Set Yourself on Fire

I played this on stream for the first time last night. I am shocked this game is free because it is one of the best games I have played in a long time. Incredible art, writing. Everything. Seriously make more games, get into film also if you have not already haha! 👍🗣

On account of the unorthodox lack of scrolling text and advance prompts, you are immediately plunged into a directorial role. 3D models envelop you in a 6th gen stage. Words and phrases. Stills in motion. Pitter-patter. All for you to steer, for you to pace as you see fit. You start to get a feel for the kind of storyboard you're working with. You begin to predict what kind of shot will play next. You understand whether you need to press a key, or let things play out. The unheard voices of the cast and narration seeps into your brain. The music stops for no one, and you begin to wonder where the loop is, when the right time is to move to the next line, the next scene. And when you click at the perfect moment? It's euphoric, like you just directed your own film. Even if you don't, it's a pleasant surprise; something to take note of for next time? I could have written about how much it challenged my emotions, on it's commentary on education, on mundanity and the inconsequential. Don't get me started on the visuals. In the end, what really stood out is that I felt as though I was playing a kinetic VN in the frame of another medium entirely. You aren't clicking through ADV textboxes to get to the next plot twist. You aren't tabbing through journals and notes to decipher "whodunnit", neither are you standing in a fictional court of law. There is no tempting fate or bad ends; "We aren't their gods, we are observers". And yet, it feels just as, if not more engaging and rewarding to go through. This might be the ramblings of a tortured, autistic mind. Maybe there was an auto button. Maybe all Ren'Py novels are like this and I hadn't noticed. But the experience speaks for itself. One of the most evocative and dreamlike sound novels I've ever played.