The Minimalist Game

I'm beginning to see why some reviewers get irritated by the "games" that are posted on this site. This is not a game- this is a yes/no question. That question is "do you want to win". (Spoiler - click to show) The correct answer is yes.

There is nothing else to this. No story, nothing. At least mystic travels had a lot of meta-reference jokes. This was a waste of time.

I can only agree with the former reviews: this is not a game.

This project cannot pass as IF. Sure, there is interactivity to a minor degree (in answering one question), but there is no fiction, no story, not even the slightest bit of it. It cannot pass as a joke either, at least not for the player. A joke normally works with expectations and their dissolution in a punchline, but there are no expectations built up in the player by asking a single polar question.

I did not expect much when I started this, and I got even less. I did not feel especially annoyed or insulted, but there are no gaming contents here.

There is no question about whether this is a game or not -- it's not. It's a one-question effort, with no writing, no joke, nothing but standard responses. Not even its brevity atones for its pointlessness.

I think that the difficulty found by other players lies solely in their expectations. If they are to take a game by its own words, then they could have really enjoyed their time in the world created by the author. Sadly it appears most players brought their own preconceived notions and were unable to lose themselves in the process of either winning or losing the game.

The depth and magnitude of the game are nothing to write home about. It is not an entirely long game. But the satisfaction brought from winning should be experienced by anyone who comes across this classic. The humor, the brevity, the transparency of the name, it all worked together to bring me enjoyment while I worked out the strategy for winning (sometimes losing) this game.

It is short. The replayability is technically rather high, due to the game's length. One could certainly have multiple play-throughs in one sitting. But only having two endings does not encourage players to interact with it very frequently. There is a sequel that I haven't played yet, but I'm hoping the author will have written more than one ending.

Nonetheless, The Minimalist Game is a short but honest game, getting to the heart of the player's desires - encouraging some self-assessment and meditation on values - and is a game that every IF player should experience at least once.