Ritual of the Moon

It's a tough one to recommend.. I really enjoy what other things the video game medium can do and be, so games like what Kara Stone and friends make, I think it's interesting and worth to stop by and experience. (this is probably my third attempt to review the game..) Alright, so you're a witch exiled on the moon, and once a day, everyday there's a very punctual meteor that's always heading towards earth. As a witch, you can choose either to let the meteor hit ''home'' or guide it away from it. It's a very short and on-the-surface way to describe the game, but this is more of a different approach on ''spending time'' in front of the screen. Some reviews and descriptions of the game would even go on and say it's a meditative game, but I'll gladly ignore that part since the narrative in-game is so depressing and gloomy that unless you're a pessimist or fatalist, one can't meditate and find any ''peace'' whatsoever. Making this game meditative, which I can only imagine how it could've been, then that woudlve been a totally different creature and my review would've been different. Anyway, back to the Ritual: I stopped playing. Like i said, the depressing, gloomy plot turned me off. …

It's sad. I'm sad. I wish I wasn't.

It's both calming and cathartic if you're angry about something.

The potential beauty of the game entering a symbiotic relationship with your personal daily life sinusoid across a long stretch of time is deplorably compromised in this one. All artsiness, next to no artistry. And if it's personal, it doesn't seem to come through well enough. If you long for this kind of experience, I suggest the ancient yogic practice of real-time [i]Silent Hunter[/i] gaming. Don’t shave, don’t wash and don’t open windows for the duration of the raid for a complete experience. Ideally, invite friends and pay them per curse word to simulate that unique fifty-men-in-a-black-phallic-high-alloy-steel-sarcophagus ambiance. Another option is playing your favorite [i]Civilization[/i]-like a turn a day. My personal go-to is [i]Shadow Empire[/i]. Or a [i]Tamagotchi[/i]-style game like Ice-Pick Lodge’s recent mobile opus [i]Franz[/i]. Or get some offspring.

i bought this game because it's about a gay witch who lives on the moon. i played it and i got sad.

I enjoy the experience of being in a limited space, my relationship with the earth, deciding what to do about the comet, the use of time. All those feel meaningful. The ritual I do with the objects and tracing the lines does not. It feels less interesting than doing nothing would feel. I know this is a challenge in this kind of project/experience: coming up with an interaction that doesn't feel like a chore that distracts from being and thinking. I don't think it succeeds here. The game still feels somewhat worth coming back to, though, at least a few more times. I'm currently not very far into the month.