How Fish Is Made

A perfect example of how games with barely any budget can provide truely unique experiences. This one delivers a visceral surreal atmosphere, dwelves in themes of the importance of choice, and still manages to find time for a musical section in its short 15 minutes running time. (which is one of the best gaming moments of the year). And you play as a flopping sardine, so there's that.

Its incredible how powerful art can be when its not tied to commercial appeal.

Life is full of choices, many of which being ones we don't exactly know the outcome of, we ask around, we try gathering all the information we can about whether the choice we make will be the right one, but in the end, we often cannot find the feeling of certainty we're looking for, since our own experiences and perspectives will shape the personal outcomes of what we decide nonetheless. In the end, it's often a case where the choice itself might be significant, but what matters more is possessing the conviction required to not be paralysed by indecisiveness, to at least attempt making a choice rather than wallowing around, hoping that one day a sudden flash of inspiration will give you all the answers. What makes it all the more difficult and confusing however, is that once forced to gain a vague idea of the direction you want to go, it becomes far, far harder to justify changing your mind, even if deep down you know that there's absolutely no bearing on the choice beyond going with your gut and sticking to your guns based on an impulse decision you made a long time ago. How Fish Is Made is ultimately a game that manages to convey so much about the uncertainties faced in life and the nature of choice, in general and the fact that this is all done through a game where you're just some fish flopping through these visceral, surreal environments just chatting to other random fish along the way is a great example of why I absolutely adore art. So much can be said and explored through even the most abstract, outlandish of means, it's really something special.