The Beginner’s Guide – Coda
At last, we have arrived at The Tower. Here, all will fall into place.
I won’t repeat everything I said in my final breakdown at the end of this video, but I do want to reiterate that the version of Davey Wreden in The Beginner’s Guide is a work of fiction, as is Coda. These are not a series of games that he’s stolen from another designer. This is entirely a work of make believe, to sell the message that Davey intended to broadcast through his chosen medium.
It is a fascinating musing on not just game design, but the act of creation. What I find most interesting is how the Fictional Davey’s entire premise falls apart the moment Coda reveals that Davey is the one adding the lampposts to all of the games. Just a single line, and suddenly every single detail and scene can be called into question. “Davey” has been an unreliable narrator from the very beginning.
He tells us from the start that his goal is to understand why Coda stopped making games, and withdrew. He did that knowing, from the beginning, that the reason was in The Tower, at the top. Once again, the real Davey takes full advantage of the medium, guiding the player and forcing them to ask questions that cannot be asked any other way.
It’s why I wanted to play this game, and why I’m happy to share it with you all.
But next week, we should be back to more Mafia 3.
No Comments