What’s going on here?

A day at home, sick, and exploring the post-apocalyptic space that is Inside

A surprising amount of my time of late has been spent watching others play games. I say others, really, most of my time is spent watching Jacksepticeye in all of his loud, hilarious, and often touching and sincere glory. While I watch him play all sorts of games, it is rare for me to stop the video, and immediately purchase the game and start playing it myself. You see, I love stories and narratives, and have so often found that lacking in video games, while any game can be fun to watch with good commentary-for us more middle-aged folk out there, think of watching youtube gamers as watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000-I generally play strategy and simulation games and leave the story-telling to novels, TV shows, and films.

But watching Jack play Inside, I wanted to be part of that story.

I have never experienced such a rich sense of place and character building in a game as I did in this game. Even more amazing as the game has no dialog, and the controls are limited to move, grab, and jump. You control a boy who starts in the woods evading teams of men in trucks, and immediately you want to know what the hell is going on. Things don’t always become clear, but the mystery of it pulls me in rather than alienates or frustrates me. I won’t say much more other than to recommend you watch a bit of it, then get the game and experience this strange world for yourself.