If you are tired of the same old predictable titles in your library of PC games, Is this Game Trying to Kill Me? is exactly the kind of wild, brain-bending experience you need. It is a fantastic indie blend of escape-room puzzles and psychological horror that literally breaks the fourth wall. Instead of just running around a typical map, you are playing a game within a game where the stakes are incredibly high. It is short, delightfully spooky, and packed with clever mechanics that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the moment you boot it up on your desktop.
Storyline
The premise is brilliantly creepy and throws you right into the action. You find yourself trapped inside an old, dusty cabin deep in a dark forest. The mysterious owner gives you a seemingly simple ultimatum: sit down, beat a retro 2D computer game, and you get your freedom. But things get crazy real quick. You soon realize that the pixelated computer game and the actual 3D cabin are deeply connected. If you open a chest on the screen, a real chest unlocks in the room behind you. Even worse, if you trigger a deadly trap in the digital world, you might just get skewered by spikes in real life. It is a thrilling race to solve the mystery before the game actually takes you out.
Gaming experience
Playing this feels incredibly fresh because you are constantly bouncing between two totally different visual worlds. The gameplay smoothly shifts between exploring the 3D first-person cabin and controlling a little character in the 2D retro adventure. To progress, you have to use the environment of both realities to solve some seriously clever logic puzzles. It relies a bit on trial and error, which means you are definitely going to die in a bunch of funny, gruesome ways while figuring out the traps. For fans of puzzle-heavy PC games, it delivers an unforgettable, highly interactive challenge that totally messes with your head in the best way possible.
