Skaramazuzu

The Greek Iphigames can take pride in the fact that it offers a game with a lot of messages, an interesting scenario, characters that have a distinct personality and gameplay that may not leave anyone speechless, but adds points to the overall experience.

Perhaps that’s one of the grand takeaways from Sakramazuzu: there are many questions that both the living and the dead harbor about the Great Beyond. In a tale about existence and meaning with its own quirky styling and approach, it’s natural that we all find something that sits uncomfortably in our own minds. It could be that I, myself, am beset with an awkward position when a conversation lulls and thus need to talk, and I see that reflected in Zuzu and am unhappy with that lens. Or, perhaps, I just need a game to do something other than talk AT me in the middle of trying to discover a bigger purpose.

If you want to spend a couple of hours pacing back and forth between screens filled with identically speaking characters and a dreary story, Skaramazuzu will tick your box. For everyone else, it's a game which looks far better than it plays.

Skaramazuzu is a 2D graphic adventure, hand-drawn in a black and white style, simple yet expressive and impactful. Its aesthetics and storytelling are its strengths. It’s an enjoyable and at times moving title, full of beautiful positive messages conveyed with irony and lightness, but also with more intense and incisive moments. At times, it can be a bit tedious when continuously revisiting the same areas and talking to the same characters, even though the dialogues change each time. Skaramazuzu is a philosophical video game that utilizes the concept of archetypes and myth to create an original story that touches on universal themes.