gamer time #1

what is this?

motivation to finish games (that aren't pokemon spinoffs...) is difficult for me, even when i really like to play them. so i'm going to be using my blog as a personal gaming log and review! throws confetti everywhere askjdfhkjshfjksf

first off i am going to be reviewing a game that i'm about an hour into, a rpg called KNUCKLE SANDWICH about some guy trying to find his footing in the workforce. right off the bat, the game presents itself as something equally uncomfortable and humorous. the first character we meet is a bus driver, who isn't actually a bus driver... i think he is a bit gay, but totally average.

the NPCs on the bus looked like featureless fetuses, but entering town is where the game gets surreal. bright city is all-too-familiar with a twist of the vibes; knuckle sandwich takes a familiar premise (moving into a new town and struggling to enter the workforce) and throws it entirely on its head. our introduction to work is a wheel spinner on a game show determining what jobs we'll pick up. the minigames are purposefully difficult to keep up with, but even if you pass them, you're immediately fired for poor performance. after getting kicked out and ridiculed, we find an advertisement on the side of the road to work for a really shitty burger place, and the protagonist, desperate, accepts the offer.

the only jobs i've ever been able to keep are those in fast food service, so this hit close to home. the difference here, though, is that this restaurant management is much more difficult (on purpose) than in real life. your first day on the job is stuck on memorizing order numbers and bringing them to people who don't have their numbers over their heads. at all. the next day isn't much better.

the surrealism in this game isn't just for show, either. after clocking out of work, you go through your first real battle. earlier in the game with the tutorial, it seems like every combat segment will have narrative consequences, or is narratively designed. a mystery man wanders into the back of the burger shop and challenges us. and then we kill him! and our boss turns his body into meat for the first authentic KNUCKLE SANDWICH.

we then enter a dream sequence in low-poly, pixel 3d animation where we see bus driver again. bus driver acts as the spirit guide to the protagonist, and i'm convinced he's nothing but an unreliable narrator. now with the weight on our shoulders of having killed a guy, and working a job that doesn't pay at all, what choice do we have but to listen to him? something is really fucked up around here. very exciting to play more.