Absent minded

Absent minded is a ultra short hypertext fiction story accompanied by color distorted pixelized photos.

Set on a deserted beach, a person wanders through the ravages of their life; unable to escape both from the place and the circle thoughts of despair and grieve; despite the grim theme, this is nothing like a horror game – the tone is most melancholic, and the descriptions and pictures create a dreamlike quality. I’m pretty sure the game is partly inspired by Last Year at Marienbad.

Compared to most other Twine games I played, Absent minded is bending stronger into hypertext, and breaks mostly all ties to linear narration. This works – partly because the games rather small scope supports such a concept, but also because the writing is good, direct, thrilling, and tastefully minimal writing that enforces a somewhat naturalist feeling that supports a perceptible immersion.

The game is played by basic instructions where to go next, and the outcome is mostly opaque; the protagonists feeling of entrapment is mirrored in the practical limitation of movement for the player. This creates, especially at the very beginning of the game, a disorientation that fits the game overall theme and mood – gameplay is effectively used to underline narrative elements, in a way that is comparable to sound or visuals when doing a multimedia-work.

The throughout fine and coherent production, the the trenchant quality of writing and the consequence in utilizing the means of video gaming subsume to a great and unique gaming experience. Highly recommend to play this; a run will take you roughly 15 minutes.

The game was uploaded without much comment to the Bring your Ghosts Jam, that was – despite the name – actually a Jam about finishing a project on hiatus; while playing the game, I believe to have recognized this as an case of some fine case of hidden humor.

Absent minded can only be played in your browser. This worked for me without a flaw, using Firefox on OpenSuse Thumbleweed.