Review Fix Exclusive 2013 Tribeca Film Festival Coverage: RPG OKC Review: A Gamut of 8-Bit Emotions

The Nintendo Entertainment System meets MTV’s “Catfish,” Emily Carmichael’s “RPG OKC” is an epic love story that steals your heart. Fueled by 25-year-old gaming technology, the pop culture and nostalgia is too cool to ignore. A genuine ability at storytelling and tight editing however seal the deal. It’s one of the best short films at Tribeca this year.

Simply designed and equally as approachable, this film quickly captures your attention and holds you tight throughout. One of those “sad it has to end” shorts, Carmichael deserves a much larger canvas to play with.

At its heart, “RPG OKC” is what you get when you combine legendary video games the likes of “Dragon Warrior” and “Final Fantasy” with animated sitcoms “Adventure Time” and “Code Monkeys.” Silly, yet smart and fun, it’s a nine-minute short with plenty of staying power. When it’s over, you won’t want to leave this world. Lush, yet simple, it’s beauty without the drama, no fuss.

The aesthetics of the film are all about hiding weaknesses and showing strength. While the characters don’t speak, the audience is connected to them via solid storytelling and a hilarious script. The visuals are dated, but the sound is tight. The music hits at all the right times and when needed, the characters show just the right amount of emotion, even if it’s a blink of the eye or an attempt at sneaking past enemies. While the presentation may be inarticulate and even childish to some, Carmichael is a master at work here. She is able to get you to fall in love with this world in minutes. It’s what the Uwe Boll’s of the world dream about doing and can’t, even with million-dollar budgets. She doesn’t need any of that.

A “medieval” love story, the film introduces us to an unlikely couple, Paquine and Paul, who meet online and literally have to travel to the end of their worlds to meet up. The conversations they have with friends and family before their encounter are easily relatable. The same thing goes for their relationship. Scared to take the next step, they delete their instant messages and try to slow things down. It’s adorable, even in eight-bits. Although the visuals are animated and the story fiction, everyone will laugh. There will be a few romantic “awws” as well. Everyone has been here before. Just never quite like this.

A partial escape from reality, accompanied by a series of pop culture references and endearing characters, “RPG OKC” is a gamer geek’s kind of love story, but it’ll still be a retreat for any fan of film looking for ingenuity, honesty and heart.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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