Billy Tompson: Escape the Tedium of Life in 'Everyday The Same Dream'

Friday, December 3, 2010

Escape the Tedium of Life in 'Everyday The Same Dream'

What makes a game a game? Must it follow the goal oriented tropes of interactive entertainment? What if there were no goals? How far can we push the idea of what a game is before it simply becomes an synthetic experience? This week we're going to take a look at some games that push these boundaries. They make us question not only how we play, but what we get out of the experience of playing. So sit back and take a trip into some of the more experimental corners of gaming.

'Everyday The Same Dream' explores a theme that is probably pretty familiar to most of us: the ceaseless tedium of modern life. The game places you into the shoes of a blank-faced everyman, directed through an endless succession of banal days. Using the arrow keys for movement and space bar for contextual manipulation, you'll get up, turn off your alarm, get dressed and go to work in a gray, lifeless world. Keep playing, and you'll soon be looking for some sort of reprieve. Look hard enough and you'll find some ways to make your virtual life a little more interesting, such as petting a roadside cow, picking up a falling leaf and visiting a cemetery. The game builds to an ambiguous climax as you continue to explore off the beaten path. (Has everyone else given in to the worthlessness of life except you? We're still not sure.) Regardless of any confusion about its ending, 'Everyday The Same Dream' is still an artfully subtle work that reminds us to stop and smell the flowers, even if we end up getting yelled at by our boss.

Gallery: Every Day The Same Dream