Review: Thing-in-Itself (2017) [pixietails.club]

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====== Review: Thing-in-Itself (2017) ======
Original post: https://misthold.dreamwidth.org/11046.html

**[[https://pintroverts.itch.io/thing-in-itself|Thing-in-Itself]] (2017)** is an interactive short story with very little player input, no win/lose conditions, and no branching storylines. It's about a relationship that recently ended, and the emotions that come up due to loss. The title is from Kant, so if you're into philosophy you'll probably love this game.

The entire game is set in one bedroom. You can interact with the objects in the room, kinda. You can pick things up, throw them away, etc. but it's all tied to the story. The colors and object descriptions change depending on the protagonist's mood, which is a neat touch. The art style is very flat-- all the objects are 2D, but in a way that looks like a 3D object got squished back into 2D, if that makes sense.

Took about 20 minutes to play. Afterwards, I felt sad and frustrated because there wasn't much to do except watch the protagonist get more and more upset. Since you can't interact in any meaningful way, there's nothing you can do to change the story. An interesting concept but more conceptual than what I usually enjoy playing, tbh. 

Price: $2.49

Available for Windows and macOS. I played the Mac version.