I know that there are spelunkers reclaiming FMV, but the strip concept was too silly to resist.

I'm from an era where FMV was synonymous with filth; occasionally people lump in Don Bluth's electric ouvre with them, but I think it sits poorly. If those are games, then a DVD menu is a game. Obviously, I will never denigrate Saint Roberta. At the risk of annihilating my rhetorical thrust, I have to admit that there's some FMV in Myst. They're very cool but I think we can all agree that true FMV is whatever I need it to be for my rhetorical position. And that means nasty Sega CD horseshit.

But it's all coming back now, isn't it? Necessity is the mother of invention I've been told, and each of the previous era's limitations have been steadily returning to us in the form of aesthetics. Taken literally, like Sam Barlow's various resuscitations, the reality aspects are heightened by modern resolutions. But take a look at this Eclipsium stuff, which apparently has a foot in traditional rendering but lenses FMV through ancient dithering as well. It's published by Critical Reflex, which has carved out a really curated indie horror space for itself. But look!

Jesus, man. The game I was referencing in the strip is actually Five Hearts Under One Roof Season 2 by "Storytaco," which strikes me as a little on the nose. But I've been told about a game called Road To Empress that seems… Meta. Well, it seems like this:

Going back a little, another game that was recommended to me was Contradiction: Spot The Liar, which goes British Mystery wit it:

So at this point at least there's a ton of cross-pollenation with Dating Sims and Adventure Games which both have their weirdo proponents. I think of these genres as something like RTS, it might not be a huge genre but if you like those you're sorta all in; your chips have been pushed to the center of the table. I think I gotta grab a couple of these for the weekend.

(CW)TB out.