One Chance
Developer: Awkward Silence Games
Platform: Browsers (Flash)
Pricing: Free — play it here
In a nutshell: The world is ending and you’re still driving to work?!
Above: A rare moment of triumph in One Chance.
When the world ends, will we still be going through the motions of everyday life? That’s the question that flash game One Chance poses.
The drama and external mayhem of impending doom is communicated subtly through newspaper headlines, relationships with family and colleagues, and your slowly changing environment. But each day still starts the same as you shuffle, not scream, toward global annihilation.
Despite the big premise behind Once Chance, its grounding in the everyday earns it a place in this list and pokes a finger at any and all apocalyptic stories that forget we all still need to sleep, eat, and brush our teeth.
If you haven’t already, play Once Chance. Just be aware that whatever decisions you make will stick with you as the game — despite having multiple endings — is intended to be playable just once.
Homeless
Developer: Silver Dollar Games
Platform: Xbox 360
Pricing: $1.00 from Xbox Live
In a nutshell: Bumming quarters to stop yourself from starving
Above: Trying to stay alive another day in Homeless.
I came across Homeless when it released in Winter 2011. Its downbeat styling and simple, repetitive gameplay made quite an impression.
The game casts you as a homeless guy bumming small change off passers-by, trying to stay alive. Watching people ignore a homeless couple on the bridge outside his Toronto apartment inspired developer Jonathan Flook to make the game.
“How many times have I passed a homeless person and said “sorry” when they ask me for money?” said Flook. “Sorry? What does that even mean to them? Does it mean, I’m sorry I’m too cheap to spare a dollar? Does it mean, I’m sorry that you’re too lazy to get a job? Of course not, but when everyone ignores the problem it comes off that way.”
He made the game on a tiny budget and had to “cut out the seasons, weather effects, multiple locations, just about anything that would bring the costs up.” The original idea of using a real homeless person and their surroundings in the story were also abandoned as “it’s just not practical when you can barely make rent yourself.”
There’s no traditional Game Over screen, as you’ll see if you play the game. “The lack of closure to me is a little heart breaking,” Flook said, “and in many ways so is the story of Homeless.”
Lawn Mower
Developer: Christopher Orr
Platform: IBM PC (DOS)
Pricing: Way out of print, but you can download it for free here.
In a nutshell: Your least favorite household chore: The Video Game
Lawn Mower is the game that brought the tiresome, monotonous process of cutting the grass to the IBM PC way back in 1987. Even with hazards like a dog (that’s the ‘O’), gophers (the smiley faces), and holes thrown in, the game remains as much of a chore as actually going out and mowing the lawn.
It even sounds worse than an actual lawnmower, thanks to the irritating approximation of a motor noise that kicks in at 0:39 in the above video.
Still, at least you don’t have to empty the clippings when you’re done.
If you really feel the urge to cut some virtual grass then you can download Lawn Mower from Abandonware DOS. You’ll likely need to run a DOS emulator like DOS Box to get it going.
Papers, Please
Developer: Lucas Pope
Platform: PC, Mac
Pricing: $9.99, direct from developer
In a nutshell: An Eastern European paperwork simulator
Above: Overseeing the border control in Papers, Please.
Papers, Please sees you working as an immigration inspector at a border checkpoint in the fictional country of Arstotzka. You sit at a desk, processing people’s applications to enter the country, deciding if you should stamp their papers as accepted or denied. As you’d expect, it’s not an action title.
In addition to dealing with the border crossing paperwork and the twists and moral dilemmas this throws up, you must also cope with an ever-changing political situation and the domestic matter of keeping your family warm, fed, and in good health.
Papers, Please throws more red tape at you than you can handle, forcing you to making difficult decisions and making it near-impossible to balance your obligations to work and family.
Winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2014 Independent Games Festival, Papers, Please has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide, making this slice of dystopian life into an unlikely indie blockbuster.