…Dang, that was relatable. I couldn’t help imagining the scene as the site of my own (American equivalent) left-turn hell, the exit of the office park where I worked for several years. How much of my life I wasted sitting there… Imagining it that way certainly muddled the lefts and rights, though. (Although Kastel’s review reminded me to add that the included map was helpful!)
I was impressed by how many of the non-essential commands I tried were implemented!
I tested this, and to do so I sat down in my robe with a hot cup of tea, feeling good and calm and comfy, and by the end of testing it I was mad at everyone and everything and was tapping an invisible gas pedal under my desk.
I hate driving. I used to have a license that allowed me to drive manually, but I refused. Why not?
This game explains it all: I don’t trust drivers to be respectable on the road. The game presents itself as a parser game with a map on top, but the player character is stuck at the parking lot exit. No matter what input the player tries, including reversing, the player character wants to turn right. They can’t. Cars are scary. The player character is stuck, watching cars go by. The parser format full of possibilities is robbed of all freedom due to relentless traffic and driver anxiety. The map at the top right seems to mock me: I thought I was supposed to navigate it, but it’s there to show me how I can’t enter this open space. It sucks.
All the player can do is read introspective narration about not being able to step on the gas, feeling humiliated by their lack of courage, and feeling like they shouldn’t be on the road. When the player character finally turns right, a sense of relief overwhelms me: it’s over at last.
This little game is like watching a volcano about to explode. I could only watch as I sat in the back seat, repeating the same input over and over again. I didn’t feel like I was in the driver’s seat. Everyone else was. They drove on, turned right, and continued on their way.
Horrifying.
For that, I found this game very effective. It’s a great example of a parser game with limited choices and agency. It mimicked the real feeling of driving (or lack of) quite well. The irony that the player character could have just walked home in less time is funny.
However, I do wonder about the verbosity of the narration. I was surprised by the amount of text for each “go right” input. In a weird way, I wondered if I was just reading a short story or interactive fiction with limited agency. I wasn’t sure if I was making my brain feel like my “failed” inputs mattered; it felt like I was just pressing buttons to see the next section of the story. That’s not to say that this is a bad implementation – I think it’s quite ingenious – but the way the text is formatted and written makes me wonder at times if I’m reading static fiction.
This distinction is admittedly arbitrary, especially when the point of the story is to make the player character fearful enough to be passive. But when the supermarket manager asked the player character what was going on, and the character responded without any player input, it made me realize that I was just “reading” and not “playing”.
In any case, Turn Right is fantastic propaganda against driving. It makes me think again about public transportation and walkable cities. I long for the days when we can all turn right without feeling like we’re going to cause another car accident.
Great and thoughtful review Kastel, thank you so much!
Just to note that I’m not going to respond to anything specific in this thread until the comp is over (as otherwise I’ll just end up overexplaining everything and I think it’s better to let players lead the discussion) but I really, really appreciate people taking time to play and review the game. Thank you again!
Oh yeah, I found this game very relatable too. Reminded me of my early times driving when I’d just gotten my license and was convinced everyone else could see my face through the windshield and would immediately hate me for being a teenager with barely any experience. Was also terrified of getting into an accident. The anxiety was insane. Especially in turns like this where you had to wait so long.
The British driving rules took some time to wrap my head around, but the map really helped with that.
(Although Kastel’s review reminded me to add that the included map was helpful!)