Galatea Playthrough
Back at it again with another solo RPG playthrough! Today, we’re looking at Galatea, by S. Kaiya J.
“Your creator is a brilliant artist - celebrated, lonely, tormented - who has never been satisfied with his own creations. Until now. His magnum opus, his crowning masterpiece, the pinnacle of his art - is you. And yesterday you came to life.
You must remain perfect for him - or else.”
I was on board the moment I read the premise of this game, and it was an incredible journey from start to finish.
The mechanics of the game are simple. During the Undergo phase, you draw 4 cards, either tarot or a standard playing deck, and answer the questions they correspond to in the game book. If playing with tarot cards, prompts will be more geared toward philosophy, while playing cards are more focused on social risk and trust. I played with a standard deck, as exploring character relationship and emotional workings intrigues me the most. Then, during the Overcome phase, you write a journal entry about your experience. I will also say, I misunderstood the gameplay flow when I began, and journaled after every card pull, rather than doing all 4 at once during the Overcome phase.
To add even more tension, you also play using a Jenga tower, and certain prompts will instruct you to construct layers with a defined number of blocks. You start with a reserve, but after a while, have to start pulling from the tower itself, and if it collapses, well…
Here’s a picture of my tower at the end of my playthrough. Yikes!
Content Warning
From the book itself: “Galatea is a solo journaling RPG about bearing the weight of unrealistic expectations. It features themes of narcissism, controlling behavior, co-dependence, helplessness, despair, self-mutilation, and suicide. If you are sensitive to these themes, please look after your mental health and make sure you have someone trustworthy to talk to, and stop playing if you feel overwhelmed.”
My playthrough did engage with several of the above themes, and I played it over the course of several days, allowing myself to breathe and process between sessions. This story drew on a lot of my own personal experience, and looking at these fictional events felt gratifying, although difficult. It’s much easier to see things objectively when you are not involved. Because I felt such a strong connection to Lyric, I did take some creative liberties with the ending of the game I got to ensure the ending was positive. I hope you find it so.
