Sohoek Ekalmoe

This is a lovely little game by Caleb Wilson, one of many games of his involving magical plants.

In this one, you are at the bottom of a well with a piece of nearby sunlight. You want to grow but you just aren't strong enough.

This game is brief but with excellent characterization and strong writing, reminding me a bit of Out by Sobol, although less metaphorical. There are nice bits of world-building as well.

The title of this review is the translation of the Sohoek Ekalmoe's title as provided by the work itself. It is also the name given to the player character, which is a kind of sentient plant.

The premise is inventive, and the portrayal of the protagonist's experience is memorable. Although the experience is quite short, author Caleb Wilson has crafted something very clever at the heart of it. Like his better known work, Lime Ergot, the essential mechanic here depends on rendering an extraordinary style of perception. In this case, it's the ability to perceive one's environs as a distributed entity across multiple locations.

This aspect, in combination with the novelty of a botanical body, creates a compellingly fresh play experience. I only wish that this work was longer; (Spoiler - click to show)the promise of conflict hinted at in the beginning turns out to be false foreshadowing. Though the protagonist seems to have barely survived a battle with his unnamed but apparently humanoid "enemies," an attempt to seek them out yields only the remnants of their long-destroyed kingdom. Presumably the protagonist's sense of time is wildly different than our own, especially in the energy-limited environment in which the story begins.

Short as it is, this work accomplishes what it sets out to do, delivering a glimpse into a different philosophy and reminding the player that (Spoiler - click to show)even civilizations die, but the dance of life -- here meaning life in the grander sense of the biosphere -- goes on.

The core mechanic of Lime Ergot notably inspired the very popular Toby's Nose by Chandler Groover. It will be interesting to see whether the new ideas showcased in this work are ever used for something of greater scale.

I have never thought as a plant.
This is a very original game, with a carefully construction.
I can say no more than you should enjoy it.

This game is a good "lunchtime" time.