“Fascism- Off Topic” by Eavesdropper is a short parser game written in Glulx (Inform). My understanding, from reading another review, is that this game was inspired by a thread on the intfiction.org forum, which is a highly niche source of inspiration. The forum itself is highly niche, and I’m a regular but missed that thread. Still, I think it’s possible to appreciate the one joke in this game without any insider knowledge, so give it a try.
The tradition of insider joke-games goes way back to “Pick up the Phone Booth and Die” (Rob Noyes, 1996). As a game and coding exercise “Fascism- Off Topic” is more polished and sophisticated than its predecessor. There are plenty of things (including yourself) to examine and interact with within the train car setting, to put off typing the command which the game is signalling you to type.
As a message, this game is more provocative and interesting than “Phone Booth”. Even if we haven’t read the IF forum topic, most of us are familiar with Godwin’s Law: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” It is good to see that in thirty plus years of amateur parser game development, even the shortest entries are evolving in their form and substance.