This is a game that came to my backlog quite randomly. At least once a week, I try to go through the list of games Steam wants to recommend, and this one charmed me. Between the writer having done The Stanley Parable, the trailer being just a touch bizarre, and description that was half written before the writer Tina just quit and left, I was intrigued. So I added it to my backlog on the spot.
So when a game I’m trying to complete became unplayable yesterday (online game that as I type this still seems to be under a DDOS attack), I decided I would open something new… and the dice chose this. They did not choose poorly.
Story: Look, we know you are ready to play. You went to Steam, you downloaded the game, clicked to run it and to start the game in the main menu. But… something has gone wrong. You see, this game is real-time and run much like an adventure/escape room where everyone runs the game for one player at a time… and since you showed up while someone was already playing, you kinda have to wait.
But, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Much like the young lady who wrote the description, most of the people behind this experience have quit, leaving you and every gamer who wanted to play at the mercy of what can be done by basically the Narrator alone. But in you being here, there is a solution. Perhaps you could help run the game for the gamer currently playing? Ii might be worth it to get a unique behind the scene view before you get to play yourself? What do you say?
With this basic idea, you help the Narrator run the game for this other player as he guides you through the various acts you can do in the background. It is a simple linear setup with a few details and collectibles, but it is enough to carry this very short game itself. It is also surprisingly entertaining! Much like the other game the writer here is known for, a lot of what keeps you here will be the narrator and interacting with the poor soul as he does his best to “help you help him.”
The only complaint I have here is the linearity means there is very little reason to come back after playing it a single time. Because I played Stanley Parable first, I was hoping for a lot more variety based on what actions I chose to do, but there is simply not enough here to do this.
8/10
Graphics: Graphically this game is not going to really impress you. It doesn’t look bad by any means, but it just doesn’t stand out. You will wander around the back stages of the game in a 1st person perspective through varied environments from a waiting room to pipe-layered rooms, to rooms hung over the actual sets. It’s varied, but also made in the still nice looking but clearly aged Source engine of Half-Life 2 fame.
Sadly, there is also no one else in the map at all and very few things that even move, making the halls that make up the game very stationary with little to interact with. It looks nice, but it’s yet another reason there is not much reason to come back after your first time.
6/10
Sound: Like the graphics, there is little here to impress in the sound territory, but unlike the graphics, what is here is absolutely exceptional. There isn’t much in the way of music to enjoy and even less in sound effects (since this results in the few buttons and switches you hit), but the voice acting on the other hand is going to make you smile.
First and foremost is the narrator, an exasperated man who clearly has been stuck doing this job for far too long and just can not believe the situation he is stuck in today… and the desperate hope that you might be the one who helps him clings comically to his every line. There are also two other parts you can find which can be very amusing, but have literally nothing to do with what’s going on in any tangible sense, but they are entertaining. Actually if you do want to play this game a second time, finding these audio clips might be your only legitimate reason.
8/10
Gameplay: The actual gameplay behind this game is very simple. You will have controls to walk around and an interact button which you can use on various objects. The important ones will be pointed out to you by the Narrator as he desperately tries to make sure the show you two are putting on is a good one, but there are collectibles you can take as well, like stick-it notes and coins, but they do little to the game itself. Simply put there is very little here, and unfortunately due to it’s linear nature, there is even less you can do to gum up the works or change things up.
5/10
Bugs: I can not say I found any bugs in this game. It ran perffectly.
Overall: If this game had a price, I would likely tell you to avoid it. It’s not that the game isn’t entertaining. In fact it is very much so, but it has incredibly little actual gameplay and a single story to tell, which it done in under 20 minutes with very little reason to come back and play. In short, unless this game was ridiculously cheap, it just doesn’t have enough to offer.
But as a free game, I can’t see a reason not to check it out. You will be able to kick back, relax, laugh a little at the Narrator’s expense, and be on your way. This in mind, I can’t think of many who shouldn’t give it a shot. After all, at best, you will laugh and enjoy a very short game before doing whatever you wanted to do. At worst, if you hate it, you’re out 15-20 minutes for the entire thing.
Score:
7/10
System Requirements:
- 1.80 Ghz Processor
- 2 GB RAM
- Any video card with at least 512 MB VRAM
- 1 GB hard drive
- Windows XP SP2 or higher
System Specs:
- AMD FX 8350 (8 cores) running at 4 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- NVidia GeForce 960 GTX with 4 GB VRAM
- Windows 10
Source: Steam
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