Horror Stories: PLEASE COMPLY Reviews

As I was watching the Please Comply’s ending credits (it takes 15 minutes to complete the story) and the person responsible for art was mentioned I could not help but think [h3]“Art? What art?”[/h3] If anyone created unique assets for this game, they’d overworked. There is a single room, a door, quarter of a corridor, and a few objects that could have easily been bought. The same thing could be said about the sound effects. [h3]But this is an independent game, right? It’s all about the experience. [/h3] Only, there is just not much to be experienced here. The entire game loop could be summarized as ‘Look at the monitor – do what it says’. Then, there is a knock on the door and the player can look through the peephole and see the writing on the corridor wall that mostly says ‘Don’t do what the monitor tells you.’ By the time the player looks through the hole, the single interactive object behind their back is swapped, the command on the monitor is changed and the loop resets. [h3]So, this game must be all about an important message? [/h3] It is not. The commands displayed on monitor lack even a modicum of subtlety. For example, [spoiler] “This is your family. Abadon them.” [/spoiler] There is no room for imagination or speculation here. Both the message and the outcome are painfully obvious to anyone barely familiar with [strike]Orwell[/strike] cause and effect. Yes! I know there are alternate endings but all they involve is [spoiler]Alt+F4ing[/spoiler] the game in the final moment. Or [spoiler]waiting idly for 20[/spoiler] minutes somewhere earlier. [h3]Look, I love my indie horror games but …[/h3] This thing is… well I guess it DOES barely fulfill the definition of a game. There are [strike]tasks to be performed[/strike] buttons to be pressed and outcomes to be reached, but that is it. It could be argued that the low price-tag justifies the limited experience, but I would argue against. There are so many games in the similar price range that offer the [strike]richer and more complete[/strike] *any* experience. The Boba Teashop, The Sirena Expedition, Exit 8 just to name a few. Anything made by Stranga Games. Anything Chilla Art’s. [h3]Truth be told, I should still have given Please Comply a positive review. [/h3] It served its purpose as I’ve only bought it since it made the game bundled together cheaper than when it was bought on its own. So, after performing some mildly creative brain gymnastics I could probably assume that I’ve got paid for finishing this game. And I’ve managed to do so as the game I’ve actually wanted was getting downloaded. Still, I’ve found nothing of interest to be taken out of those 15 minutes spent here. In the end, if someone asked me to play this game justifying it with a -70% discount, I’d still have responded by pointing out the fact that How Fish is Made is free. As always, do with it what you want and, as always, [h3] Try to have a wonderful life. [/h3]