Girl, her brother and his lamp

A Girl Her Brother and His Lamp is a short interactive movie. You see stuff happen, you pause and pick a choice, you see more stuff happen.

It is a very simple concept and makes for a stunningly intriguing game!

You start medias in res as the boy picks up a lamp and is instantly transported to a strange, bare planet. It is perhaps only this transition that deserves to be expanded on, as you do know what "normal" you came from or wish to return to.

All you know is that you are somewhere, and you can interact somehow.


This .. does not look too inviting.

While the start is bare and too short to create any foundation, the way the two are animated makes their intentions, their curiosity, their confusion and their fear are emminent in the way they behave and move.
They may look around and oggle what new appeared, run away or simple watch what is unfolding before them.

The choices are indicated by symbols - no line of text is ever used, bare the "The End", which I felt felt out of place in this game. A fade-out would have sufficied, as the imagery showed their journey was at its end.
The menu, too, is beautifully made and completely custom. One question, though, there was a lock indicated - but I did not unlock anything after completing playing through it? Is that a bug, something forgot to add or something else?

While you cannot predict their outcome of your choices, they may very well indicate it and play with your expectations - a snowflake may involve something freezing up, or someone using something involved ice.

Now with all that said - it plays absolutely fluidly. The clips are very short and you will keep moving quickly, creating a connected movie rather than just the clips they are.
Every dead-end of your choice teleports you back to the start, and not only is it absolutely intriguing to test any and all possiblities, it is also needed to explore a set of different "endings" to beat the game. You will get hints to them at some point, if you have not yet completed the task.


Let's try the octopus next.

The world you land on is an ever-moving picture, being warped and stretched in all kinds of directions. Some events are logical or natural, like a creature appearing, others warp the entire scenery and make for a tension-filled ominous creation.

It makes you curious about the world you are exploring, playing around with it as you know you can escape back to safety every time.
The music playing behind it makes for a very curious, quirky undertone - a disconnection to the world you see, but filling you with wonder and curiosity.

The ending portion, too, is very brief and I would have loved a little pause to see it stay as it is, just to give a conrast to the ever-changing adventure they just completed.

You may wonder about the world, and craft your own ideas as to how it works, or what it might represent, but that is up to you.

It is a wonderful, brief, but fascinating and compelling experience. The 10 minutes are worth it!