“Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” ― Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

Sisyphus Reborn is a short, absurd reference to the work of author/philosopher Albert Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus - rather than being a game. Being the sole project of Myshkin Entertaintment so far, it is a journey worthy of taking note if you do enjoy philosophical displays even the slightest. I, as a long standing lover of philosophy, especially existentialism, must say that this short little adventure manages to grasp the full content of Camus' work, and even challenges his theme of hope/hopelessness.

Well, to be able to understand the proper theme of the game, one has to be familiar with the story of Sisyphus first. According to the Greek myth, Sisyphus was the cunning and deceitful King of Corinth who managed to trick Thanatos - the Death itself - and chain him so no one in the world would die for some time, causing the old and the sick to suffer. As punishment, he was doomed to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill, yet every time that he would be about to accomplish the task, the boulder would roll down and he'd have to start all over again. He is the embodiment of a meaningless labor, doomed to take place for eternity without any conclusion.

In his essay, Camus describes the existence of man a paradox in this world. The world being devoid of any meaning - scientific or religious - mankind's constant pursuit for meaning would be equally devoid of meaning, even absurd. So, with the realization of this absurdity, would suicide be the only way out? Such is the philosophical issue that Camus thoroughly discusses in his work. According to Camus' conclusion though, the realization of the absurd asks for revolt. Yet, it is not the kind of revolt one would think of. One has to acknowledge the existence of the absurdity, yet keep challenging it by contended acceptance, thus the work itself becomes our own meaning. Such acceptance of futility would be the only freedom the absurd man can hope for.

Grim, huh? It surely is, considering existentialism and absurdity are philosophies born just after the WWII. Let's take a look back at the game though. This short little adventure world portraits the vision of Camus explicitly, yet bears a completely different approach for its conclusion - a bit close to Sartre rather than Camus. The futility dominates all conditions within, yet bearing the minimum of choices, if one manages to choose even a slightly different path dominated by his own rule... - you have to dig, yet no one describes where to dig - there is still hope. The work itself, the experience it presents us becomes our hope and our choice, breaking the seemingly omnipotent paradox.

It would take 15 minutes or so for you to experience all this short little display can present you, and excluding its additional content - it is free. If you enjoy the experience though, I strongly recommend purchasing additional content, even to only support the developer. It is simplicity done right with a great atmosphere and fitting narrative. It is a bold little experience, created by an educated mind. I think we need more of its examples here around. Its sole existence, being wholly symbolic, provokes you to think. Please enjoy!

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This is an example of a simple game done right. The hand-drawn artwork is charming, and the game itself, being just a short point-and-click affair, still manages to be thought provoking, philosophical, atmospheric, and relaxing. Bravo!

8/10 would find myself (for free) again

note to achievement hunters: about 30 minutes to 100%





UPDATE: They made me edit this :)

UPDATE 2: They made me do it... again.

UPDATE 3: Another year, another review update :-S

This is a great little adventure game with a rather unique, hand-drawn art style and some philosophical themes. It is short (can be completed in roughly 40 minutes including obtaining all achievements) and free so all the more reason to pick it up if you have some spare time. The game offers several endings and if you wish to support the developer I recommend that you purchase the Collector's Edition for only 1 EUR.

I liked Sisyphus. It made me think about our existence and tried to imagine what I would do if I was in a similar situation as our hero finds himself in. The soundtrack is also very atmospheric. To be honest as I was getting closer and closer to the end the game's tone was, for me, a bit depressing. I assume, however, that its interpretation can be different to all of us.

You know when you're tired and ready for bed but as soon as your head hits the pillow you start questioning your life and existence? This is all of that plus more, put into this game.

This game made me feel all sorts of emotions. This is quality over quantity at it's absolute finest!

Plus it's free, might as well try it if you're trying to kill time.

Wow...I was not expecting this... It's dark, it's creepy, it's depressing, it IS a psychological horror...but it's worth it. Without spoiling it, here is my review of Sisyphus Reborn.

In an unknown limbo-like world, you awaken. Strange figures, stranger people with even stranger minds, and a single question...to dig or to not dig? The choice is yours...or are there other choices with other consequences?

The music is beautifully composed by Edwin Montomgery, who crafts music that fits the eerie mood within this short work (which should take you about 30 minutes, give or take a few). The most beautiful and captivating is the main theme, simply labeled Sisyphus Reborn...haunting, yet beautiful.

