Playdead’s moody puzzle-platformer Inside for Xbox One and PC may have you scratching your head by its close, then reloading to pick through its oblique vignettes in search of answers. I don’t think answers are at all what Inside is about, any more than I think they’re the object of a Quay Brothers or Jan Svankmajer film.
Inside is more about the craftsmanship behind wicked smart puzzle design nestled almost invisibly, and thereby brilliantly, within the familiar: running, jumping, climbing, shoving objects around, unlocking doors and so forth. This is a game about deftly positioning the extraordinary within the ordinary.
I’ve only shown the opening few minutes of Inside to avoid spoiling anything, so if you want a safe glimpse of the game along with my thoughts on why it works, you can take this as a condensed video version of my review.
- Climate-Conscious Architects Want Europe To Build Less
- The Red-State Governor Who's Not Afraid to Be 'Woke'
- Jonathan Van Ness: We Are Still Not Taking Monkeypox Seriously Enough
- The Not-So-Romantic Return of Europe's Sleeper Trains
- This Filmmaker Set Out To Record Her Family’s Journey Rebuilding Afghanistan. Her Work Is a Reminder of What’s at Stake
- Why Sunscreen Ingredients Need More Safety Data
- What Historians Think of the Joe Biden-Jimmy Carter Comparisons
- Author Mimi Zhu Is Relearning What It Means to Love After Trauma
