Do you know how you start a new Netflix show, binge it to death and mildly obsess with the characters and content? That’s how I feel about the game This Bed We Made. It’s a healthy fixation, but the main character, Sophie, comes to life within the opening cinematic, and I fell in love with her immediately.
The nuances in her body language, her ‘plight’, and the stellar vocal performance by Victoria Diamond make her existence sublime. We’re not talking about a gun-toting Lara Croft; she’s an everyday person like Meredith Weiss in Lake. A maid in a 1950s hotel, she’s nothing remarkable, memorable, or even someone whose name you’d remember, yet something is magnetic about her.
No, I’m not intoxicated – This Bed We Made is the type of game the industry needs to elevate it as a storytelling medium. Using Netflix as our lazy example, how many of those characters or narratives have you helped shape for a notable conclusion? Exactly. Here, choices matter.
This Bed We Made Review
Enough with the hype. We begin our story with Sophie attending a police station in an aesthetically pleasing black and white palette. Cue some gorgeous transitions, and we’re straight into her duties, attending to the quality of each room, making the beds, emptying bins and replacing the towels.
This Bed We Made’s gameplay introduction with its menial tasks sounds monotonous, yet we all know how therapeutic these activities can be, as seen in first-person simulators such as House Flipper. Sophie has a penchant for having a ‘snoop’, and while not involved in the clique at work, she’s also one for gossip – often eavesdropping in on conversations.
Her habits force her into the thick of it, and before she can justify her actions, she’s wrapped up in a novice detective adventure, investigating guests, hunting for clues, decrypting puzzles, and potentially affecting the future of all those around her in some way or another, irrespective of how insignificant her motions may be.
The Same Issues Today
This Bed We Made takes place in Montreal in the 1950s, and though historical, the topics covered in the game have yet to advance that far in 70-plus years. Themes such as equality, sexuality and mental health are all touched upon. At times, the way individuals of these groups are treated is disgusting, but fast-forward to 2023, and we still see these divides. There aren’t any orange boxes here, just observations, and it’s up to the player to decide upon the outcome.
It’s evident that Sophie is getting in far too over her head, yet there’s nothing you can do about it, and you have to follow her journey. There are plenty of opportunities where you can influence the outcome for other characters – even those whose paths don’t directly meet, yet still affect the outcome by its conclusion.
As a third-person mystery, Sophie moves around the hotel like Poirot in Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express – yet she’s an amateur. She’ll pick an acolyte to share the burden with, and they’ll discreetly discuss their theories over the room service line or point one another in a direction that could reveal a further clue. The puzzles are relatively easy due to the intuitive way you locate and interact with the evidence.
The End?
With the multiple endings and alternate paths for peripheral characters, there’s scope for different consequences, and considering the playtime, there’s that appeal to repeat play – something I did immediately after my first conclusion.
My only reservations were the endings. Unlike the in-game 3D visuals throughout This Bed We Made we’re accustomed to, it’s a painted animatic where the characters differ in appearance from those we’ve seen. How everything is summed up is abrupt, as if ushering you away; there’s nothing to see here. But that’s a subjective thing, and the endings might offer the closure you seek.
Alright, you want a summary. This Bed We Made is one of the best narrative-driven games I’ve played. It’s thought-provoking, spell-binding, and gives consequences to your actions as life should. Deep down, it’s Sophie that makes this experience. The writing is superb, and character development is on another level. I genuinely can’t wait to see what Lowbirth Games comes up with next.
