As a girl who has never met a game she didn’t like, I am now on a quest to play the worst games I can find. I am well aware that “bad bits” of gaming exist virtually everywhere, but for now, this definition includes only games on Steam that are below $10 and have any rating less than positive (mixed, negative, mostly negative, etc.), and as I rather enjoy horror games I will be starting there and working my way through different genres of “terrible games”. Join me on this weekly journey to experience the worst that Steam has to offer without having to waste any time or money of your own! After all, can a game really be that bad?!
(If you find a questionable game on Steam and you want to know if it lives up to its reputation as a “bad bit”, feel free to leave a comment and I will be glad to face the challenge for you!)
Week 1 – The Interview
What a great way to start this journey – with an interview! The Interview is described as being a unique psychological first-person horror game but has “mostly negative” reviews on Steam.
Where do I even begin? I’m still not even sure what occurred during the 7 minutes between hitting “Start” and hitting “Exit”… The game was extremely short and can very, very loosely be called a psychological horror.
The game is about a man named Adam searching for a job and is centered around his interview, a strange series of philosophical questions asked by James (Microsoft Sam), who is, of course, nowhere to be seen.
After figuring out the game’s controls (WASD and double-click), it took me a little over five minutes to answer the increasingly strange questions while being subjected to random flashes of warping environments, dark hallways with knives and saws protruding from the walls, and increasing amounts of static. The high point of the game was being asked if I killed my mother and being presented with “Yes” and “Yes” as my options before being teleported to a black room with giant white words suspended in mid-air; because, given no context whatsoever, it totally made sense. That, or the part where I sawed off my own leg. Classic.
The graphics were nice, and the intentions were all there; however, with no context and such a random series of images, the game failed to achieve what it aimed to do. Since you will most likely not play this game, I have few qualms about spoiling it, but you should consider this your warning… Adam is a serial killer who beheaded eight people (including his dear old mother) and put their heads into little red boxes, or all in one red box – it really wasn’t clear. Upon completion of the game, we’re told that Adam was convicted of the murders and that (surprise!) this was not really an interview but instead an interrogation.
I understand that the game intended to illustrate Adam’s warped view of the world; however, the random series of images and videos intended to shock and scare really only confused…
Is the game really that bad? Yes. Is it absolutely dreadful? No. Would I recommend it? Only if you are extremely curious and don’t mind wasting $1.99.