Where most games tell a story, Passage is just a sentence. But what a pregnant, forlorn sentence.
From start to finish, the game can be completed in five minutes. But there's no rush.
Game Page [HCSoftware.Sourceforge.net]
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It's worth noting: it's not that the game can be completed in five minutes; the game ends after five minutes.
I wonder which is more important, A higher score or a longer time playing the game?
The game: beautiful.
JMG totally misses it. DeeJayQueue nails it.
I think it's worth noting that, at least as far as I can tell, you can get more points if you keep your character "single." But you still end up a tombstone in the end.
So if you just hold right and do nothing else, you die with 778 points. Somewhat contrary to what DCulberson says, you get 1 point per time tick before you meet your wife, and after she dies, and 2 points while you are with her. You run into no obstacles, and the scenery continues to change at regular intervals until the end.
On the other hand, if you press no buttons, you die with 0 points, when the screen shifts far enough to the left that you hit the right side. You don't age all the way in this time period; you don't get hunched over at all. You just die when you hit the right edge.
One of the most passionate games ever. It is the journey, not the destination.
Note that you can move up and down. You don't have to get a wife. You get more scenery points out of it, but less treasure options. That's the gameplay grit.
The message? Interesting. Unusually thought-provoking for such a simple concept. The idea of a memento mori game also tickles me.
Maybe I was mistaken: I thought I noticed points for getting treasure and you can't get all the treasure if you have the companion "attached" to you.
Fair warning: this locked up my MacBook Pro running OSX 10.4.11. No idea if this was a problem w/ my machine, but it is the the first time that's ever happened. Couldn't escaped, force quit, anything.
Amazing!!! not..
But my heart is warmed by how many ppl out there do find it amazing.
I started the game by holding right, and continued to hold right, expecting that the game would present me with some sort of obstacle to overcome. When none presented itself, I presumed that the game was all about holding right and watching the scenery go by, and then I died, concluding that it was a pointless and vaguely depressing little game.
Then I went back to the game's webpage and found out that I could have pushed down at any time in order to find the maze and treasure chests.
Maybe this speaks poorly of my outlook on life; I'm too passive, I just wait for the obstacles to come at me and try to overcome them and wonder what the point was.
Or maybe I'm used to other games where your character always starts at the bottom and walks or jumps upward on the screen.
Meh.
Hmmm. For some reason, pressing down doesn't get me anywhere. I can move up and down a little bit, but I run against a solid line -- no "maze" or anything.
I am going to try and let as many people as I can know about this, but by telling them as little as possible, because this really made me think about a lot of things...and oddly enough, I'm actually a little choked up by it still.
Simple and actually immeasurable, a nice reflection on a much bigger game.
I compiled for Linux and I just get one long corridor. All I can do is walk left and right. At first I thought that was the whole thing until I read the comments and saw a screenshot.
Poked.
Ww, nxt tm y rcmmnd gm 'll gv t pss.
Someone please remove this account. I'm done with boingboing and no longer wish my name to appear in your database.