If Found...: Difference between revisions

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{{use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{good article}}

{{short description|2020 visual novel}}

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'''''If Found...''''' is a [[visual novel]] developed by Dreamfeel and published by [[Annapurna Interactive]] in May 2020 for [[Microsoft Windows]], [[macOS]], and [[iOS]] and October 2020 for the [[Nintendo Switch]]. The game has the player advance through two interleaved stories by erasing journal entries or images. One story follows a space explorer named Cassiopeia trying to prevent a black hole from destroying the Earth, while the other follows a young transgender woman named Kasio in a small Irish village in December 1993 as she navigates her relationships with her family and friends. The two stories alternate chapters, connecting metaphorically.

Design for the game by Dreamfeel founder Llaura McGee started in 2016, with the eventual development of the game by a small team taking two years. Elements of the story's emotional arc were taken from McGee's personal experiences, though the game features concepts from several developers and is not autobiographical. The primary goal for the game was to connect players to the emotions of the story, with the mechanics of the game chosen to further that aim. Critics praised the game's artwork and story, especially for its emotional connection to the player via the erasing mechanic. ''If Found...'' was nominated for the "Games for Impact Award" at the [[The Game Awards 2020]], for "[[GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game|Outstanding Video Game]]" at the [[32nd GLAAD Media Awards|32nd]] [[GLAAD Media Award]]s, and for "[[D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game|Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game]]" at the [[24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards]].

==Gameplay==

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The science fiction chapters of the story follow Doctor Cassiopeia as she journeys towards [[Planet X]], only to discover a black hole that is rapidly expanding and will soon destroy the Earth. Cassiopeia investigates the black hole to try to find a way to stop it, assisted by occasional messages from an unknown source who names himself "Control". Cassiopeia discovers that the black hole is creating wormholes that she can use to jump to Earth ahead of the black hole, while Control finds that the black hole was created due to an image in the future sending a signal back in time. Control reveals his name to be McHugh, and tells her that when she makes it to Earth, they will have less than a day to make it to Ireland where the image sends the signal.

The journal chapters follow Kasio, a [[transgender]] woman who has just completed her Mastermaster's degree at a university in Dublin and is returning to her hometown in Achill Island during December 1993. Kasio has a strained relationship with her older brother Fergal and her mother Brid, which she attributes both to the stress on the family after her father's death some years prior as well as her own inability to conform to the social norms of the islanders. After a fight with her mother over Kasio's feminine clothes and appearance, Kasio runs away. She meets a friend, Colum, who invites her to stay with him and the rest of his band in the abandoned, decrepit house that the band is squatting in. Kasio lives with Colum, his boyfriend Jack, and their younger bandmate Shans for several weeks, slowly adjusting to the feeling of being with people who seem to accept her as she is despite their limited resources and tenuous living situation. She begins to grow close to Shans, bonding over their shared difficulties in fitting in with Achill culture—Kasio due to her gender expression, and Shans due to his race and uneasiness with traditional Achill masculinity. They break into Kasio's family's house to get her clothes, but are discovered by her brother, who berates her for upsetting her mother and shaming the family by failing to fit in. After the band's first show, Kasio and Shans take drugs and alcohol and watch the stars through a hole in the abandoned house's roof. The next morning, Shans informs Kasio that she had agreed to run away together to Dublin as a couple. When Kasio declines, Shans leaves the house and the band. Kasio, Colum, and Jack are evicted from the increasingly decrepit house and stay with Colum's aunt Maggy, despite Colum and Jack's being upset with Kasio.

Kasio attempts to reconcile with her family for Christmas dinner, but is berated by her brother for living in an abandoned house with social misfits and then moving to stay with the quietly gay Maggy instead of coming home to her family, while her mother continues to express confusion about Kasio's choices. Kasio feels distraught by her estrangement from her family and unworthy to stay with Maggy. She is rejected by Shans, who tells her he wants to be "normal", and Kasio breaks into the abandoned house again. Depressed, she stays there despite the freezing temperatures, not responding to searches by her brother or friends who approach the house but do not enter the now dangerous building. She burns her journal for warmth before succumbing to illness and hypothermia.

