Loved is not merely a game. It is a psychological torture chamber. From the very beginning, even before a title page, it demeans you in a very simple, yet strangely effective way. “Are you a man or a woman?” Man. “No. You are a girl.” Good girl.
There is no storyline. There is no plot to follow, no defined character, not even graphics at first. You are a black silhouette thing, and you are told what to do, every single step you take. Jump over that pit of barbs. Good girl. Obey the commands, and you will be rewarded by improved graphics (although colorless), easier obstacles, and a sense that you are pleasing someone. Disobey, and watch your world lose definition, yet gain color and uniqueness.
In this game, if you are emotionally invested in it, you are broken down and recreated. Not on a grand scheme, of course, but you feel belittled, insignificant, and as you progress, more defined in who you are and who you want to be. From the very beginning, you start from nothing. You are not a well-defined man, or an emotionally-sound woman. You are a girl or a boy, the inverse of the gender you chose. The title implies lack of knowledge; naivety. The switch in gender adds a flavorful touch of insult, and you start the game with no idea of what’s going on. All you have to go off of is the voice.
In the beginning, it will be only natural to obey. Jump over that pit of barbs. Well, that sounds reasonable. The voice is advising you in self-preservation. You’ll go along with the voice. Touch the statue. It’s a checkpoint you will be sent back to if you die. Then, things get strange. Travel the lower path. But it’s much more difficult than the upper one. Throw yourself into the barbs. Wait, what?
It all comes down to trust. If the player sees the voice as a ‘lover,’ as implied in the title (and explicated at the end), it will seem that the voice is speaking with good intentions, regardless of how little actually makes sense. If the player sees the voice as a malicious, controlling fiend, then from that point on, it will be impossible to trust its advice. You will start contradicting the commands just out of spite.
This switch in trust brings up an interesting concept: What is trust? Absolute trust in the guidance of another being is ultimately blinding. You will only do what you are told, fearing the unknown consequences if you don’t, embracing the fact that you are pleasing an individual person. The world around you becomes well-defined, rigid edges, simplicity at its finest. Everything becomes black and white (literally), and there is no concept, or even curiosity, over what exists outside of the commands jurisdictions. Your world is black and white. Good and bad. Acceptable and unspeakable. Colorless. The only choices you will make are the ones you are told to make.
Now, consider the other side. Disobey the voice, discard trust, and do what you want. Act for yourself, make decisions when and how you want to, regardless of who is accepting of these actions and who isn’t. True friends and significant others might not agree with all your actions, but they will respect them and your confidence in self-identity. Take the path of yourself, and things will no longer be black and white. Nothing will be nearly as defined; you will get lost from time to time. But there is no right and wrong, no black and white. Only the color that your actions have produced. You are free to live life as you will, and with no concrete destination in mind, you cannot get lost. You will be wherever you want to be in life.
Loved puts these concepts into artistic forms, as were partially described, and the player is free to gather any and all meaning from the shift in color and definition.
The ending provides a strange twist in delusion: Obey the voice, and you are confronted with a single message: “I loved you, always.” Do we love someone simply because they do what we ask? Do we love the person, or the control we have over the person? Too many people need to consider this question, because, in at least one sense, we all love having control over people. This game should cause you to reconsider your definition of love.
Disobey, and you are met with “Why do you hate me?” It is easy to let our emotions get the best of us, and simply because someone does not act as we want them to, we jump to the radical conclusion of ‘hate.’ It is completely irrational, of course. It isn’t a matter of hating someone, but of valuing their own beliefs over your desires. Real people are this way, and from an irrational perspective, every real person will “hate” you.
Loved not only emulates emotional growth within the player, but also brings up the interesting contradictions between love and control. Between what we want and what we want others to want. This game can make people think.
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