"I clicked on the wrong pop-up and now I gotta click 9,999,999 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ times to click off of it" - The protagonist, probably
I enjoy idle games, to an extent. They're a wave of newer games offering a persistent dopamine hit with a mix of consistent affirmations, consistent mechanics, and general consistency. The reason I use that word so frequently is that they're also very hit and miss for some people. They're not instant gratification, they require patience and a desire to push forward relentlessly. In a sense, they're actually a subconscious way for our brain to seek out progress in exchange for patience: Which, to reiterate, not a lot of people to have.
Addled Clicker is a Lovecraftian horror game which places you in a room where you can press a button over, and over, and over again. As you do so, a giant counter keeps track of how many times you press the button. Eventually, you may earn enough clicks to begin to purchase things from your local fish-headed gent. All of these items (except the final one) do exactly the same thing: Help pushing the button and adding onto your click counter.
The more you press, and the more you linger around the button with the items, the more clicks you earn, but there eventually appear monsters which don't seem to be too friendly, and would like to eat your liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. At the moment, the total number of monsters around the clicker are 3 in total. Note my wording there: The total number *around the clicker*. You can eventually find tools to help you navigate around the facility you're in, and find bits of lore, extra lives, and things that will make your run a bit easier, or even other monsters which also seem quite curious about the colour of your innards.
Anyway, you're eventually given the choice to leave or stay, but through sheer compulsion more than anything else, and the desire to see what would happen, I stayed just to hit 9,999,999 and the ending was... about expected. Especially with the lore, etc. But I will say a tad underwhelming.
That said: I find Addled Clicker to be quite charming and unique. There's a lot here that is quite functional, fascinating and engaging, even if it's a game that can be beaten fairly shortly with drive and persistence. For a small game, it plays like one that's had a considerable amount of passion thrown in, and that's something to be admired. I died I think about 3 times in total, but the checkpoints and ability to keep items feels like it makes the game considerably more player-friendly. I appreciate this work. 7.5/10
