There are games that remain in the memory even after years of distance, despite not having had the opportunity to replay them in recent times. This happens because there are titles that manage to hit the mark, to identify your weaknesses as if they knew you deeply, as if they were created just for you. In my case, this happens with Primal, SCEE Cambridge Studio's 2003 video game released exclusively on Playstation 2.
When asked for a ranking of my favorite video games, Primal is always there. As often happened to me at the time, I did not take that video game imagining that I would find myself in possession of an unforgettable masterpiece and instead, after only a few minutes, I realized that Primal he had something more than the others, a "shimmer" that made it unique.
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Primal: a girl in the service of Order and Chaos
A "quiet" night at the club listening to the rock band in which her boyfriend plays, what could possibly go wrong? This he thought Jennifer - Jen for friends - the young protagonist of Primal. You would have been right, if the world we all know were not really a simple screen. At that evening, there is an uninvited guest: a shape-shifting demon attacking the two boys, kidnapping him and leaving her unconscious.
Jen is in a coma in the hospital, but appears in the room where a funny character is admitted, at least at first sight: a small, stocky gargoyle named Scree. The being manages to recall the spirit of the girl who, surprised by her, sees herself lying in a hospital bed. No time to ask too many questions, Jen has to follow Scree. The two go through a portal and find themselves in the Nexus, the junction point between the manifest world, Mortal, Oblivion, a parallel world inhabited by demons.
Here Scree explains to her that the two dimensions offset each other, but to remain stable they need the perfect balance between Order and Chaos. This is guaranteed by Chronos which dispenses good and evil in equal measure in the world. However, something has gone wrong and now this balance seems to have been broken. The gargoyle and the girl must explore the four realms of Oblivion to put things right.
Why was Jen chosen? Because she is one half-Blood, half human and half demon, able to transform using incredible abilities. Thus began an unprecedented adventure.
Four realms to put in order… and chaos
The Oblivion dimension consists of jaguar kingdom in which order and chaos must exist in a balanced way. The balance, however, is drifting dangerously towards chaos and this is not good. It was up to us to solve the thorny question by exploring four macro-levels that are very different from each other. Each kingdom in Primal was marked with a symbol and a color. The first one we walked into was Solum.
Bottom it is an allied realm of the order where it is always winter. A continuous and incessant storm submerges the kingdom of snow, leaving only a few ruins to act as an architectural bulwark. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love winter. I can't stand the heat, if it were up to me, the calendar would only consist of winter months. You can imagine my amazement at seeing Solum. All that snow, that freezing cold feelingparadoxically, they warmed my heart. In Solum lives a tribal race called Ferai, goat-looking men, similar to satyrs. These were the first enemies we faced in the game.
The second kingdom was Water, marked by the color blue. As the name suggests, this world is located on water, there is little land. Visiting Aquis is like being on a tropical archipelago, between beaches with very fine sand and clear skies that compete with the water for clarity. If Jen, in Solum, constantly complained about the harsh climate, here the young heroine by chance often stops to relax despite a mission to accomplish. Jen is my nemesis: I never liked the sea much. Not only that, I have always been a bit "scared" i levels set underwater and in Aquis nine times out of ten you have to dive in and stay there for a long time. Jen can turn into undine, the race that populates this realm, I don't know how to swim. In short, we would not make a good couple. Primal was cool for that too, though. As I said in the introduction, there are games that impress more than others because they seem to know you. Well, Primal knows me well and knows that I would live very well in Solum, but not in Aquis.
The third kingdom of Oblivion was called He went... and here, after a few seconds to recover from the wonder that had overwhelmed me, I jumped to my feet and gave a standing ovation to the level designers of SCEE. Primal had once again hit the mark: Aetha was a kingdom that resembled an eighteenth-century European city (historical period that I really like both in literature and in the world of video games), in which the rain never stopped falling. I'm a rainphile, I admit it. No it's not a bad thing, it means rain lover. When it rains I feel happy and peaceful, relaxed as never in any other situation. In Aetha there was everything I adored and still adore: a oppressive climate, dark and suffocating tones. If they told me to pack my bags and leave for Aetha, I would do it in a hurry. Ah, in the realm of Aetha there was also one poor class oppressed by the powerful, a count and a countess who #vampirismoportamivia and human sacrifices. Heaven.
The fourth and final kingdom put another finger on one of my sore. Volca it is the realm of red color, the one I liked least. I admit that, after visiting Aetha, I was very disappointed with Volca. A reinterpretation of Ancient Egypt with fire everywhere and settings tending to an orange that hurt the eyes. Even from a narrative point of view, that last realm seemed less inspired to me. Probably because I saw him with prejudice, with the eyes of someone who had visited the most beautiful place in the world and then returned home to his mother-in-law and his employer.
Okay, but what was Primal?
Okay, all very nice, but what kind of game was Primal? Basically, an action / adventure in which we had a chance to control both characters switching from one to the other at any time. Many puzzles could be solved thanks to this mechanic. In fact, Scree had the ability to turn into a statue, this made some actions easier for us. An example: was there an overhang between us and the target? We could switch to Scree, turn to stone, back to Jen, wrap a rope around Scree petrified and go down to the lower level.
Scree was also able to own other statues and climb walls. Jen, however, as a half-breed, could transform into four demonic forms different, each with their own skills and strengths. There was no lack of fighting. When the enemies became aware of our presence, the camera changed framing and centered giving the feeling of playing a fighting game. Jen and the enemy were placed facing each other intent on fighting. It was necessary to pay attention to Jen che's demonic energy it could dry up. In order not to run dry during a fight, you had to stock up on gems. The fountains of energy that allowed the protagonist to recharge before and after a fight are also very important.
At the time, Jennifer was considered the "new Lara Croft", exaggerating a little. The games are substantially different in many respects and the characteristics of the two girls also differed. It must be said that Jen would have had the potential to become a lasting icon over time, unfortunately instead of Primal only one was produced, while Lara has been the undisputed star of the video game world for more than 20 years.
At this point, however, the question is a must: but one remastered at Primal? We don't think a second chapter will ever be planned, but returning to Aetha wouldn't bother us all that much, despite some strange people who don't like rain. For them there is always Aquis.
Ah, service information: Primal is available as PS2 Classic on PS4. A promotion is currently active which offers many games for less than 10 euros. Among these is Primal, al unmissable price of € 4,99. Take advantage of it and enjoy!
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