Metafiction, in its simplest form, is a self-conscious literary technique that tries to make aware you are reading a work of fiction, or in a way, emphasizes self reflection on the things you have taken for granted about the genre or the medium, a draws your attention to newer perspectives you have never thought about before. It is a very experimental genre, and sometimes it can be perceived as playful or arrogant, but tERRORbane just hits the right spot.
tERRORbane – A developer’s promise
Even though it has become easier these days to communicate with authors and developers over social media, there is still a barrier of communication and not many players know what happens in the backstage. “How did the company release the game in this sorry state?!!” is something you must have thought about as you played some of the unfinished disasters of the last generation. The developer of tERRORbane seems to be completely aware of all these hardships, but uses them positively to communicate and have fun with the players through this mutual awareness.
tERRORbane begins with a promise, a very common one these days despite the later repercussions, and that his game is perfect! It has no mistakes whatsoever. It has no need for anything else to be added or removed from the base code. However, the game itself begs to question his claims. That’s why you, as the player will make friends with the bugs in this game, and go with them on a Journey to prove your right as a player and challenge the conceited developer by pointing his attention to the bugs of his own game, though you might keep wondering about their sanity as you keep going.
A META world view between all game characters
The bugs are everywhere. In all corners of the world. If you walk a little, something will break. Even the start menu and the status screen and dialogue will get glitchy along the way. It’s not even just you, but other NPCs are aware of players, developers, and even cheat codes. It’s an incredibly spectacular and exciting game where you can easily overcome the fourth wall in every step.
The developer is not just silent about all of this though. They get angry, pretend they don’t know, and quickly fix it before anyone sees it. They even complain to the players sometimes. The conflict between the developers and players that mostly go only unattended to, or even end up on bad terms in other cases, is only used here as a funny tool to bring more intimacy and connection between all parties involved in the videogame. That’s why I think the use of Metafictional tools here is appreciated, because it’s not intended to ridicule others, but opt for mutual understanding.
Multi-layered Gameplay
Because it is a video game, it has a lot more flexibility in including homages to multiple other video games and gameplay systems, and involving players in these homages through changing the gameplay style to a 2D side scrolling, and even completely logging out of the game to a windows like screen where the player is forced to hard reset the game to continue. It’s like a puzzle that the players has to solve, in addition to the normal RPG elements of the game, which might appear cliché at first glance, yet they are anything but that.
The game is available right now on Steam and Nintendo Switch. You can also check the main developer’s website for a tons of screenshots that might convince you on how unique and hilarious this game is. It is one of these games that will never come again in the same way. A game that is only achieved through the creator putting his entire soul and history in there, yet still asking for the players’ part of the enjoyment to reach the fulfillment and connection each video games strives to achieve.