mine and a former colleague (and a huge To the Moon fan) also wrote about regret in his post:

I am often obsessed with regret too. However, this one makes me think that our failure, regret and mistake might be our best teachers. I know better what actually works after knowing what does not work.

Indeed, it seems that life without regrets is actually no life at all. Life itself is imperfect and regret is a natural part of it and an essential catalyst to make our internal motivation engine run. We may not always like it for all the failures it reminds us of, but we still need it to function properly. Finally, let the beautiful voice and lyrics from Laura Shigihara, who makes a return in this game's OST, ring the final truth for us:

I'd still want it the same / Because trading my yesterday / is to wish my life away.

Did I like Finding Paradise more than To the Moon? As a matter of fact, yes I did, although does that really matter? Both are absolute gems as games. Finding Paradise managed to struck a very personal chord in me. But it did not tug at the heartstrings the same way as To the Moon went out of its way to do, although I did cry again, just for very different reasons. 

The story in Gao's second installment was much more subtle, mature and poignant, and the music (also his - man this guy is a total multitalent!) excellent as always. Already bought the OST too.

Enough about my ramblings. Go get the game, if you haven't already. What are you waiting for? Christmas is over!