THERE IS NO BLOG POST
Seriously… I don’t know why you’re reading this. There is no post. You should close the website now.
I played the first half of There is No Game and I had so much fun exploring the eccentric and charming non-universe. The puzzles were unique and so well-thought out. I had no idea what to expect next. I have a lot of respect for the kind of campy, 4th wall breaking. Personally, I’m a big fan of being addressed directly and in this case, I think it really adds to the avatar creation that hinges on, well.. you. It feels like an interpersonal experience and even though the narrator doesn’t know you, everything he says kind of feels like he does; especially once you start having to work with him to solve puzzles. All this to say, my blog post isn’t going to be a review, because you’re all going to play the game and experience the clever puzzle-building and level changes first-hand.
I actually wanted to go in a different direction and talk about the Impossible Quiz (TIQ). For me, the impossible Quiz (and its sequel) represent giggles in middle school as you desperately search for puzzle solutions while you’re meant to be reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm in Ms. Wright’s English class. I think there’s something so nostalgic about point-and-click games in general, but something about There Is No Game really reminded me of TIQ. The main difference is the fully fleshed-out narrative component, which in T.I.N.G, is witty and extremely well-built. I think there is something about unique puzzling (as I would call it) that is reminiscent of “educational games” but elicits this sense of competition, both intrinsically and extrinsically. I remember swarming around school Chromebooks playing TIQ and feeling this overwhelming desire to not only beat my classmates, but also beat my past attempts. It was an addictive thing, solving these puzzles. I think T.I.N.G adds another dimension to this feeling. While puzzle games have this kind of collaborative competition in the “real world” when you’re sharing a game with a friend or peer, this game has such depth within each character and level, that you feel like you’re sharing this decoding/problem solving experience with the characters of the T.I.N.G world. I can’t wait to unlock more about the story, the world, and the characters as I continue playing. In the mean time, if anyone wants to play The Impossible Quiz, you can find it here.
