Everything

Pretentious art game with the rather bizarre decision to not animate animals walking and instead just having them do somersaults. If you like art games this is good but its not for everyone.

You have to experience it for yourself, roll a doobskin, set the game's settings to full autonomy, gets some snacks, make sure you have headphones, take control when you really feel it is needed, be patient, enjoy the ride and vibe. Really good game.

Today, I was reading some very disheartening news, stories, and reactions to the current state of the games industry. It got me thinking, "what would a game be like if it were to just completely reject the standard notions of what a game is, and focus purely on communicating an idea that could not be communicated in any other way in quite the same way?" kind of like, say, anti-art / dadaism did back in the early-to-mid 20th century. I thought, "what if there was an 'anti-game' genre?" and, it turns out, I am not the first person to have this thought. That people were thinking about this kind of stuff like 10 years ago. And I vaguely recall these discussions going around the game dev twitters and parties back around that time when I was an indie game dev myself. Somewhere in these discussions is mentioned a game called "Mountain" which is, well, exactly what it says on the tin. It's $1, and you get a little mountain to kind of play around with. Pretty cute. Not the best thing I've ever played, but for $1, what should one expect, really? It's a worthwhile $1 game. No real objectives or anything. So, maybe "game" is being used a little more loosely here, but hey - that's kind of interesting in and of itself, if you like to think about that sort of thing. Which I happen to.
It did include a very smartly placed little advertisement for this game "Everything", which came about 3-4 years later. Which I also remember being a hot topic in the indie circles for a time. Being a game dev, I was super busy with work, and unfortunately also missed this game at that time (and being an indie game dev at the time, I was also perpetually broke). So, now, here I am, 2024. Six years of long story later. Bummed out on the current state of the games industry. Looking for something completely different.
Right, Everything. I remember hearing about that game. I should give that a go.
So I did. Played it for over an hour. Loved it. Amazing. And I didn't even feel like I had to sit here playing it for hours and hours and hours. Like, because it presents itself as being (nearly) boundless and it saves your progress as you exit (and it's not like some games are where they're like "oh please don't leaave!" forget that, they're just like "oh, you want to exit?"), it's like I feel I can walk away from it any time i want or stay with it for as long as i want. I admit I am a bit of a sucker for Alan Watts. I could listen to that guy talk all day. This game providing this nice little backdrop for him talking philosophy is just <chefs kiss>.
as far as the jankiness, it's very up-front and unapologetic about it, which frankly I feel like I can forgive and almost respect because of how clean and well-done the rest of it is.
i wanted to go outside and think about life after playing this game.

playing this game feels exactly like it wants you to. It tells me that I am everything and that it's important to view everything from everything's point of view. and I look at all the things that move and dance and sing to me and I want to be everything. There is so much more I want to be; Everything.

Well, this is a thing.. The boundary between a game and an interactive experience can sometimes be more or less a blur these days and in a certain way Everything straddles right in the middle of these two aspects. First and foremost a warning, this may not be a game for you, it might not even be an interactive experience for you and I get that the venn-diagram that encompasses the target audience for this game is weird, and quite surreal..
So what is the fuzz about? Everything is first and foremost a “game” about perspective, scientific as well as philosophical. You begin as a “thing”, you learn to navigate a weird world by rolling and interacting with other things through dance, song and herding. Accompanying you on the journey is Alan Watts, a philosopher heavily inspired by the zen-buddhist way of thinking who you get to follow over a 66-part lecture on the topic of being.
After a very short while in this game you will either hit the refund and opt out or dive deeper into the experience and I can almost certainly not sell you on this game if you are not interested in the theme around existentialism and perspective.
Even though I begrudgingly respect the game for what it is trying to do I have a few caveats.. The animals rolling around (unless they are wobbling) are quite jarring at first, some say it is part of the aesthetic, but to me it's just plain lazy and the late games collectathon is really only pleasing to the most hardcore of pokemon-philosophers ready to spend quite a lot of time just revisiting the same layers over and over until all the stones are turned.. All in all this is a very selective recommendation! I adore Alan Watts and can appreciate the playful use of perspective, even though it wears out its welcome after a while. It is an interesting experience, but is it truly a game? Well, who can tell..
Check it out on a video before diving in, it is not for everyone..
I’m not even sure it is working for me..

A very good tool for showing you who and what you really are. Maybe the whole world and people would be more connected and stop hurting eachother and share more if they knew there is no separation between eachother. Like a coin, heads and tails are different, but still the same coin. This game can show people that the night sky and universe is our extended body. You can look up there and say wow thats me. Look into eachothers eyes and say wow, Thats ME.
Who are you(we) anyway.
THis game is cool

While not strictly a game, this is one of the most interesting experiences I have ever had in the interactive medium. I highly recommend this game and suggest going into it blind.