Warning – this review contains spoilers! The questions BioShock raised about player freedom and agency were fantastically integrated into its narrative. They were also novel at the time of release. But that doesn't mean they're old now, let alone boring. Slender Threads deals with similar questions, but in addition to its gripping narrative, the game design of point-and-click adventures provides the perfect foundation for taking the fatalistic horror of playful determinism to the extreme. If a puzzle has only one solution, a single one, does the player really still have freedom of action? Or are the developers playing us? This simple idea brings the problems of supposed “playful freedom” to light and hangs them on a few slender threads for us to examine. More than BioShock could have ever done, since the immersive sim background didn't allow it. Harvey's story and the many possible interpretations will stay with me for a long time. Definitely an absolute indie gem and, for me, in the same league as Hypnospace, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, the Golden Idols (whose aesthetics Slender Threads strongly reminds me of, paired with a dash of Rex Crowle) and the Wadjet Eye Games. The music is great, the voice acting might be one of the best I've heard since Curse of Monkey Island and the fact that I had to laugh out loud more than once is the cherry on top. (The moment I realized Fosco Moretti will be following me everywhere I go got me so good). Point-and-click adventures are alive and well, folks.
