Hajj Trail
Review by Adam, Sam, and Ethan
Hajj Trail keeps players engaged in a variety of interesting ways. Firstly, the map is ginormous. Each town has a plethora of amenities that help with each function of the game. The game appears relatively simple, but it does accurately put one in the shoes of someone who is making the long pilgrimage to Mecca; one must consider what key choices to make as you travel from village to village. Should one spend time getting water? Should one buy more food? Should one buy these goods here, and wait for a later town to sell at a better price? This game makes you consider these basic questions. The Pilgrim’s Path mechanic is great at simulating religious piety, it is a less direct morality/authenticity system of judgment that helps players make better decisions. Many of the side interactions are great, particularly the witch and falcon ones which were incredibly creative though rooted in history. Every element of the game is constructed with historical evidence to support it, with every event based on early modern pilgrimage narratives from the Hajj.
The Hajj Trail constructs an exciting simulation through historical context, but there are aspects of the game that could be improved to make the simulation more immersive. A better-labeled more interactive minimap would improve the game’s quality of life. The immersion brought on by the side quests that are specific to the class of your character were enjoyable, but I found them very difficult to complete. The map could provide markers to make this easier, but it is also quite immersive to make them. Another improvement could increase the variation in gameplay. The main gameplay loop can get relatively repetitive quite quickly – it doesn’t help that the thing differentiating one city from the next are the amenities that the city offers (getting water, if they have a shrine and/or bathhouse, etc.). It also doesn’t help that a single run can be relatively long – taking over a few hours. Also, it would be nice if your caravan members were more easily visible on the main screen, as I often forgot about what they specifically offered, or what their condition was like. Given how text-heavy the game is, it could benefit from a narrator. This would make the game more accessible and easier to play, while also making sure players are getting the historical information; most importantly they are learning. Perhaps a multiplayer function should be implemented as the current companion system feels more like you are exchanging money for skill bonuses rather than people.
Hajj Trail enhances the gamer’s historical knowledge by providing Historical Accounts to back the in-game events and information on nearly every page the game offers. The game provides a broad idea of what taking the pilgrimage to Mecca was like, even if simplified for the sake of playability. Similarly, Hajj Trail is able to express many important aspects of history that other learning experiences do not offer. Such as understanding the political and social interactions between the Bedouin tribes and the Ottomans, or the friars firsthand. Players also learn a great deal about different interpretations of Islam, and the turmoil people doing the Hajj may face when making decisions, between being virtuous or focussing on self-success in reaching the Hajj. However, the main benefit Hajj Trail has over other learning tools is it creates an immense amount of empathy between players and the people in the in-game world which gets them emotionally involved in history.
Likewise, Hajj Trail enhances players’ knowledge about Islamic art, archaeology, and visual culture through its inclusion in the game’s imagery and market database. When arriving at a new location, the player is presented with an image involving the location as its subject. This image sometimes highlights certain architectural features, maybe a painting or a photograph, or also may be the image itself. One can visit a plethora of markets across the Hajj Trail and purchase all sorts of maps and other texts for information. For the most part, Dr. Tyler Kynn has tried to curate the artwork to be authentic to the time period while also aiding worldbuilding. This is evident from the onset with the character selection where players are able to see authentic depictions of clothing from the different social classes of prospective pilgrims. The imagery works well in many areas, however as Kynn mentioned in his lecture for certain areas on the map there are no public domain historical depictions thus, he has had to use photographs of ruins. Similarly, for religious shrines, bandit raids, and coffeehouses, images are often reused which can make the game feel redundant and also make the world seem more narrow.
A game such as this could benefit from the inclusion of more artwork, as in many ways it feels like a cultural showcase that lacks imagery. Encounters such as getting bit by a scorpion and meeting a witch were some of the most memorable as players get to see the Islamic art of these events. That being said, most of these issues could be fixed with more funding, resources, and a larger team working on the project. The foundation of the game is incredibly inviting and most mechanics operate well, in future iterations Hajj Trail could easily become an extremely smooth and immersive gaming experience.