Vicarious Reviews: If Found…

A shot from the game If Found… (Screenrant.com).

March 25, 2024

Annie Newman, Journalism Club Member

Last semester in Steve Grandchamp’s Video Games and Identity class (ENG 383), we played If Found… Set up as a “visual novel” rather than what people would usually call a game, the player is first presented with a diary and an eraser. As the player “erases” diary entries, they dive deeper into two stories: the first of an astronaut named Dr. Cassiopeia, who is venturing to find Planet X and encounters a black hole, and Kasio, a young, transgender, Irish woman who has recently come home from university.

After getting into an argument with her mom about her feminine appearance, Kasio runs away from home, and lives with her friend, Colum, and his band in an abandoned, decrepit house. There, she finds some amount of kinship from them as being similarly in the LGBTQ community, and grows close to Shans, one of the bandmates, over the same difficulty of fitting in with Achill culture (Achill Island is one of the islands off the coast of Ireland). When Kasio and Shans’ friendship falls apart because Kasio didn’t want to be a couple with Shans, Shans leaves the band, and the band is evicted from the house. Kasio spirals into a depression as she feels that she can’t fit in anywhere: with the band, with her family, and with Maggy, Colum’s aunt. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s a relatively happy one, in case you were worried.

Overall, I give this game 4.5/5 stars. I really enjoyed the story and it made me cry, which is how you know it’s good. I also really appreciate the way the game provides definitions for Irish words for those not familiar with the language or culture. My only wish is that there would be a little more interactivity than clicking on a screen, but I suppose that’s the point of a visual novel. If you’re looking for a good story, check this game out.