In our previous article about BOKURA: planet, we talked to developer Tokoronyori on how the upcoming sequel to BOKURA is a two-player game crafted to test the limits of your relationship with your best friend or partner. This time, we ask the creator about the game’s underlying themes and his motives behind making it the way he did. In BOKURA: planet, you and your coplayer will be reminded that, despite everything, the only certain thing in life is loneliness.
“All of the games I’ve made so far (…) have had the idea of loneliness as their main focus. So why did I make BOKURA and BOKURA: planet into two-player games? You may think ‘oh, but isn’t this guy being contradictory?’ However, to me, the obvious answer was lying in that very contradiction: I wanted to make people who aren’t lonely experience loneliness.”
As to why he went from making single-player games like Lonely Planet to making two-player-exclusive games, Tokoronyori explains: “I made my mind up – rather than catering to the lonely people, I thought I had to take direct action and drive people who aren’t already lonely into loneliness.”
Needless to say, two-player games usually require (and inspire) mutual trust and cooperation, which is why they’re most often played between friends, partners or even family. However, Tokoronyori’s games, inversely, serve as a device to question those relationships. “That feeling as if the two players are being asked: ‘But, you’re actually lonely, aren’t you?’ is what I wanted to make into a recurring theme in both titles.”
One important element of BOKURA: planet which plays into this is the ‘keeping of secrets’ – from the get go, both players will be given different stories and objectives that they will be required to hide from each other. In contrast to the BOKURA series’ previous installment, which required the players to share information between each other, the sequel was created in a way which leads players into keeping their secrets until the right time comes.
Tokoronyori mentions that through the two titles, he wanted to bring out the players’ innate loneliness as he considers that every person on the planet is, in a way, lonely. “It’s just like in real life, you don’t know if everyone else sees the same things as you, you don’t know what the other person is thinking or whether they actually understand you.” He adds, “Maybe it seems like you two are getting along really well, but I want you to remember that you’re lonely – that being lonely is only natural.”
The feeling of loneliness is a crucial part of our being, and, according to Tokoronyori, we need to embrace it in order to find mutual understanding. “Let’s say you and the person you’re facing are completely different – if you don’t come in with the assumption that, to each other, you are complete strangers who are both equally lonely, I believe you won’t end up feeling like you want to try and understand that person.” As he believes, accepting your loneliness is a significant step towards making the world a better place. “If you don’t acknowledge (that both of you are lonely and complete strangers to each other), we’ll never achieve world peace,” he jokes.
BOKURA: planet will be released next Friday, on April 25 for PC (Steam). In the meantime, you can try out its special demo, which offers a different storyline from the full game.)
