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Recordkeeping: Broken Reality COMPLETE
Aug. 11th, 2019 02:35 amSo rarely have I played a game that wears exactly what it is on its sleeve, yet plays its cards close to its chest.
Broken Reality is a "vaporwave" game about exploring the retrofuturistic internet of the future. It's dilapidated, packed with glitches. No one much cares about you except as a vehicle to get more 'likes' on their own content, if that. Mostly, they're glued to their tablets. Your only means of interacting with the world at first is your thumbs-up Liker. Memes are everywhere.
Soon enough you learn to slash through malware, follow hyperlinks and spend like an influencer, and that's all important and ends up making the game feel a bit 3D Metroid, but with more bullshitting and net culture.
More than once I found myself asking myself/the game, "Does this actually mean anything? Does this have a purpose? Are we shitposting here or is something more profound at the heart of it?" and like the culture it came from the game just sorta shrug-lol'd at me. I could never tell what actually mattered, and it often bothered me. (It turns out I wasn't the only person asking such questions.)
In the end I came away with a vaguely satisfied sense. This is not a healthy system, this is not the way people are supposed to interact, and I think the game knows that on some level. I'm glad I played it, but it was ... very strange.
A little broken, you could say.
Broken Reality is a "vaporwave" game about exploring the retrofuturistic internet of the future. It's dilapidated, packed with glitches. No one much cares about you except as a vehicle to get more 'likes' on their own content, if that. Mostly, they're glued to their tablets. Your only means of interacting with the world at first is your thumbs-up Liker. Memes are everywhere.
Soon enough you learn to slash through malware, follow hyperlinks and spend like an influencer, and that's all important and ends up making the game feel a bit 3D Metroid, but with more bullshitting and net culture.
More than once I found myself asking myself/the game, "Does this actually mean anything? Does this have a purpose? Are we shitposting here or is something more profound at the heart of it?" and like the culture it came from the game just sorta shrug-lol'd at me. I could never tell what actually mattered, and it often bothered me. (It turns out I wasn't the only person asking such questions.)
In the end I came away with a vaguely satisfied sense. This is not a healthy system, this is not the way people are supposed to interact, and I think the game knows that on some level. I'm glad I played it, but it was ... very strange.
A little broken, you could say.