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{{Video game reviews

| title = If Found...

| MC = 84% (PC)<ref name="MCPC"/><br/>88% (iOS)<ref name="MCIOS"/><br/>80% (Switch)<ref name="MCNS"/><br/>

| Destruct = 9/10<ref name="DSreview"/>

| PG = {{rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="PGreview"/>

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| rev1Score = 8/10<ref name="EGIreview"/>

}}

''If Found...'' was nominated for the "Games for Impact Award" at the [[The Game Awards 2020]],<ref name="TGA"/> for "[[D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game|Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game]]" at the [[24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards]],<ref name="DICEnom"/> and for "[[GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game|Outstanding Video Game]]" at the [[32nd GLAAD Media Awards|32nd]] [[GLAAD Media Award]]s.<ref name="GLAAD"/> An early short demo was exhibited in several events in 2016, winning awards for best Game Design, emerging talent, and the Grand Prix overall award at the Irish Design Awards in November.<ref name="Dfsite" />

Critics were largely positive towards the game, focusing primarily on the way the writing and artwork, combined with the act of erasing, formed an emotional connection with the player. Michael Higham of ''[[GameSpot]]'' praised the "stunning yet minimal" art style.<ref name="GSreview"/> Hirun Cryer of ''[[USGamer]]'' similarly described the art style as "brilliant", while Cameron Bald of ''Pocket Gamer'' praised both the art style and sound design for drawing in the player and Ellen Causey of ''[[GamesRadar+]]'' said that the artwork and sound effects at times had her "transfixed".<ref name="PGreview"/><ref name="USGreview"/><ref name="GRreview"/> The erasing mechanic was also praised by reviewers, with ''USGamer''{{'}}s reviewer commenting on the way it allowed for transitions between scenes, while Nicole Carpenter of ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'' focused on how erasing connected the player to Kasio's story and caused the player to decide how fast to advance due to how the story was making them feel.<ref name="PolygonReview"/><ref name="USGreview"/> CJ Andriessen of ''[[Destructoid]]'' said that the mechanic had a "profound effect" on them, forcing them to acknowledge that not only could they not change Kasio's past, they also had to erase the good with the bad.<ref name="DSreview"/>

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<ref name="PolygonReview">{{cite web |url=https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2020/5/19/21263553/if-found-dreamfeel-annapurna-interactive-visual-novel-review |title=In stunning indie visual novel If Found..., you must erase to rebuild |last=Carpenter |first=Nicole |date=2020-05-19 |website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |publisher=[[Vox Media]] |access-date=2020-12-15 |archive-date=2020-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231060442/https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2020/5/19/21263553/if-found-dreamfeel-annapurna-interactive-visual-novel-review |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="DSreview">{{cite web |title=Review: If Found... |url=https://www.destructoid.com/storiesreviews/review-if-found--597907.phtml/ |date=2020-07-25 |last=Andriessen |first=CJ |access-date=2020-11-23 |website=[[Destructoid]] |archive-date=20202023-12-3105 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2020123106043920231205232031/https://www.destructoid.com/storiesreviews/review-if-found--597907.phtml/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="PGreview">{{cite web |last=Bald |first=Cameron |title=If Found... review - "An essential visual novel" |url=https://www.pocketgamer.com/articles/083180/if-found-review/ |date=2020-06-04 |access-date=2020-11-23 |website=[[Pocket Gamer]] |publisher=Steel Media |archive-date=2020-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231060428/https://www.pocketgamer.com/articles/083180/if-found-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="GRreview">{{cite web |title=If Found… left me moved, overwhelmed and ready to experience it all over again |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/au/if-found-indie/ |last=Causey |first=Ellen |date=2020-06-05 |website=[[GamesRadar+]] |publisher=[[Future US]] |access-date=2020-12-15 |archive-date=2022-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421170822/https://www.gamesradar.com/au/if-found-indie/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

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==External links==

* [https://annapurnainteractive.com/games/if-found Official Annapurna Interactive website]

* [https://dreamfeel.ie/iffound Official Dreamfeel website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617144910/https://dreamfeel.org/iffound |date=2020-06-June 17, 2020 }}

* {{vndb|30140}}

{{Annapurna Interactive}}

[[Category:2020 video games]]

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[[Category:Video games set in Ireland]]

[[Category:Transgender-related video games]]

[[Category:LGBTLGBTQ-related video games]]

[[Category:Video games set in 1993]]

[[Category:Visual novels]]