Is “Today I Die” a Feminist Game?

I discovered this gem of a game on Twitter today. It’s a poetry-meets-8bit-feminist sensation. I’m torn between wanting to delve into the gaming mechanics and not wanting to spoil it for those of you who haven’t played it yet. So go play the game here then come back and read the rest of this post.

I spent the first few minutes throwing unmentionable words at the screen. The woman featured in the opening scene is clearly in trouble. She has a stone tied to her body that is weighing her down. She’s also surrounded by some mean looking fish. They don’t try to eat her (which surprised me) but attempts to move the squid away from her had no effect.

Then I stopped to think. How did she get into this situation? The game opens with her in the water with no explanation as to how or why she is there. This left me to wonder. Perhaps, she had an abusive boyfriend who put her there? My mind went to that question first. I wonder if the heightened visibility of domestic violence in the media had anything to do with it. I’m not a morbid person.

The title of the game, “Today I Die”, very nearly seduced me into quitting the game.  It’s easy to just say, “she’s screwed” and then move on.

I finally figured out that the player needs to interchange the words in the poem to move forward. And so, I did. The journey shifted from an impossibly bad situation to a turbulent and perplexing struggle to reach the end. Each piece of the puzzle solved brought more light to her dark corner of the sea. The game came to a joyful (yet woefully generic)  end when the woman meets a man to swim to shore with. You’ll find the closing poem below:

free world

full of beauty

today I swim

until you come

But “Today I Die”  has two endings! I played it again and this time I chose not to go off with the dude. I kind of just left him there. He gave up and swam to shore by himself while the former-damsel-in-distress swims to shore on her own. And why shouldn’t see? She managed to escape a bad situation without the help of that guy. Who needs him?

Tagged as: feminist games, today I die