One of the most fascinating and arguably important developments in internet culture was the rise of the kitsch indie game. Usually, the way it goes is an indie game comes out that either is just so unique and bizarre that the internet latches onto it and doesn’t let go until the next big game pops up to replace it. I like to think it was either the cause or the response of the rise of second-wave Let’s Play, or ‘Scarecam Let’s Play’ Just finding these bizarre little games that will keep the viewers engaged for whatever reason. Games such as Five Nights at Freddy’s, Undertale and, to some extent, even the omnipresent Minecraft are great examples of this kind of game. But for every massive success created by this, there’s a lot of meme games that fall by the wayside for one reason or another. Today’s subject is one such game, a bizarre little novelty game that blew up for a few months and then got replaced and arguably forgotten about. Not that I can blame them, I don’t see the attraction to such a mundane game as Octodad: Dadliest Catch.
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| Nothing more touching than a dad spending time with his daughter. |
Octodad: Dadliest Catch puts you in the shoes of an unnamed but incredibly ordinary suburban father. It’s somewhat off-putting that our main character doesn’t have a name at first, but it’s actually ingenious. Letting you name your own protagonist is one of the oldest tricks in the book for instant immersion, but that still leaves the player with the chance to name it the default and just get on with everything. But by leaving this handsome devil of a protagonist unnamed, you have no choice to put yourself in that position. For the sake of this post, though, I will be henceforth referring to the protagonist by the name in the title, ‘Octodad’, a name that I still don’t quite understand considering that he only has two children, not eight. But I digress.
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| WAIT A MINUTE. HE DIDN'T PAY FOR THOSE SUNGLASSES. |
Octodad must navigate the daily routine, which involves such activities as making coffee, cooking his family lunch, mowing the lawn and going to the grocery store. It’s roughly as mundane as you’d expect as you hang birdhouses and purchase frozen pizza, but today Octodad’s family has decided to also head off to the aquarium, an activity he’s very vocally against. We’re never given a lot of explanation for this, but you can easily gather that Octodad is against the aquarium because he hates seeing animals taken from their natural habitat. What a great guy. Unfortunately, all is not smooth in the life of Octodad, as we are shown that his marriage is starting to collapse due to a lack of communication. And, of course, there’s an insane Japanese man chasing him down rambling about ‘the war’, not sure what war but ‘the’ I guess, and claiming that Octodad is an octopus. Can you believe it? I mean, look at that stache. No way can an octopus grow a rocking mustache like that.
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| Maybe the real Dadliest catch here is the bargain on this pizza. |
These are not the only hindrances to Octodad’s daily activities, however. Octodad has this bizarre manner of walking where he repeatedly flings his entire body around to move forward. No explanation on why he does this either, though my theory is that Octodad has been paralyzed for most of his life and due to the wonders of modern medicine, has finally gained the ability to walk but hasn’t been properly taught. It’s not all bad though, as what Octodad did gain from a lifetime of lower body paralysis was incredible upper body strength. He has a grip so strong that he can barely control it in most situations, and routinely he lets his guard down and takes the doorknobs off doors without meaning to. It is both his blessing and his curse to be the strongest man in this nondescript suburban area that is assumingly adjacent to a big city with a nice big aquarium.
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| I'm rooting for these crazy kids. These totally normal human crazy kids. |
The unfortunate part about Octodad is tone. A lot of the game might as well be accompanied by a laugh track and, you know what, that would be fine. Except, a lot of very serious and unfortunate events happen in this game and it feels like they need to be addressed in a manner that isn’t akin to how Full House would address them. Like, for instance, Octodad’s marriage is falling apart. His wife, Scarlet, thinks that he’s keeping too many secrets from her and it’s implied that she thinks he’s cheating on her. And how do they handle this? By having Octodad just win a bunch of Chuck E Cheese prizes for her. We get flashbacks to his past at one point and it involves him stowing away on a commercial fishing vessel, impersonating one of the crew, forcing himself into the position of captain, immediately throwing a man overboard and then disappearing because he finds another stowaway and it’s Scarlet. Granted, all impressive feats for a man who, until recently, was likely paralyzed for his entire life but also SUPER illegal. Not to mention the villain of this game is clearly suffering from PTSD and wild hallucinations and wants to murder a man and turn him into sushi because he thinks he’s an octopus. Which, again. Killer mustache.
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| Speaking of length, can you say Rated M for nudity? |
Length is also somewhat of an issue in Octodad. Granted, I feel like if this game was too long a lot of people wouldn’t mesh with it. It’s basically just a dad simulator with an odd pun in the title. But I played the game for a grand total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. I’ve played actual tech demos longer than that. It’s a shame too because it’s actually really fun and I would’ve liked to have a little more. The weirdness of Octodad’s movement aside, there’s a surprising amount of fun to be had in mundane tasks like grilling burgers and weeding the garden and plugging in cables. Certainly more fun to be had than doing these activities in real life.
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| OCTODAD. HOW COULD YOU. IN FRONT OF YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!!! |
Octodad: Dadliest Catch was a surprisingly fun, incredibly short jaunt. I still don’t understand where the title comes from, maybe the fact that he used to work on a commercial fishing vessel? Don’t know where the Octo part fits in, though. Anyways, if you can find it for super cheap I highly recommend it. It’s a good game to just wind down and relax with for an hour or two. Unfortunately not a game that gives you a wealth of things to talk about but, you know, what can you do. It’s the way the cookie crumbles. Dad jokes. I hope you enjoyed this look at Octodad: Dadliest Catch and next time we’ll be moving back into the realm of fantasy with Trine. See ya guys then.
Ethan's backlog:
https://www.backloggery.com/edzoologist
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