You by Carter X Gwertzman
There’s a single idea here, but it’s a good idea and it’s put to good use. We’re in a small choice-based puzzler set in a whimsical fantasy forest. Each location has one important denizen or feature, but there’s no overall logic to these elements apart from the fact that they happen to co-exist and also happen to form a no-fluff puzzle map. Our main quest consists in the collection of four basically random items. The only unifying setting element is that we collect several types of edible mushroom, including ones that make us larger and smaller – strong Alice in Wonderland vibes here. The puzzles themselves are very easy. A few other reviewers got stuck on talking to the mushrooms, but this did not happen to give me any trouble.
The single idea that animates the game is this: we take the second person pronoun ‘you’ that is so typical of interactive fiction, and we make that the main subject and object of the game. The goal is to find the real ‘you’, or a new ‘you’. All the other characters are defined by their own particular pronouns. Most importantly, the way ‘you’ is printed on the screen is how the protagonist’s current state is shown. Eat a mushroom that make you bigger, and the ‘you’ grows in font size. Take on another colour, and the font colour changes. And so on. It’s funny, it’s rather surprisingly convenient, and it’s central to both the puzzle resolutions and the story.
There’s not really more to the game than that. Since no characterisation has happened, it doesn’t matter to us, as players, that we, as the character, get an improved self. But as a sweet little game with an interesting use of typography, You was worth my time.