The Static Speaks My Name

The blackest of black comedies. The Static Speaks My Name falls in line with any unutterably bleak, uncomfortable chuckle you've ever conjured, calling both Black Mirror and Salad Fingers to my mind during its playthrough. Its very short playthrough, incidentally.

And that, really, is the only compliant I have. You start the game by walking into a ball of light suspended in space, which gives you a person's name, age, and cause of death, and you then play out the last few minutes of their life. You end the game by being presented with another two balls of light, both of which have the same information on other people - but this time, when you walk into one, you get a 'Thanks for playing' message. I was genuinely disappointed that we only got one segment of this, because the tone is gripping enough to sustain itself over at least three or four more people's lives - and the game would still only have been an hour long, which I think would have felt about right.

One person is all we get though, and the playthrough of his life is outright twisted. It's a first person exploration game that feels like Gone Home (in mechanics and scale, not in mood), and the game gives you six tasks to do, one after another. The first - 'go to the toilet' - is basic, essentially a tutorial on movement and interacting with objects. The second - 'find something to eat for breakfast' is confusing at first, but dark as hell once you work out what you actually need to do (this is the bit that specifically reminded me of Salad Fingers). The third - 'chat to some friends online' - is quietly horrifying for reasons I won't outline here, but will be immediately obvious once you've played it. The fourth - 'clean the microwave' - is only there to lull you into a false sense of security, before the fifth completely flips the entire setting on its head. It's at this point, while trying to work out what the hell is going on, that you'll find yourself exploring the flat, finding notes and doodles left by the protagonist, all of which build the tension and flesh out this person's life. It's a ten minute run, but what a gripping ten minutes it is.

I won't lie - I laughed while playing this game, and I kinda felt like crap about the fact that I found it funny....but I enjoy that. It's that kind of experience that sticks with me. And The Static Speaks My Name will definitely stick with me. I just wish there was more of it.