There is so much innovation and creativity in this little no-game. It truly is a love child to lots of games that came before it, and it oozes with humor and charm. If all none-games are this fun, I am never playing a game again.
... Well of course you wont play it, it's not a game, end of story, stop clicking my Review...
Okay to be serious, I can't say anything on this game, voz it's a game you just have to play.
So Pros
- Point and Click with Style
- Humorous
- Requires some Skill
Cons
- RUSSIAN!!! (No I'm not!!!) *
- It ends... I know I know it's not really a Con but I can't think of any real Cons...
*(This is a joke sadly coz Internet peole are stupid I literally have to sayt his a joke or they believe it... welcome to the Age of Information)
The writing is obviously where this excels. One might think that the whole shtick gets old after a while but - it doesn't. There are layers upon layers of wall-breaking and it's hilarious to see it unfold.
Which is not to say that the puzzles weren't designed brilliantly as well. Including the hint system. Because sometimes, you don't necessarily need the hint but just realize what is clickable on screen. Overall, I think I used the system maybe twice to figure out what's clickable and twice for actual hints. The other times, the puzzles were mostly straightforward.
Now, personally, I prefer my games to either be light-hearted or have no story at all, so I didn't care too much for the drama that got pretty thick at the end. I suspect that most people won't mind though and even for me, it was a mix of being teary-eyed and laughing a lot at the absurdity of what was going on.
I did love the inclusion of being critical about the games industry, down to the Kickstarter campaign. Wonderful how all of that sort of built the core for everything.
Oh and - there's a ton of content. Took me almost 11 hours to finish it. And then I realized based on the achievements that there's actually some more stuff hidden in there. Given that one can revisit previous chapters, that's quite an incentive to go back and figure out what that was about. (Same for the different endings - which I always appreciate.)
Can't wait to see what's next!
Wife: Are you playing video games again?
Me: There is no game.
Wife: What do you mean? Look at the screen! You’re playing a game.
Me: But it says right here: “There is no game.”
Wife: What are these then?
Me: VGA/SVGA pixel art.
Wife: You mean graphics.
Me: I think it’s the user interface.
Wife: And are these puzzles?
Me: No, I think they’re interactive elements that I can make things happen on screen.
Wife: Like in a video game.
Me: But, there is no game.
Wife: Is that characters talking?
Me: I think the program is speaking to me directly. It’s breaking the fourth wall.
Wife: What fourth wall? Did you break something?
Me: No, the program did.
Wife: You mean the game?
Me: There is no game.
Wife: Okay, fine. It’s NOT a game. What’s it about then?
Me: It’s an entertaining, funny satire about various video game genres.
Wife: So it’s a video game…
Me: There is no…
Wife: …about video games.
Me: …game.
Wife: How much did you pay for this?
Me: Not a lot…it’s a good deal! I’ve already spent close to 10 hours on this.
Wife: You’ve spent close to half a day playing this?
Me: Yeah, I couldn’t figure out how to get past a few parts.
Wife: Not that bright are you?
Me: …
Wife: Whatever. Just don’t play games all day.
Me: There is no game.
Wife: You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.
* Not actual conversation between my wife and me.
I was looking for Monkey Island 1, to replay it with an old friend. But i stumbled across this absolute gem of irony, surprises and sentiment. It's the first time i spend 6 hours straight playing in the last 10-15 years. Highly recommend.