All You Have to Do Is Click the Button

I… I have no idea what I just went through… Before drafting my little review here, I took a small break because holy moly, I am overstimulated right now since so much was going on! Only to jump back in and give it another try, destroying my finger a little bit more than it already was from the first round. And probably my mouse too. And tbh, being the queen of distraction isn’t probably a help either. Nor the fact that I panic like crazy and behave erratic when it comes to timed stuff. I somehow didn’t last as long in my second or third try. Which honestly made me a little bit salty. But bad RNG can happen, I guess. Or at least I hope it’s just bad RNG and no unbalanced stuff. I’m genuinely too lazy today to figure that out if that’s the case or not. Nevertheless, I’m still going to give this game a thumbs up, despite being a bit bumped out; it’s only a clicker, and there is no idle. And I most likely won’t binge-play it but will return to it now and then for short sessions to see if I have a little bit more luck at some point. And then here I stopped writing to give it one more go, just one more! And holy moly, that run went well. Instead of barely surviving or only getting to a shift or five, I made it through 13 shifts, and I’m kinda proud of myself for that. Also, I'm a little sad I ripperonied big time there. I guess my build wasn’t good or strong enough, huh. For now, for me it’s time for a break, to let my poor little destroyed finger rest up a little. My lord, I clicked like there was no tomorrow, at high speed. No regrets though! I’m sticking with the thumbs up since it’s a fun game, maybe not entirely my cup of tea, but still enjoyable enough, and I might jump back in now and then if and when my poor sap of a finger has recovered. I’m sure this little one will find its crowd eventually. Not to mention, I don’t think I’ve played anything this chaotic and original, or at least I don’t recall ever seeing a clicker like this. I find it very original and well thought out. Give or take, there’s maybe some room for improvement here and there, but I’ll leave that feedback to someone who’s going in deep and complex, or at least for someone a little smarter than me in builds and spotting stuff. -some screenshots here… if the game would’ve let me but nope- [hr] I would be super grateful if you could consider following me over at the following places for more first looks, reviews, recommendations, etc: [list] [*]|[url= https://www.youtube.com/@Tchii] My first looks [/url]| ~My YouTube channel. [*]|[url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TchiiMadeYaLook/curation] Tchii made ya look [/url]| ~My curator [*]|[url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems/curation] IndieGems [/url]| ~Wonderful Indie curator [*]|[url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2] IndieGems Gameplay [/url]| ~IndieGem's YouTube channel. [*]|[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26279617/] Calm [/url]| ~Curator for the Dutch-speaking folks out here. [*]|[url=https://www.youtube.com/@yoshiruless] Calm's first looks [/url]| ~Calm's YouTube channel. [/list] Thank you! [hr]

You’re an anonymous worker stuck clicking a button to survive longer shifts, spending money on perks to fight ads, but with no lasting upgrades between runs. There’s no real story here because you’re just an anonymous cog in the corporate machine. As the title suggests, your sole responsibility is pressing the button. Unlike most clicker-style games, though, there’s a ticking timer. If it runs out, you’re fired. The core gameplay is straightforward. You need to click the button in the middle of the screen to earn money. That money matters, because it lets you buy two main upgrades that help you last longer. A pay raise increases the cash earned per click, while overtime restores a bit of your dwindling time with each press. Your objective is simply to keep clicking until your shift ends. Then a new shift begins, longer than the last but not over 3 minutes, and you repeat the cycle for as long as you can manage. To make things trickier, ads will start popping up on your screen while you work. You can close them quickly by clicking the “X,” or slowly chip away at them by clicking anywhere else on the ad. At first they’re just a nuisance, but later ones are more dangerous, like an ad that shoots at you and drains your money, or the dreaded hand ad that scrambles your screen by moving buttons around. Since every window and button can be repositioned, you can at least organize your desktop as you go. Thankfully, you can push back against the ads with perks from the in-game shop. This gives the experience a light roguelite flavor, since each refresh of the store offers three random perks. Refreshing gets more expensive each time, though the cost resets after every shift. However, the refresh is free during the shift. You’ll often earn enough to buy multiple perks in a single shift, but you’re limited by inventory slots, only five perks can be equipped at once. Perks vary in effect and rarity. Some examples include a turret that shoots ads, a mine that spawns gems you can sell, or a magnet that pulls in rewards from destroyed ads. If you buy the same perk again, you’ll upgrade it and boost its performance. And that’s essentially the loop. There are no permanent upgrades between runs, so every failure means starting fresh and hoping the store gives you better options next time. The right perks can make a huge difference, like a factory that spawns drones to fight ads for you, or unlocking more inventory slots to carry additional perks. For fun, there's a terminal command where you enter various commands for bonus games or features. You first need a password to enter it, which you can figure out from emails you get after promotions. You earn promotions after a few shifts, and each new promotion unlocks more commands. Commands let you see that the game has some bits of story.

Game is cheap, but that is not to say that it lacks quality. The actual gameplay loop is pretty entertaining if not moderately overstimulating, but it's charm really comes from the terminal. All sorts of secrets tucked away in there waiting to be found.