Many interactive experiences nowadays are described as being ‘about the journey, not the destination’, or something in a similar vein. While this does hold true for some of You Reached Avalon, even after attempting to play through it multiple times, I am left wondering about both the journey and the destination. Is that a bad thing?
Not really, although I’d wager this is likely one of those games where people’s opinions are going to vary greatly, and not just because its subject matter is – according to my brain, at least – more than a little obscure in nature. Barely anything is explained over the course of the journey the player embarks on, in the hope that they will eventually be greeted by a screen that reads something like “You Reached Avalon“. Did that happen to me? Well, let’s just say I was perfectly content with how things ended and leave it at that, so as to avoid potential spoilers for this relatively short and unique experience.
You are chased by a tall figure.
You run.
When the figure catches you, there is a different scene for a while.
Then you are chased again.
You have seven shots at reaching Avalon.
An experience that kicks off the moment your journey begins, a tall figure chasing you across a barren landscape. When you are caught, the perspective changes for a while, after which it is back to being chased by a tall figure. I’m going to use a couple of words to describe this sequence, and I have a feeling they’re not far from the ones you’d pick based on what I have told you about the game so far: weird, confusing, dreamlike. None of those, save for maybe the last, are commonly used to describe a positive experience. Yet somehow, You Reached Avalon was oddly fun, or perhaps intriguing is more accurate. (But also fun.)
In the same sense, a mystery that has no solution might be fun and/or intriguing to the right person. Am I thereby saying You Reached Avalon can’t be explained? No. Actually, maybe. I don’t know. Perhaps you should try for yourself, see what you make of the tall figure and the… whole thing. Just watch out for that tall figure. I did mention that, right? It’s important.
You Reached Avalon is available on itch.io, for free (pay-what-you-want).
