The mind is powerful, and Datura highlights this in many ways. It moves us away from the limitations of reality and puts us in a world full of strange hallucinations and meaningful choices.
The essentially linear adventure begins in the back of an ambulance. You lie there with monitors strapped to your chest gazing around the interior of the flashing vehicle. Then you begin to slip the monitors off your chest one by one. The bleeping sound of the monitor gradually becomes constant, which quickly prompts a nurse to shock you with a defibrillator. The screen fades to black after the shock.
Suddenly the player wakes to find themselves in a vast forest. Dead orange leaves litter the floor in their masses, and tall thin trees endlessly line the forest. It’s a gloomy yet vibrant world, and one which looks fantastic. As you venture into the forest you lead with your hand, controlled by your move controller, to feel the world around you and to navigate yourself through the environment.
The forest of Datura.
With the game being presented in first person, the players hand is the only part we see of the character. He has no name or no speech, except for faint screams and shouts. This allows the player to be immersed into this new world, you feel as though it is your own hand that reaches out in front of you and interacts with the game. This experience is something quite rare in gaming.
After you first steps into the forest it becomes clear that there is so much to interact with. Standing out from the flora are white flowers, Datura flowering plants, a plant which contains toxins causing hallucinations. Are these flowers a presence to show that the world you explore is a figment of the mind? It’s unclear.
It moves us away from the limitations of reality and puts us in a world full of strange hallucinations and meaningful choices.
There is also something else which stands out from the flora after your first steps in the forest; a Silver Birch presents itself in front of the player. As you reach out to touch the tree with your hand you are enthralled with inspiration. These trees give the player knowledge of the forest allowing you to draw a map of the surrounding area. Expect more of these trees to be dotted around the forest.
As you venture further in more objects in the forest become available to interact with. A fountain, a stone sculpture, a hollow tree, a lone door and even a carnival like stall. It is quite difficult to spot certain objects out from within the forest. Thankfully you are prompted in the corner of the screen to signify that you may interact with the object.
The hint in the corner to prompt you of an object to interact with.
Some of these objects in the forest cause more hallucinations or visions. As you break throw a hollow tree you find a pick axe in its trunk. At once you blink to find yourself knelt down on an ice lake. Under the ice lies two things; one is a glistening trophy, the other a hand frantically trying to punch through the ice. Do you break through and get the trophy or save whoever lies beneath the ice? The choice is yours.
There are more examples of these choices. After another vision you awake again but this time sat behind the wheel of a car driving along a dark country road. Without warning a pig suddenly appears in your headlights. Do you avoid it, maybe injuring yourself, or hit it down? It’s an instinctive choice, one which you make without any thought and defines the player’s personality.
These visions don’t have any real connection to one another. They are like snippets of memories of others, each telling their own unique story. They are quite spectacular, more so in the way the object in the forest links to these small unique stories.
Most of these visions have to be completed in a sequential order to progress to the next stage of the forest. This can leave you a little confused and lost in the forest at some points, as you figure out which object triggers the next vision.
Do you avoid or hit the pig? One of the many hallucinations/visions of Datura.
The experience of Datura would be near perfection if it wasn’t for the controls. Using the move controller is essential in the fact of immersing you into the game. However, it doesn’t work that well. Its accuracy and depth perception in Datura is quite poor. The actions you make with the controller also don’t feel natural. Such as opening a door is pretty easy in real life, in Datura it is actually challenging. Its problems like this which lets Datura down. The game is playable with the normal dualshock controller, but even this gives you problems with navigating through the forest. As a whole you will be left frustrated by the controls.
It is also a short experience. It will last, for a maximum, of two hours. There is certainly an aspect of re-playability to discover what the results were of the other choice you could make. Apart from that there is little to draw you back.
It also must be mentioned that the soundtrack is also remarkable. It really helps you immerse yourself more into the game. It helps create that eerie and peculiar atmosphere around the forest too.
+/ Pros
- Unique experience
- Looks wonderful
- Lovely Soundtrack
-/ Cons
- Short in length
- Inaccurate and frustrating controls
Overall Dautra is a very unique experience; you won’t find anything like it on the PlayStation 3. It’s immersive, atmospheric and very peculiar. The hallucinations are wonderful, each bringing their own story and choices. Although it is a short and linear experience it is definitely worth checking out.