The art-style to this game is very simplistic, though it feels amateurly done...but to fit the eerie mood of this title, it works. It's supposed to feel wrong, because the world is wrong...or is it right?

This whole game is a short experience that makes you think. In the end, you realize how much a choice that belongs to you truly matters. It's free, it's short, it has achievements. You can't go wrong here. My only complaints are that the text auto-scrolls a little too quickly for me and the text can be hard to read (White on white. Dark grey on grey/black...)

8/10 I chose to dig. It was my choice.

This is a very short, but also very intense and interesting game. The gameplay, based on point-and-click adventures, is minimal, but the same cannot be said about the content which is actually a deep and even disturbing reflection on human life itself. As such, this game quickly develops into a thought-provoking philosophical experience, loosely based on the classical myth about Sisyphus (who was ordered by the gods to push a stone uphill over and over and over, since it always rolled back at a certain point) with some extra thoughts by Albert Camus thrown in.

Usually, I'd skip through a game as crudely drawn as this one, with only the most basic of artwork. But the texts and the interactions - even though they mostly seemed meaningless to the absurd - quickly grabbed my attention, and I played through it at a leisurely pace. Though the game is very short (I played through it in half an hour, reading everything), it shouldn't have been any longer given its thought-provoking nature. The almost minimalistic sound track does provide the right amount of extra atmosphere at the right moments.

All in all: well done, and certainly worth trying out if you're into games that dig (excuse me the pun) deeper than most. You get a very easy 100% achievement game as a bonus, but that feels completely trivial after playing a game with this kind of content.

I was a bit shocked with how much i enjoyed this game. The game itself was very short, but i thought it was very good. It's also FREE & an extremly small download size.

The graphics are all Low-Res & Hand Drawn, which was fine for the story.
The soundtrack was really nice, in fact i've downloaded & copied it to add to my "Gaming Soundtracks" folder, so that i can still listen to it after i've finished un-installing the game.
The gameplay is quite basic Point & Click style, & the puzzles aren't difficult in the slightest, but the premise of the game is great if u are into a little bit of deep thinking.

It took me around half an hour to finish the game & get all 7 Achievements.
Again, it's a FREE game, & quite enjoyable, so give it a try & you might be pleasantly surprised like i was.

Sisyphus Reborn is a short (about 1/2 an hour), minimalist point-n-click game. Those that play it will either find it deeply philosophical, or boring and pretentious.

Which feeling will you be left with?

It's free, it's touching, it's short.
No reason not to experience it.

This is minimalistic done right and for that it earns my respect.

Even if you don't know it by name, I think just about everyone has heard, to some extent, the story of Sisyphus, the crafty king in Greek mythology sentenced by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity only for it to always roll back down again. In more "recent" years, Albert Camus wrote The Myth of Sisyphus exploring the notion of the absurdity of life and living; to actively maintain participation in an act known to be futile given its lack of ultimate consequence, but to contently "revolt" by continuing to do so whilst also wilfully rejecting concepts of hope or faith. This game touches upon many of those same themes.

In this particular allegory, our Sisyphus is a stranger who awakens without any memories in a bizarre, unfamiliar land, inhabited by people who perform actions without any justifiable reason, or even clearly defined knowledge for why they really do so. What follows is a character's journey to try and understand what's going on around him, and also find his own justifications for his own actions. In case it wasn't already abundantly clear... this is a very intellectually deep, contemplative game.

Gameplay-wise, this all takes the form of a very basic, 2D, point-and-click, side-scrolling game using simplistic art and minimal animation. On a technical level, this isn't especially impressive, but that's really not where the main crux of the substance lies, as much of your time will be spent reading lots of text and delving into some complex issues of a philosophical and existential nature.

Like most good philosophy, this doesn't offer any answers, but instead raises questions whilst offering forth suggestions or positing possibilities from its own individual perspective and beliefs or opinions. As in all such cases, the recipient's millage may vary depending on how they choose to read into it.

While I'm still not actually sure how I really feel about the game on several levels, I did at the very least really enjoy the change of pace in experiencing a game which delved into a subject matter so directly where others would normally never even dream of going anywhere near. As such, I could very easily see why this wouldn't be for everyone, but am also really glad that I took the time to explore this one and could recommend that others do so, too.