Repeat the Ending by Drew Cook
Wow. I’m not quite sure what to say about this. It’s a parser piece, which can be played to an extent as a traditional parser game, episodic in this case. But it’s also metatextual, highly experimental, and in places for me was profoundly affecting.
The metatextual side is perhaps the least spoilery I can go into. It adds a guide you can interact with, that expands, and provides hints. You can also read in game footnotes. This is reminiscent of some discussion on this forum a while back about how old games could be effectively bundled up in a wider package, providing extra contextualisation etc. It’s really neatly done here.
The traditional parser/puzzle side is arguably the least interesting element. But it’s well done. And uses a neat mechanism throughout, that I won’t spoil.
There is also something very interesting about the narrative structure that the game does. But again I don’t want to spoil it!
But it was how the game affected me that I found most impactful. This relates to something that happened in my own life almost a year ago (spoiler: my dad died). And I feel quite shocked after playing the game to be honest. But in a good way.
Kudos to the author for a powerful and innovative piece.