PC, Mac, Linux, free
Here’s a quick little oddity as I ease myself back in, post-Covid. Presenter Slides is a free project that, for about fifteen seconds, presents itself as a peculiar piece of 90s freeware presentation software, before getting far more strange and plunging you straight into hell.
This is a very pleasingly surreal affair, a game that rather defies description, given that it’s part micro-RPG, part webcam-based exercise sim, part first-person desert exploration… You jump between themes and genres seemingly at random, until eventually the bizarre little experience is over.
It really does hook up to your webcam, too, albeit for purely silly reasons. You’re gaining strength for your character by taking part in online exercise classes, which successfully completed make you 0.1% stronger! You’ll also need to work in hell’s own call centre if you want to make money to ride the ferry. And as for the lighthouse: well, with a strength requirement of 3 to get in, and seemingly no surprise reveal of suddenly levelling up at the gym after I got myself to 0.5, I have finished the thing with no idea.
This is so wonderfully strange, so genuinely surreal, unlike anything else I’ve played. Is it good? Well, it sort of transcends such notions. But it’s free, and that is sometimes just as important. I’m definitely glad I experienced it! I can’t promise you will be too, but it certainly won’t remind you of anything else.
- brin, Mathias Schifter
- Free
- Steam
I hope you’re feeling ok!
Is a webcam required to play it?
Not required, just recommended for that one bit.
If you manage to get 3 Strength (no actual exercise required) the tower opens up a presentation from the devs on Counter Game Design, which the game itself is built around. I found it to be quite interesting!