Passage: Video Game Gets Ancillary Treatment with Web Series
By John Kirk
Rating: B-
Passage is a creepy, unconventional story released in a series of nine webisodes of about 16 minutes each. It’s set in the video game universe of Unknown 9: The Awakening, a story of the secret cyclical rise and fall of civilizations.
It's an ancillary marketing concept that lends itself to support a production. Battlestar Galactica did this about 20 years ago detailing the hidden story of the rebellion against the Cylons. It can be effective... if you know more about the main medium. Sadly, in contrast, not a lot of folks know this game and Passage doesn't really tell you a lot about it.
Clearly the audience is a game-playing one, and more specifically, one thinking about purchasing the game. However, it’s difficult to make an informed decision about that purchase, which is a shame as the game is a great deal of fun.
It’s 1914, the SS Talaria crew descends into a mind-bending charade of madness after departing from Cairo. Emilia Duprey (Liv Rian), a stowaway stealing passage to America, finds herself entangled in a hundred-thousand-year-old secret fuelled by a mysterious entity infecting the minds of those on board.
Those still alive are trying to deal with the stress of running the ship with a minimal complement of crew, the growing derangement of the ship's doctor, hallucinations and the mysterious cargo in the hold that seems to be responsible for it all.
Why she is hiding out on the ship is a bit of a mystery at first. We know she has a sister in the States – Candice (Aslan Jordan Knox) but her status doesn't become clear until the end. Her mention serves as a source of hallucinations apparently caused by the mysterious cargo.
First off, the series achieves the correct mood very quickly. Perhaps it's the tattered state of the ship, the dilapidated clothing and the poor lighting but it's also credit to the performances of the actors who do manage to pull off the convincing demeanor of a crew subjected to intense psychological trauma.
The challenge in enjoying Passage is that while a lot effort is given to describing the nature of the crew's current status, it also only allows snippets of mysterious backstory that don't really add substantial context as to why the ship and crew are in its current state. Essentially, there's a lot of talk but very little relevant story other than the immediate peril of the crew.
We see hints of the danger offered by the cargo. Emilia meets Amina (Kristina Lao) who seems to have some sort of occult knowledge. She is briefly referred to as a Quaestor in her journals, but without knowing anything about a quaestor's this information this information doesn't really add anything to the story. We do get the idea that it has something to do with the mysterious glowing cargo that seems to affect minds and cause shared hallucinations, but not enough to help with context.
Unless you've played the Bandai Namco video game, Unknown 9: The Awakening, you won't be able to fully appreciate the story. As a standalone story, the web series falls down. But as a supportive webisode series, it does add something to the collective story. Let me explain.
The Quaestors are guardians of knowledge of an ancient race known as the Sinai. They couldn't stop the cyclical fall of their civilization, but they could stop it from happening again. They did this by leaving information behind along with 9 of their kind, given immortality and the responsibility of passing on the knowledge of their technology and special powers about the dimension between realities called the Fold.
In the role playing PS5 game, you play a fledgling Quaestor who develops her abilities in trying to prevent agents known as the Ascendents from allowing the cycle to happen, thinking they are really gaining power for themselves.
There is something of this represented by the mysterious cargo the ship carries in Passage. But it sadly doesn't go into enough detail for it to make sense. Again, the game allows for more insight.
The game, however, is definitely worth playing. Role playing games allow for direct interactivity while also following a central storyline. In this case, the story is engaging and the game play isn't too complicated to cause frustration and interference in the delivery of that story. You just can't enjoy Passage without that gameplaying experience.
Technically, the series is well-crafted. Excellent performances, great setting and the atmosphere is definitely evocative of a classic story from the chaotic imagination H.P. Lovecraft. But there isn't enough story information to know what it's all about ... unless you've played the game.
Sadly, it's a bit of a Catch-22, though. You can't understand the series better without playing the game, but as the series is supposed to incite you to try the game, it really isn't all that successful.
Passage. Written and directed by Karl Janisse. Starring Liv Rian, Dan Ginnane, Tristan McKinnon, Kristina Lao, and Aslan Jordan Knox. Available October 25h on the Bandai Namco Unknown 9 website.