GIRP
The goal of GIRP is to get your character, a shirtless man holding onto rings attached to the side of a cliff, to the top of the cliff on which sits a bird’s nest with an awesome treasure in it using the letter keys on the keyboard that correspond to each ring to grap onto them and the control key to flex your arms.
GIRP was very frustrating. It was fun to yell at and fun to try again and again after losing quickly. It is less painful to play than QWOP, but it is still very difficult. I have not made it to the top of the cliff. The game controls work well and are easy to understand, and the graphics are not at all distracting.
GIRP is a lot harder when you disable the flex option. I played this way on my first few tries because I did not read all the instructions. Only using the letter keys on the keyboard is doable, just much more stressful.
A few days after playing it, I woke up thinking “I want to play GIRP today.” What a strange thought.
This is unrelated, but I also played QWOP in studio class during a break. The girl next to me started playing it, and the girl next to her started playing it, too. They are both international students and had never heard of QWOP before, but it looked funny, so they wanted to play. I, and the girl next to me, could not get past 3 meters. The other girl clacked away at the keys while looking around and smacking her gum, saying, “Wow, I’m so good at this game!” I think she got to 30 meters before falling. I envy her.
Queers in Love at the End of the World
There is no clear goal or rules for this interactive text game. There is a 10 second timer and options to click on after you read the main text. If you click through enough options before the 10 seconds are up, there will be no remaining choices. The goal could be to get the ending that you want; it could also be to explore the many endings and narratives present.
Queers in Love at the End of the World is fun. The timer creates a sense of urgency, forcing the player to read or skim faster in attempts to find an ending. It is highly replayable due to the short length and strong, powerful writing; Anna Anthropy’s prose is poetic and compelling. The colors of the text and screen are somber and fit the mood of the story.
An interesting variant could be to try and get a “bad” or unsatisfactory ending.
When I played this game for the first time, I sat in awe of the power there is in words. It was so good. I go back to this game when I want to be stuck speechless by awesome things.
