Freeware Game Pick: triptych (Increpare)
I'd be lying if I said that I have any idea what triptych is about, but I think maybe the point of Increpare's latest work is to decide the meaning for yourself.
Created for the Dundee Game Jam, triptych is a simple text-based game in which you simply choose options with the space bar. Everything seems normal until a couple of options in, the narrative begins to take a rather odd turn.
The first few goes yield gibberish, but then now and again the crazy talk keeps back for just a little bit longer and you can actually try to work out what is going on. What does the gibberish mean? Is the main character trying to forget something terrible which happened in the past?
Grab a copy from Increpare's site and decide for yourself.
Comments
Really like this. The way the 'gibberish' takes the form of the sentence it's supposed to conceal, but also gives you information about why it is your character is so messed up, is very neat.
It also makes for some genuinely unsettling moments.
I'm guessing that it's called triptych because there's three different 'scenes' that you can experience. I'm not quite sure if they're supposed to be linked together, though.
Posted by: Malefact | April 5, 2009 3:18 PM
Interesting, unfortunately, I'm not totally sure if I got catharsis out of it.
And there are three scenes? I've only gotten two, one where you make the bed and one where you can mess with the curtains or read the stuff on the table.
Posted by: Coded One | April 5, 2009 4:06 PM
heh, actually increpare's games are pretty much the only games that have ever given me any feeling of catharsis.
Posted by: Bennett | April 5, 2009 5:22 PM
I don't get it. I mean, I guess, if I took notes. Eventually I realized the note on the table was a thank you note from my sister, but I guess I wasn't paying attention to the scene specific gibberish. Maybe later.
Posted by: Brad Root | April 5, 2009 6:05 PM
There's three? I only noticed two different ones.
And yeah, I have no idea what's going on either.
Posted by: Chetyre | April 5, 2009 6:33 PM
Why are these types of things referred to as 'games'? Shouldn't they be called 'interactive fiction'?
Posted by: SamIAm | April 6, 2009 3:16 PM
IF Games are games...
Posted by: Anonymous | September 27, 2009 9:43 PM