AndrewBrown wrote: ↑February 28th, 2018, 9:32 am
02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
It's easy to mock videogames for giving the player "choices." Presenting the player with a supposedly-agonizing choice where lives hang in the balance and neither choice is the "correct" one has practically become a cliche, worthy of eye rolls, hot takes, and think pieces as to the morality espoused by one choice or the other (assuming both choices don't ultimately represent nihilism, as they often do—hi, BioShock Infinite!). Subsurface Circular subverts this videogame trope in the most beautiful and intricate way. The "final choice" is the most affecting I've had since Telltale's The Walking Dead: Season One; the most agonizing in any videogame I've played, ever.
Subsurface Circular takes place entirely on a subway system which is used by an underclass of robots in the future who have taken on many of the jobs formerly taken by Humans. Not just basic labor—these have been taken too—but also jobs in psychiatry, childcare, and even the clergy. The player assumes the role of a detective robot who is prompted by a fabrication robot to investigate a series of missing robot cases. In a brisk two hours that blinks by without realization, the player learns about this society and the robots who live in it... and are forced to make a choice. Just one, single choice, based entirely on what they've learned about this society and the way it functions.
I will spend a long time asking myself if I made the right choice. And not like the ending of The Walking Dead: Season Two, where I also grappled with this problem but only because the two opposing characters Clementine is trapped between are both equally abhorrent. This is a
good choice because there is no easy answer, but there is certainly
an answer. But the way this choice is handled is most interesting, revealing that the choice is not so much about the ending the player may receive, but on what that choice says about the player who makes it.
Narrative games are my bread and butter. I can say, without hesitation, this is one of the best ones I've ever played. It's topical but not preachy; it's well-written, but not obviously the work of an "auteur;" and that final choice is incredible.
This game costs like five dollars US. If you're at all interested in narrative-style games, then play this game. Now.