Precipice

Precipice is a very short point and click adventure realized with AGS back in 2015. As far as I can tell it got reviewed by RPS and a feature on a interesting website called WarpDoor, but didn’t get much attention besides of that – the author tagged it as a prototype, but in my opinion this game is complete.

Your character is a faceless policeman, living and working in an bladerunneresque city he obviously hates and who is caught up in a story about a murder investigation. You’ll probably finish the game within 7 minutes, but in this time Precipice features some very surprising and intriguing twists that let the game really stand out; it is very audacious and a bit experimental, and successful in doing so. It could evoke ideas about inevitability, storytelling, and the meaning of ones doings or priorities.

The graphics are nice and atmospheric, the music is stock – but fitting; the sound effects are functional. Gameplaywise, you won’t find to much here – riddles are non-existent, all mechanics are barebone – since it is merely a framework for the story; but this doesn’t matter the least.

Running it with wine worked, but trying to activate the full screen using the cfg broke the game – playing it Windowed is absolutely okay either. The author made some other nice looking games (most of them seem to be more traditional, though) and is still active.

Precipice is a clever and very pointed game, and the proportion of playtime to satisfaction ins incredible. Very recommended!