Thin Walls

This game was a contestant in the People's Champion Tournament of 2025, and it was one of the more serious works on the roster.

When I start out with a new work of IF, I always try to ascertain as quickly as possible whether the author is aiming for simple entertainment or is trying to accomplish something more profound. As with literature or film, I consider both options to be worthwhile endeavors, but the mindset of appreciation is so different between these two types that it's usually helpful to determine this early on. (That's not to say that there can't be serious works with comedy beats, or comedic works with serious beats; both of these are often very effective techniques that enhance the playing experience.)

Thin Walls is definitely the serious kind. It depicts the life of several relatively young adults (likely in their 20s and 30s), all of whom live together in a strangely reality-defying building, one that changes and expands over time. Many of the characters seem to be searching for meaning in their lives, with varying degrees of success. A young couple finds that in growing they are growing apart, which puts stress on their relationship. A young lady obsessively documents her daily existence with social media in an apparent attempt to transcend reality and live the life she portrays on the internet. Others experience conflict over property rights and differing definitions of what constitutes appropriate care of the commons. Still others seem adrift, unsure of what they are seeking or how to go about it.

Another thing that I look at closely for any given work is how the author uses interactivity, and specifically how they use it to achieve their intended goal (or at least their apparent goal). The main device used by author Wynter for this work is to frequently reassign the player to different player characters as the story progresses. This is very effective in creating player empathy with the characters, particularly in cases where the player experiences both sides of a conflict. However, because one cannot simultaneously imagine being two different people, it also invites an "outside" objective perspective that is not aligned with any particular character viewpoint.

As I think about this work in hindsight, it is primarily from the objective perspective, i.e. as a disembodied observer of the society in miniature formed by the building's inhabitants. Among the inhabitants is one particular character who stands out, that of the mysterious landlord named Eddie who is never observed directly by the other characters. As with the building itself, there are supernatural aspects that defy easy explanation in a world that otherwise seems to be everyday reality. Eddie is apparently some fantastic entity of malign intent, as in at least one interlude (in which the player is shown the perspective of the landlord) that entity seems to have knowledge about what's been happening in the building that is not explained by events observed by other characters, and to be deliberately fostering conflict between inhabitants of the building.

If there is a center to this story, it is Eddie. Since Eddie is sentient but seems vaguely inhuman, I can't help but wonder what he is supposed to represent. Is he a representation of the corporate "personhood" of a rental management company? Is he the invisible hand of capitalism? Is he a vague personification of our basic primate nature, with its instincts that are sometimes at odds with civilization? Is he supposed to be a literally-existing personification of evil as seen in pretty much every major religion?

I haven't been able to come to any real conclusions, and that leaves the work's foundational message uncertain. The thing that looks most like a clue is the way that characters in the building are discouraged from talking about certain things that they all experience and know to be true; it is taboo for them to discuss the house and its changes over time. The current Wikipedia article on Taboo begins as follows: "A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people." Which (and how many) of those four aspects do the inhabitants of the building believe, and why?

Thin Walls hints at deeper questions but does not seem willing to address them directly, an aspect that I find to be unsatisfying. However, the complex of stories being told is absorbing enough to hold one's attention, and there is value in contemplating the questions raised indirectly, so it's well worth one's time to experience this work.