Tales From the Loop the Game / Show

 This will be a first for me, just writing a post only to review of something. I have nearly finished watching the first season of the Tales from the Loop series from Amazon Prime.  Here is a link for the game.

Full disclosure, I am coming from reading the game book first (it was my gateway drug to the Year Zero Engine). It is one of the few game books that I've read from cover to cover. 

With that said, I feel that anyone who watches this show, gamer or not, can enjoy the show. Rather than focusing on the setting, as many shows based on games do, Tales from the Loop focuses on the characters. It feels like an anthology show, a little similar to the Twilight Zone, but it really captures the small town feel. 

It does this by focusing on a character in Episode A, and then bringing in a side character, or background character to be the focus of Episode B. Then in Episode C you might see the two previous main characters as supporting cast. It is a really cool effect. For example, you learn that a character is a whiz at repairing tech when she is the main character. Then she is in an episode for 5 minutes in a later episode with the soul purpose of repairing a McGuffin for the new main character.

The show also has a good sense of time, as the outcomes of previous episodes are apparent in later episodes. 

Watching the show, you wouldn't know it was based on a game property, unless you were familiar with that property. The RPG has two settings you can set your game in; one is in Sweden and the other is in the USA. The show put the setting in the USA, but invented a town called Mercer, Ohio. I checked, there is a Mercer County in Ohio, but no town called Mercer, that I could find. This enables them to totally reinvent the town's population, locations, and history without relying what is in the books.

My final thought is that I love the writing for the show. The setting is alternate 1980s sci-fi where the differences in technology create a fun dissonance in your mind. Really! Look up the artwork for the game. But I would describe the show as a character-driven drama where people struggle with both their mundane lives and the fallout of barely understood technology. The technology is simply a supporting character, that is often in the background of the show. 

If you like character dramas, deep feels, and interesting visuals, give it a try.