@lovethynerd
Love Thy Nerd
Love Nerds + Engage Culture + Build Community

The Joy of Creation in So Let Us Melt

When I was a kid, I loved The Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis had a way of depicting stories I knew from the Bible and making me feel things about them, things I had never felt from reading the (to a third-grader) dry text of Scripture. In The Magician’s Nephew, the characters witness the world of Narnia being sung into reality by Aslan the lion and the countless stars in the sky. That gave me a sense of wonder and amazement that “In the beginning…” had never done. Similarly, So Let Us Melt reminded me of the awe that an act of creation can engender, and what a joy it is to witness.

So Let Us Melt is the first VR experience produced by The Chinese Room and tells the story of Custodian 98 and the other Living Machines that build the world of Kenopsia for the people sleeping in Polar City. The Custodians look like intricately carved seashells that are possessed by Gushers and float around singing to each other and the planet. Their job is to sing the world into existence. They sing to the ground to bring about life. They sing to the giant Living Machines that help them build the world. They sing to other Custodians to communicate. I played as Custodian 98 and floated around the planet singing to fellow Custodians, 98’s Drone, to Living Machines and living things alike. I felt an upwelling of joy. I realized that the incredible soundtrack that composer Jessica Curry was piping into my ears was the echo of the Custodians around Kenopsia, singing.

Before I even got to the title screen and menu, So Let Us Melt told me that it was best experienced with headphones. Since it’s a VR game, that is important for triangulation. But when my dog jumped off the bed and accidentally unplugged my headphones, it reminded me how terrible most music sounds coming out of a phone speaker. The music is not only the soaring angelic choirs Curry used in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and the driving piano lines she debuted in Dear Esther. So Let Us Melt adds an electronic element that is, for now, solely its own. And rather than Custodian 98’s songs creating dissonance over this majesty, the music is layered and looped perfectly to progress when 98 sings. Every sound is both literally and metaphorically in perfect harmony.

Their job is to sing the world into existence.

Humans tell the story, but they don’t feature in the interactive part of the game. They have heard of the Custodians and the other Living Machines that built their world. The Living Machines are programmed to love the people in Polar City and do everything they can to bring about a perfect Kenopsia on schedule. This means that when the comet Lassiter threatened the planet, the Living Machines had to decide what was best for the sleeping people and Kenopsia. But they could only do so much.

Thousands of years later, Custodian 98 awoke to a new song. The people of Polar City are not programmed to love, as the Living Machines were, but they do, and they sing to Custodian 98, pulling it out of its slumber, bidding it join them. The grace expressed by the people for the Custodians is overwhelming, as the cataclysm still came to Kenopsia. But the Custodians are not blamed or shamed or even viewed as failing. Instead, they are honored for their work and revered for their sacrifice.

So Let Us Melt reminds me of the explosive joy of creation, that bringing something new into the world is worth singing and shouting about. Whether you are bringing new life or new ideas into the world, every act of creation is a wonder that should be celebrated.





Assignment Editor
Assignment Editor at Love Thy Nerd, Madeline lives in Kansas where she takes care of people, plays games, watches, reads, writes, and makes things.

Reader Comments

Related Content

Free Play 173 | Deep-Faked Drake

What if I sent you a link to an awesome song that was just released on Spotify by Drake and The Weeknd. It sounds just like their voices and just like their production. Turns out, it's a song created by an AI who has been trained to emulate music by the two artists and Universal Music Group is rallying to get it removed from the interwebs. If a song is created completely by an AI, then who owns it? The people it’s “inspired by” even if it’s not them singing?

The Power of Beauty and The Beauty of Creation in The Rings of Power

Back Row 513 – 516 | Everyday Fantasy Drafts

Radio Matt & Mo draft fruit, cereal, movies, etc. to pick the best team and the Back Row Buds vote on the best!

Free Play 149 | iFreeplay

What’s happened in the past, and where does that leave us with the next big ideas of Apple VR and Apple Glasses? That’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Church Nerds 62 | Metaverse Ministry

Bubba took a virtual adventure into virtual church in the Metaverse (well, as it currently exists, anyway) this past week, and he and Anna discuss what the Metaverse is and what ministry in the Metaverse will look like moving forward.

Back Row 420 – 422 | Gray Areas

This week, Radio Matt & Mo are examining the effect the Matrix series had on society, the growing scientific idea that us being in a simulation is not only possible, but likely, and how the Simulation Theory could actually be Creationism in disguise.

Back Row 416 – 418 | Simulation Theory

This week, Radio Matt & Mo are examining the effect the Matrix series had on society, the growing scientific idea that us being in a simulation is not only possible, but likely, and how the Simulation Theory could actually be Creationism in disguise.

Two Words 20 | Entrance Music

There is a reason Vince McMahon calls his business “Sports Entertainment”. When you see a wrestler walking to the ring, it’s the spectacle that makes them feel larger than life. Pyro, graphics, laser lights, a video package, and the most important element – the music. The rallying cry for every hero or the looming omen […]