Claw your flesh from off your bones

Face that fire on your own

Embrace the life you thought that you would never know

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The myths say that this island brings back lost memories. That it’s a place where you go to find yourself. For J.J. and Emily, it’s more of a place to get away, forgetting about college, about parents, and about the gibes of their peers. But when Emily goes missing, it’s up to J.J. to follow her, through both the ruins of the island, and the memories that led them here.

The central mechanic of The Missing is as simple as it is savage: you can get back up. Smacked in the face by a wrecking ball? You can get back up, standing on the ceiling and looking up at the floor. Introduced your arm to a buzzsaw? You can get back up, and you might be able to throw the arm to knock a box down. You’ll fall, crawl, stumble, and drag yourself through some truly horrific puzzles, and in the end, you’ll stand up and put yourself back together. (Sometimes literally.)

I’ve seen this interpreted as a representation of self-harm, and there’s definitely something to the idea that J.J. wants to hurt herself. But I think it’s more of a physical representation of how J.J. already feels. As you uncover her secrets, it becomes apparent that she’s been living with suffering other people didn’t recognize or understand. Just existing as she is now is like walking around with open wounds, and the story being presented is one about how wounds will eventually heal. It’s about pushing ever forward, fighting past the pain, in the hopes that the future will be better than today.

I cannot express how much I related to this game. I’m trying not to give too much away, but there were points that I found immediately recognizable and raw. It’s not a story I’ve seen told very often, and it’s one I feel like I needed. I urge you to play or watch this game, if you’re okay with the tags on this post.