Un Pas Fragile finds strength in facing fears, showing the power in but a single step toward meeting our goals and bettering ourselves.
Camille’s journey to become a ballet dancer is one fraught with all kinds of troubles. She’s clumsy. Bullied on the bus. Has troubles at home. Her life is a quagmire of problems, yet, step by step, she continues toward her dream.
And you feel the weight of her troubles as you play. She looks nervous a lot of the time. Her dance moves are unsure. She is timid and small. All of these weights are closing in on her, looking to minimize her and make her presence ever-smaller in this world. To make it so that she can’t get what she wants. Everything seems to want to push her down.
Still, every moment in this game is a small step, highlighted by a short, striking scene. Camille is not a tower of inner strength pushing toward being a ballet dancer. She shows the sheer courage of a single action done toward becoming who you want to be. That every thing you do, no matter how small, is a show of determination. These small steps will slowly move mountains. Ever journey is made of these small steps, and Un Pas Fragile celebrates this with its lovely narrative and visuals.
Un Pas Fragile is an empowering game, showing that even when we feel like we’re standing still, we are still taking actions toward who we want to become in the smallest of decisions, and in the simple quiet courage of facing our day and not letting it defeat us. It is the dignity in surviving and moving ahead captured in a tiny ten minute game, and one of the most moving things I played in 2019.
Un Pas Fragile is available now on Itch.io, Steam, Google Play, and the App Store.