I have commented on the nature of length of games, and it's often the case where a game being too short goes against it. And by short, in this case I'm talking about the kind of games you can finish in half an hour or less, on your first run, going in without knowing anything about the game beforehand. It depends, really, on what you're able to cram in that short play length. When the game Leave ended, I was taken somewhat aback. It's a game that can be beaten in ten minutes, more or less. But in that period of time it fit in a narrative that seems hazy at first but by the time you reach the end the gears begin spinning in your head and everything that you examined in the game (assuming you gave a damn and paid attention) starts coming together. It was an intelligently executed game in that area. It also had a nicely spooky, if silly-jump-scare-heavy, atmosphere to help accompany it. But then I have to ask myself, was it good because of how resourceful it was in telling its narrative and providing its scares, or was it good in spite of its length? The answer might lie somewhere in between. It certainly would have been a more fulfilling game I think if there was a bit more content. And then there are games like Clock of Atonement, a critically praised game I found lackluster. That game is roughly the same length, maybe shorter, it depends on how quickly you can solve its puzzles. I think it's a game that was very promising conceptually, but it was short. In this case, I do not think it made good use of its length. A simplistic story, one-solution puzzles, what few there are, a non-ending, and that's about it. Like I said, there was a grain of promise in the game, VERY minor things that it did well in its mechanics and story that it just failed to expand upon to make it a worthwhile game, at least to me.

The difference between this game and those is I went in here expecting it to not be very long-lasting. From what it looks, around its release there was a quite hyperbolic description of the game that turned out to, well, fall quite short of what was advertised. I came in about four years late for this, so I now I see the description of a game that can be finished in 5 minutes. So I know perfectly well what I'm in for when download this game that's not even 1 MB in size. Judging by the score I gave this you might see that I don't have the most positive impression of this, and so as mentioned in the last paragraph, it's a matter of execution, what it does within its short time frame moreso than the time frame itself. But the ways in which I have problems with its execution go so over the line I think I broke my brain trying to come to terms with them. More on that later.

Starting the game up, you're not even so much as greeted with a title screen. It throws you right into the fold, where you, an unnamed college student, wakes up in his dorm room, knowing very well that it's his dorm room but not remembering how he got there and also feeling as if something is wrong about the room. Overreaction to a hangover, coming off a bad trip from a party the previous night, maybe it's just in need of a little feng shui, whatever the case may be, you're unsure, so it's time to investigate! And by that just look at your crap around your room. One of the more interesting things about the game is that it's entirely menu-based, and everything represented in a first-person perspective. Reminds me a bit of some very old, early/mid-80s computer or even NES-era adventure games, like something ICOM would've made, except here it's much more simplified. No need to examine, take, walk to, or smell anything, just scroll down on the small list of things in your room, press the appropriate key when you found what you want to look at, and you'll move closer to it, to which you'll get an observation from your character. Sometimes you'll need to choose which aspect of the object to observe first, like, should I look at the left side of the desk, or the right side of the desk? Decisions, decisions. And the game does a good job at bringing an eerie touch to everything. Even simple things like a locked cabinet and a dark, empty parking lot you observe out your window. There are few sound effects, only two I recall in fact, a ringing phone, and a knock on the door, but they are used effectively. And as you go, the more you observe, the more your initial intuitions that something felt off were correct. A lightswitch that doesn't work, yet the lights are on? A door that won't open, yet it's unlocked, that handle moves, and it's even slightly ajar? And what's happening on Halloween 2008 that's gotten everyone freaked out, and the police involved? What is so bad out there that it needs to be written in the game's title, as a concise, no-mincing-words declaration, to NOT go out? Examine everything and eventually... I still have no idea.

Alright, here's the thing - as you will read from others the standout thing about this game is its twist ending. And, true. The game IS built around a twist ending. But the twist doesn't account for so many other things left unaccounted for in the game. I was expecting to be like "whoa" at the end. Instead I'm more "huh." Followed by a "what." Then a "ffffffgggggwwwAAAAGGGHHHHHHH??!"

Here's what I understand:

OK, I got that. Buuuut, and this is something I raised in the comments, but I think everyone's stopped caring about this game at this point, so I might as well expand upon my thoughts here, what, exactly, was it

Ohhhh myyyyy GAAAAAWWWWWD!

For so short a game with what should be so straightforward a plot it raises so many unnecessary questions and is so convoluted my head is spinning. I mean, am I stupid? Was there something I missed? Was I not paying enough attention, and in fact all of these pertinent questions were answered by things I just didn't "get"? I seem to be the only one here who's having problems so, maybe? I wish someone would clarify these things for me if they know something I don't. But if I am correct to speculate on these things, in that, these are things that are unanswered, then this is just what I call a clumsy attempt at ambiguity. Actually, it feels less like ambiguity and more that the rest of the story was accidentally erased from the game. Whichever's the case, here we have a game that's like Leave in that it crams a surprisingly involved plot in so short a time. Only not in a good way. It's disappointing, really, even though this never looked like anything more than a quickie the developer threw together probably in an afternoon in the first place to me anyway, it could have at least been properly executed, a quick bit of entertainment with a PLOT TWIST! Plus I really do like the format of the game. But as it is it's just... a game was made, and looking at the developer's portfolio, it looks like he's made far more involved, accomplished games than this, lending further credence to the "afternoon quickie" hypothesis, hence not just the short length and extremely basic interface but the story that is a complete mess despite being so simple, or one that SHOULD be simple.

The game at least has a graphical style that is nice to look at. I guess.