Before the course ends, I just wanted to write a little note to one of my favorite games of all time, and attempt to understand why it has an enduring appeal in my mind. Even before playing it for the course, Steam said that I had 10 hours in the game - well enough to beat it over five times. Clearly, this illustrates that the narrative isn't the main draw of the game to me (though I love it very much). A brief note on the narrative before I jump to what really makes this game a treasure in my mind.
One of the best features of the game is how its narrative is structured into the gameplay. You have to choose between keeping a cute photo of your neighbor or a hug coupon and burning them so that you can use the slot to keep more items. Because the communication is tangible, and the items inter-actable, there is not much of a gap between narrative and gameplay, and they build on one another rather than being at odds. Additionally, the weather reports and nonsensical nature of the in-game economy do a great job of world-building and creating an ominous atmosphere while being very occasional and unobtrusive. The first time I played I definitely burned the coupon and was sad that I missed out on the good ending, but was happy to play again. Because...
The gameplay is just so addicting. This might be a bit of a reductionist way of looking at the game, but the core gameplay loop is just so enjoyable that it keeps me coming back to it for a full play through every year or so. Completing puzzles is fun and only occasionally frustrating, with the quirky titles giving clear hints without completely giving away the correct combination. As a progression system, the goal of receiving new catalogs is exciting, because it gives a plethora of new items to play with, and builds upon the hook of burning things and the player's presumed desire to burn all of the things before moving on.
And burning things is just fun. Maybe I'm a pyromaniac, but it is super satisfying to just watch a little elf man and watch him explode. It certainly is a little disconcerting narratively that all of these supposedly non-sentient objects behave in ways that mimic actual behavior occasionally, or are presented in a life-like sense, but the gameplay possibilities with unexpected consequences (such as money falling from the sky as you burn a credit card) makes them very fun to interact with. I have the most fun playing this game when I attempt to create my own combos. I might order a ton of blocks and try to create a form before exploding a nuke next to it, or try to get all the objects which breath fire to incinerate one another until they burn to a crisp. The distinct feeling, both visually and gameplay-wise, of the items makes them endlessly fun to burn. In this way, I often find myself feeling like the enraptured player character, sitting in front of his fire place and just getting a weird sort of joy about burning things. And sometimes it's just great to sit and do that, allowing my creativity to take reign, letting the fires grow larger and larger.