Roger Ebert said in an editorial in 2010, talking about his previous opinion that games cannot be art: “Nevertheless, I remain convinced that in principle, video games cannot be art.” In principle, it is a stupid and narrow-minded observation by a man held in such grace without question of why he was in such a position. Almost a decade beyond his passing, he’s still maintained in high regard. All despite the purpose of all artwork being a purely subjective medium and/or entertaining, Ebert’s own specialty of films has almost always been referred to as entertainment. Does an interactive element change that much?

Of course not, there are plenty of artworks that are interactive, and to take it to the literal meanings, all artwork needs to be observed to be art and thus you need to interact either passively or not. Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park (especially in the digital age) is asking you to interact in more than just a passive way. Though I’m pretty sure if you go to the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze and touch David’s penis, someone will be quite angry, and it won’t be David. My point is, artwork is artwork, whether you believe it to be so or not doesn’t matter. It is an opinion by a creator and by an observer, reader, listener, or even, player.

I say all of this because Please, Touch The Artwork borrows heavily from Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. Whose work of often abstract paintings, constricted to cubism with his own minimalist restrictions of the three primary colors and three values. Yes, Mondrian is that bloke what did the simple painting of some straight lines separating some colors on a white canvas, if you want to make it that simple. Please, Touch The Artwork is a puzzle game attempting to make a greater statement about something, while also completely missing the mark by having nothing original to say.

As an uncomplicated, non-stressful, puzzle game Please, Touch The Artwork is doing something fun with the medium of not only abstract artwork but also gameplay. Particularly once you’ve crossed over into the portion of the in-game De Stijl (Dutch for “The Style”) gallery about how art without reference is true abstractionism. This is where you have to think about what it is you are doing to create what seems like the easiest paintings in the world. Mondrian’s simplicity shows the authentic difficulty of creating something straightforward, aesthetically pleasing, and that contains a true voice.

The trouble is, what it is trying to convey is an explanation of De Stijl or Neoplasticism, but you aren’t directed into knowing this willingly. While playing the puzzles, you’ll find a little arrow in the top left, which takes you to the gallery view or the precursor to actually getting into the options menu you wanted. You aren’t really directed into looking at the gallery. What little there is plastered on the walls between each piece of artwork you have touched, is in itself a personal preference whether or not you can be bothered to read everything as some colorful blob stands in front of you. Isn’t it always the way?

It is a very specific thing to want from a game: To solve puzzles based on such an emblematic artist of the style that is abstractionism, while also being told rather bluntly how such a technique comes to form an idea in one’s head. It is a work of theorizing the style of Mondrian and his neoplasticism contemporaries but lacks a satisfying punch to that point when it doesn’t want to tell you that point. That is unless you decide to take some extra time aside to scroll through everything you’ve done and read the concise briefs between each piece of artwork in the gallery.

Overall, as a puzzle game, Please, Touch The Artwork is good while purposely refusing to put stress upon you, the player. As a theory on Mondrian’s style, it is ok, if lacking in something proper to say and shouting about it like a raving lunatic. However, what makes Please, Touch The Artwork special or interesting is the usage of the medium to not only talk about something insanely niche but to do so unapologetically. It is a love of a style of artwork, spoken about and discussed, all while being thematically stylistic in its own right.

A PC copy of Please, Touch The Artwork was provided by Thomas Waterzooi for the purposes of this review.

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Please, Touch The Artwork

$9.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• A wonderful use of the medium.
• Outside of straight inspiration, art-direction is wonderful.
• A good, stress-free, puzzle game.

Cons

• Possibly not the greatest example of a game itself.