The End of Gameplay

I don't think I agree with droqen's view on "kill gameplay", at least based on listening to one podcast interview - I gather he has talked about it elsewhere. Honestly this game itself is only one layer of the rabbit hole (pun based on the game intended) of the whole topic that surrounds it. If I wanted to more "fully weigh in", I'd probably have to invest at least a few more hours on all the surrounding material. Having said all that, I found this game to be excellent. To get something out of this, let alone the most, I think you need tolerance for some unusual and sometimes finicky platforming controls (which are a plus to me when done well, as they are here) and an open mind. In contrast with some other reviews, I _don't_ think you need to have heard droqen speak on "kill gameplay" to enjoy this. Don't get me wrong - I can so easily imagine many people saying "what the hell is this" within 2 minutes and having a very bad time. If you have any impulse to think odd indie art games ...

a collection of poems as a cute platformer about one person's struggles with making games. will eat away at you for a while and a while longer if it does not bounce off you completely. thats probably a good enough tl;dr for people that dont care to read i don't really know how much i should talk about in this steam review. i dont even really like steam reviews that much? it feels very reflective of, how we view games. as a product that you should or should not buy - and obviously, they are by virtue of existing as a product of labour in a capitalistic society, but there is something about these sorts of reviews specifically that put me off a little in some part of me. of course on one hand it is good to have a collection of different people's opinions so you can have an idea of if you should spend your hard earned cash on a luxury (and this is what video games are, luxuries) but on the other hand it feels. i dont know. it's reducing games down to 'is this something you should spen...

I bought this at launch but for some reason decided two months later, holding a heat pack to my jaw while in horrible pain, was the correct time to play it. I'm not sure why, but, I think I was correct. I don't know what the point of this review is. I'm glad I played this game.

I'm gonna make a video essay about why I recommend this game.

droqen, We've had more than a handful of discussions about kill gameplay over on Bluesky, and having finally experienced... whatever you want to call this, I feel I understand your perspective much better. Had I not dug into your original musings on the topic, I feel this would have fell a little flat but I imagine you're okay with that. To recommend it feels like the wrong perspective to have, and yet I do recommend it. What this illuminated for me is while kill gameplay can certainly be ascribed to those who play games, our role as developers, as architects, is to reject, well, gameplay. There's simultaneously nothing and yet so much to say, but I'll end with what I found to be the most impactful message from my experience. regular trees fertilized with ego become parks, gardens, zoos nature redesigned nature built as if from scratch nature destroyed

an impactful poetry collection. maybe you'll want to kill gameplay after. maybe not