Any game that claims to not be a game is throwing up a pretty big red flag right there. Knock-knock does that in the opening splash screen, and if anyone besides Ice-pick Lodge made it, I probably would have taken a pass on it. But the creators of Pathologic and The Void know what they're doing on that front, and the result is an intriguing little journey that definitely has its moments.

You take on the role of the Lodger, a wired little fellow that looks like Calvin ditched Hobbes and took up meth. Something odd is afoot in his isolated home in the woods, and if I get any more specific than that I'm bound to spoil something. Much like all of Ice-pick's games, the actual game is figuring out the rules of the game. You can turn lights in the house on and off, hide behind furniture, force open doors, and advance time with a strangely narcissistic clock. Ostensibly your goal is to survive until morning, but the house and its... inhabitants are randomized every other day, and on the other days you spend a chunk of it in the woods. Even the goals themselves get muddled as you progress, and the game is not afraid of throwing entirely new mechanics at you a few hours in.

Once you understand the pattern to the game, it can admittedly get pretty repetitive. New challenges are introduced the further into the game you get, but the core gameplay of lighting up rooms and wandering the woods does not change. One thing it does do well is introduce new threats over time, and some of them are absolutely terrifying despite the almost cartoony presentation. Information on the story comes from many different places, including the Lodger's diary, notes between days, and the Lodger himself, who talks in a charming nonsense Sims language. Most of the way through the game I'm still unclear on much of the rules and plot, but I admit it's fulfilled its original promise of "interactive meditation" and kept my attention. Definitely worth a look if you are at all curious, but be prepared for the mystery and horror to carry some rather bland gameplay.

Any game that claims to not be a game is throwing up a pretty big red flag right there. Knock-knock does that in the opening splash screen, and if anyone besides Ice-pick Lodge made it, I probably would have taken a pass on it. But the creators of Pathologic and The Void know what they're doing on that front, and the result is an intriguing little journey that definitely has its moments. You take on the role of the Lodger, a wired little fellow that looks like Calvin ditched Hobbes and took up meth. Something odd is afoot in his isolated home in the woods, and if I get any more specific than that I'm bound to spoil something. Much like all of Ice-pick's games, the actual game is figuring out the rules of the game. You can turn lights in the house on and off, hide behind furniture, force open doors, and advance time with a strangely narcissistic clock. Ostensibly your goal is to survive until morning, but the house and its... inhabitants are randomized every other day, and on the other days you spend a chunk of it in the woods. Even the goals themselves get muddled as you progress, and the game is not afraid of throwing entirely new mechanics at you a few hours in. Once you understand the pattern to the game, it can admittedly get pretty repetitive. New challenges are introduced the further into the game you get, but the core gameplay of lighting up rooms and wandering the woods does not change. One thing it does do well is introduce new threats over time, and some of them are absolutely terrifying despite the almost cartoony presentation. Information on the story comes from many different places, including the Lodger's diary, notes between days, and the Lodger himself, who talks in a charming nonsense Sims language. Most of the way through the game I'm still unclear on much of the rules and plot, but I admit it's fulfilled its original promise of "interactive meditation" and kept my attention. Definitely worth a look if you are at all curious, but be prepared for the mystery and horror to carry some rather bland gameplay.