The Breakup Game by Trying Truly
The premise of this Twine story is that you are supposed to think of someone you have loved and lost, and then the story will help you process those feelings of loss. But “you” appears to not be a character for whom you’re given a different identity. Instead, it seems to be addressing you, the player, directly, asking you to consider a real-life relationship. Indeed, the game’s tagline is “This is about you.”
I played the game earnestly, thinking of my first love which, as I have been taking to describe things recently, was in the previous century. The game is filled with positive motivations and thera-speak, and is definitely well-intentioned and kind. But for a breakup that happened thirty years ago, I’m pretty well-adjusted, thanks. The game ties itself into a few knots trying to cover its bases with abstractions that might apply to any and every conceivable relationship. But any past relationship that still hurts (or is healed) is filled with the specifics—the tangible things—that the game can never know. Again, it means well, and it might be useful as triage for someone in the recent wreckage of a relationship. But to me, it seems to lack a longer-term perspective and wisdom.
I don’t know the identity of the author, but I’d guess their age is comparatively young—twenties or thirties. Me, I’m almost fifty, and I’ve been married for more than half my life, beginning in the previous century. This game isn’t about me in any appreciable way, despite the tagline’s promise. That’s the risk of the second-person direct address: if the reader doesn’t identify with the premises of the story, the reader feels the story is unapproachable, that it has locked that person out. I don’t really need to work through my emotions about lost love anymore, and I don’t need the pep talk of going forward and kicking life’s ass, as the story recommends. Maybe my edges have been smoothed by time, for better or worse. But despite its good intentions, The Breakup Game excludes me as I try to be a participant in the conversation, which limits any success it might have.