s.p.l.i.t - Game Review
I started writing a Steam review for the Mike Klubnika game s.p.l.i.t, but by the time it was finished I realized I had written more than intended, and decided I might as well publish it on my website as well. It is published here identically to the Steam review, hence the lack of establishing context, and being mostly spoiler-free.
This feels like the prologue to a larger game. An excellent prologue, but nevertheless not quite a full experience. Had the game been more expensive the ending would have had me expecting a title drop and opening credits.
It’s very short. Given that it’s significantly cheaper than a movie ticket, I don’t mind all that much, but I was hoping for something bigger and more complete. The downside of being a short nearly-story-only game cheaper than a movie ticket is that if I had watched a playthrough of the game online I would have had no incentive to play it for myself. The only variation from playthrough to playthrough that can exist is how the ending goes and how long the player takes to read and write. Luckily I bought the game on a whim instead of taking a peek at a playthrough first.
It excellently sets up an uncomfortable and oppressive atmosphere in an interesting location culminating in an ending that’s uncomfortable, visceral, and exciting. This might just be me, but for some of it I was covering part of the screen with my hand, and my heart was practically beating out of my chest. I would go see a doctor, but last time I expressed concern they hooked me up to the EKG and told me my heart was fine.
Unfortunately, the ending doesn’t seem to mesh perfectly with the literal plot. If I was messing with a device that I knew had a tracker in it, that thing would go in a Faraday cage before entering a 5 km radius of my home. And if I’m out in remote woods somewhere I would imagine I’m more than a five minute drive away from The Facility.
I love the little bits of misdirection scattered throughout the game, the writing felt natural and intriguing, and I really liked the sights and sounds (really excellent sound design), but my experience with real terminal interfaces had me frustrated at the game’s interface not allowing things like “cd ../../” or “ls directory”. That’s not a big problem, but in a longer game it would have really gotten on my nerves. Perhaps something to be addressed if it comes up in future games. (Hint: toybox’s implementation of the shell and typical commands isn’t too hard to modify and is very permissively licensed).