In other news...why? I mean, seriously, why? Does Flickr think I'm not a native English speaker? Because this would make sense if I were from France or Uruguay or the Congo. It makes no sense when I was born in the US, raised monolingually, and, for the most part (outside of a smattering of words here and there) remain monolingual? I don't understand.
In the meantime, we're doing PULSE's Hallows event! And...it's a strange one this year. From their notecard:
"You are an average office worker in the year 2037 living in the shining city of Neo-Innsmouth, Massachusetts. Recently plagued by nightmares and fits of insomnia, and a strange 'dry eye' syndrome, concerned higher ups have sent you to a Psychological Institute called Arkham. It is said they use experimental treatments to aid the afflicted. It is a busy center, or so they say. Even in the future, life is just as stressful...."
Just so everyone knows going in. There usually are disturbing images, disturbing bits of story, gore and the like in these events.
So, the game starts off by walking into the doctor's office, and sitting down for the exam. Next thing you know, you're...here, and nothing at all makes sense. And the game is on.
Why...why is there a goat? Why is the goat eating a fish??
WHY ARE THERE DEAD GOATS??
Every City Hall looks like this, right?
Why...why are you whispering? Why aren't you moving? What's going on?!?
And why is the doctor a hologram? She wasn't before...
There's still room for humor here and there. There are some puzzles, but solutions can be found, or in a pinch--the very first one, I had to use this option--you can join the in-world Pulse Games group and ask for help there. Nothing is impossible, just...arcane and mysterious.
The HUD to play--which is required--costs L$50, and lets you record both your game progress and keep track of where you stopped, if you have to restart. (By that I mean, it will remember game points, but if you port away and don't take a landmark back to where you were, you'll have to start from the beginning.)
But some caveats--Ivey, one of the game designers, usually throws the HUD free the last week, because she and her team really put their heart and soul into this. They want everyone who wants to, to go through. And there are tons of prizes to find, this year in the form of little fish. They are everywhere; I'm fairly sure I didn't find all of them, and I came home with 59 prizes! Everything from gowns to eyes to furnishings to tattoos. Mostly tilted female, but don't worry, guys, there are some male and unisex items, too.
But I won't lie, this one is...odd. I've gone through it one time all the way through, and ported back to start from scratch just to search for fish, and I'm probably going back at least once more, because I don't entirely get the story. When I say arcane, I meean arcane in the old sense--enigmatic, baffling, incomprehensible to mortal minds. I get the basics--I'm just lost on how exactly it lines up with why I, a lowly clerk, went to be examined in the first place.
But it is fun, spooky, eerie, rings changes on both cyberpunk and Lovecraftian themes, and challenging without being impossible. Do go if you have a couple hours to kill (assuming you want to find all the prizes). And leave no stone unturned--you'll want to explore everywhere you can get to. And I, at least, through a combination of climbing and leaping, was able to get to quite a lot...
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