South of the Circle

A meticulous, understated, and memorable little experience with excellent voice acting, atmospheric set design, and a solid soundtrack as the glue. This is essentially an interactive movie: a "walking sim" with very minimal exploration.

There are many choices to be made but they are not in service of the plot. To be clear, this is not a "choices matter" game, at least it's not how choices are usually integrated into video games. Rather, your selections define your memories of the story. It is purely about roleplaying. But it's also about chance, because it's never clear how your choices—geometric shapes and colors—are going to manifest. Or maybe you do know how it's going to have to end? As the greatest statesman of our age has put it: "them's the breaks".

People who like this kind of stuff will enjoy this game. That said, I feel the concept wasn't pushed as far as it could go. There's a purposeful restraint to the whole story that does right by its decidedly restrained characters but ends up skin-deep and rushed. Still, the designers are onto something here and I hope they get another opportunity to work on a fuller, richer game that builds on the South of the Circle's potential.