Violent Delight

This game uses the Decker system, which has a nice integration of graphics and interaction, similar to bitsy or binksy but with more complexity (I think it came first).

In it, you order a cartridge for essentially lost media online and wait for it to get delivered, which takes an hour of real-life time.

Once you get it running, it turns out to be bland and harmless, a simple game in a playground. The game breaks down as you play, forcing you to hurry to finish it on a timer. Opening the cartridge up afterwards reveals a physical limiter that hides part of the game. By breaking the plastic, we can remove that limiter, but each time we do it takes a minute or two in real life to be able to play again, then we have another fast session where a timer counts down, then charge up again.

Each time we do this, it opens a new level of the game we can go 'down' to, in a symbolic quest like Dante's Inferno or My Father's Long Long Legs. The further we go, the more strange or upsetting things we see (or rather, read about in text), including bizarre birthing videos, characters that blame us for our actions, horrible violence, etc.

The ending was unanticipated and surprising. We're left to contemplate what happened.

I had a visceral reaction to this game and wrote down my thoughts on it, but I'll keep this IFDB review to the game itself for future generations. The three stars reflects a combination of my personal enjoyment, personal reaction, and my belief of how others would feel about this game in the future. I'd give it a 5 but the timed nature is a severe deterrent to many IF players, like busy parents or those with limited sight.