At the beginning of Gerda: A Flame in Winter, you will lose friendship points with your father because you are angry that he has joined the Nazi Party. Gamifying combat is bizarre at the best of times, but Gerda throws you into the deep end, and it makes for an uncomfortable start to a game that will go deeper than that.
There is nothing objectionable in what is happening, but it is difficult to see such a conversation so casually, turned into a game for our consumption. There have been many controversies before. Perhaps we’re all stunned by the countless depictions of war in first-person shooters, and how many action games we’ve seen shoot brown men as a white hero invading their country, but war through the peace of RPGs. Getting close to is a tonal dissonance in and of itself.
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But in just over an hour, it becomes painfully clear that Gerda is Only The way the story of World War II should be told. RPG conventions and game mechanics quickly blur into the background as Gerda draws you into her watercolor gloom, living the story of the titular heroine fighting for her husband’s freedom from the Gestapo.
And by the time the credits roll, you realize that the RPG mechanics aren’t there for you to master. They’re there to make you feel like you’re both in and out of control – and what better way to portray this than with dice rolls and stat checks?
You play as a young woman named Gerda who is half German, half Danish. You live in a city that was recently liberated from the Germans before the war. Now in 1945, it is once again under German rule, leading to bitter divisions. Life is difficult but calm, as it appears that most of the townspeople are looking forward to war, knowing that there is a possibility of Nazi defeat. That is, until Gerda’s Danish husband, Anders, is arrested for his role in blowing up a nearby factory. With the next few days now under the player’s control, Gerda is able to split her time between rescuing Anders from the Resistance, Nazis, sympathetic townspeople, or with the help of a corrupt German officer. To complicate matters, you also have other loved ones and friends to protect, as you try and ease the suffering caused by your actions.
There is no victory in Gerda. There are endings that are better than others, but the ending doesn’t seem like it should be, despite the Life Is Strange Style stats chart. The point is, you are forced to make decisions along the way, and how well-organized plans can fall apart and need to be fixed on the fly.
Everything was going well in my play until I tried to divide my time between multiple tasks. I thought I was in the clear, then I killed everyone. But still, I think there is little need to re-run and ‘perfect’ this run, even though there are a bunch of different routes I can take. I can’t help but think it would be cheaper to play my experience as a Gerda who made various choices. One who renounced his morals and sided with the Nazis to keep Anders safe. Or a Gerda who had to leave a Jewish family so that he could better serve the Resistance. Those are the choices, I know, taken by the actual Danish people who lived under the Nazis. That’s all I needed to know, and seeing them there when I chose my path made for an uncomfortably fulfilling experience.
Sometimes, though, Gerda can take this approach too far, and I wish I could delve into her journey more. One of the possible character deaths that could happen is that of a Nazi officer who is about to spot you with resistance. If you fail to roll the dice, your partner kills him. It played out like a bad outcome, and one that’s morally questionable, mainly because this Nazi was dating a girl who’s as nice to you as she was. But as far as I could see it had to be done.
To be honest, I thought it was good to shoot him because he was a Nazi. Like, a full-on Nazi officer who sends people to concentration camps. I’m all for being honest about the morally blatant decisions allies take everyday, and even debating what’s not. everyone The action taken by the Resistance was justified, but a girl crying because her Nazi lover was shot was not worth considering. Maybe don’t date fascists? Unlike colleagues, he was not blackmailed into it.
Beyond that, very little takes you out of the experience. Admittedly, there were times when my choices weren’t entered correctly, but Gerda isn’t about strategizing. It’s not about trying to win, because there is no winning. It’s all about working with what you have at any time, the small oversights and bugs in its RPG-lite mechanics are more than forgivable.
Gerda: A Flame in Winter is a heartbreaking wake-up call that World War 2 will never be adequately represented in a video game. But this slow-paced narrative-driven RPG that teaches its audience about a side of war they’ve never heard of will be closest to us.
It will never be uncomfortable to watch carnage and any kind of game mechanics on screen at the same time. But Gerda avoids this as much as possible, offering us a game that puts history at the forefront, understanding that nothing is more important. It’s an uncomfortable journey, but it shows what RPG-lites are capable of.
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