is THIS a game? – When a Game has an Identity Crisis

“The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.” – Voltaire

Overview

is THIS a game? is a series of largely unrelated interactions that come together to form a game, maybe. Created by illustrator Johannes Lott, it poses the question of what constitutes a game.

Narrative

is THIS a game offers no real narrative. While it references a number of story-rich games such as Elder Scrolls and Wolfenstein, as well as other media such as the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, it has little to no story of its own. The various “mini games” are only seconds long and have no depth, though they do provide some amusement and comedy value. The closest things to a narrative element that is provided are the occasional meta moment and the overarching questions: is this a game, and what makes a game a game? There are also a number of spelling, grammar, and syntax mistakes, possibly where things have been lost in translation, and these can be quite jarring.

Gameplay

The loosely defined and highly casual gameplay consists of navigating through a number of “mini games” that can more accurately be described as interactions. For the most part, they consist of simply clicking, and the more taxing tasks require the player to press a few keyboard keys; some screens just have humorous tool tips.

Some interactions draw on well-known game mechanics, such as loot boxes, walking sims, microtransactions, skill points, and character creations. However, these often feel like pseudo mini games since they have no bearing on the experience as a whole, are entirely scripted, and the result of the minimal interaction will be predetermined. In the rare cases where an interaction appears to be offering some actual gameplay, success is impossible, such as a Mario-esque platformer with gaps that are far too large to jump across.

The biggest drawback of the gameplay is that the various “mini-games” seem to shuffle, meaning that repetition is frequent even when there is content that the player has not yet seen. Given that the strongest feature of the content is its comedy value, and the general lack of substance and sense of achievement, the repetition offers no replay value and gets dull very quickly. Players have no way of telling if they have missed content, and so are forced to endure completing the same simple interactions over and over again in the hope of encountering something new. Any relaxing qualities that is THIS a game may have had, becomes lost as a result.

Styling

is THIS a game is presented in a colourful 2D art style, hand-drawn and often with a crayon-like aesthetic which suits the amusing content. The interactions or “mini-games” are presented on the screen of a computer monitor and come complete with static and fake screen tearing. The 8-bit soundtrack is very upbeat with a moderate tempo and fits with the gameplay and visuals pretty well.

Summary

is THIS a game may offer 30-40 minutes of playtime, and playtime is probably a more accurate term than gameplay as it feel a bit more like a toy than a game. Unfortunately, the toy feels insubstantial, lacking anything that would allow a player to feel invested. It is a decent way to amuse oneself for 10-15 minutes, but the incessant repetition is detrimental to the experience as a whole and treats the player’s time with a flippant disregard, placing no value on the investment they are making.

Unfortunately, is THIS a game feels like it was created with either little care, or little experience, and the price tag, although far from hefty, is not really justified by what is being offered. With an interesting concept and the appeal of quirky and casual gameplay, this could have been great; however, the execution is heavily flawed and as such I cannot recommend this game.

If you like short, surreal games, you may also enjoy these reviews:
Karambola – Mitoza – I Did Not Buy This Ticket