The Garbage of the Future - AM Ruf
This game is compelling enough that I want to complete all the achievements. I’ve got quite a few. Then I get the one that might lead to the ‘good’ ending (if this game does have a good ending - given that the good ending seems to involve me dumping toxic sludge into a lake and getting away with it? Is it good? - dunno - I may never find out - see the rest of this convoluted paragraph), but this involves me doing the same thing over and over for a loooong time, and after that the game needs me to do something else, and I step outside the truck and get almost immediately eaten and I have no intention of repeating all that again. Hopefully this paragraph is vague enough that its not a spoiler.
That’s the premise of the game. As a tanker truck operator, we’ve got to get some awful sludge out of the truck. But there’s something terrible out there in the dark.
It’s presented as a choice game, but a parser-esque one. I have a small, but surprisingly confusing, map I can navigate around. Objects I can manipulate. Commands are contextual. It’s a cool, experimental UI platform. But does it work? In the main, for me, yes. Within a few minutes, and once I get used to it, I’m clicking merrily away without any huge issues. There’s the occasional moment when I’m four clicks deep into nested windows, trying to find the option to do something, but it’s really not too bad.
There is no save, though. That’s a bit of a miss in this game. IMO, of course - given what went down in the first paragraph of this review. I’d be happy to repeat the same thing over and over if I had to do it once.
I mentioned at the start that this game is compelling. It really is. While the language is relatively simple and spare - no lush scenery descriptions here, it’s still evocative enough that it captures my attention straight away and keeps me engaged. The in media res beginning helps. There’s no lengthy introduction. There’s no in-depth analysis of these characters motivations or emotional states. And it works somehow. Things creep around in the dark. Flashlights flicker and go out.
There are a couple of small bugs. I took the hose several times for example. Sometimes when I click on something I get a blank window. But nothing huge.
I did enjoy this game. I wish that the length sequence of empty turns wasn’t there. That there was a save. This is a compliment. I’d like to experience more.
P.S. I have just been informed that there IS, in fact, a save function in this game. However, it is not enabled. To enable it, you have to scroll right to the bottom of the Settings. Author - strongly suggest have this enabled by default!! I totally missed this.