The Film

This game starts off very strongly with a nice animation of tv static, good styling choices and a creepy intro. I was ready to be scared and felt a bit nervous/excited going in.

Four friends are going to watch a famously bad movie that has previously been edited, but now they find the original director’s cut.

Unfortunately, one of them is killed. Even worse, it’s the friend that was keeping the whole group together, the leader.

The game then takes a quick turn and opens up to the main gameplay, where each friend must confront the death of their friend and what that means for the future. This was a unique and fun part of the game.

There are a ton of different endings, and I played through to see 8 of them, but after the first two you have to re-see a lot of the game so it petered out eventually. But the endings I got were very strong.

The beginning was a bit hard to follow; I thought they were going to a theatre, then to pick up something, then a concert, then they were at a gas station. I eventually realized it was all one story, but the jumps were a bit confusing. That’s my little nitpick for an otherwise very solid game. I like surrealish horror with two worlds/realities, so this was fun.

The Film is a surreal Interactive Fiction piece following a group of friend dealing with the anniversary of the loss of Marko, the "glue" of their group. To commemorate his memory, they watch the hard-to-find Director's cut of the cult movie Narcissus. During the movie, each individual goes through a psychedelic experience and is forced to confront their truth and their relationship with the rest of the group.

The different endings can be reached depending on the choice each individual make. Some are bittersweet, some are bone-chilling. Although it does not seem like there is a lot you can do, the choices does branch out quite widely, especially by the time you reach the ending.

Considering the seeds chosen by the authors, this was not really where I thought the game would end up going, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The confrontation of each individual about their personal relationship with Marko and the others, especially. It was so raw and unnerving.