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While some art games aggressively push against the boundaries of the common definition of a "video game," most just aggressively push against the boundaries of people's common sense and patience. Does doing nothing other than holding right on a control pad constitute a game? That's a tough question. I would contend that if the action is an interactive metaphor for something greater, then yes, it does. But that doesn't mean anyone who finds it boring has to agree with me.
So it is with some humility -- and a bit of unflappable aplomb -- that I present these 10 hoity-toity, self-aggrandizing art titles. I would encourage everyone to approach each one with an open mind and to try to see past the conventional cultural loci that games like Resident Evil 4, Super Mario, and Half-Life have established. But if you feel like they are all artsy-fartsy tripe, have at 'em in the comments. Or share some of your own favorites, too.
As a last thought, all of the games are free to play in a web browser, and most take little more than 15 minutes to complete. Anyway, on to the...er...art:
Everyday the Same Dream (play it here)
First up on the "holding right is all you do" checklist is Everyday the Same Dream. I purposefully listed this title at the top as an example of the possible interactive metaphors art games may offer. Everyday the Same Dream is easy to interpret as a meditation on the dehumanizing mechanization of modernity and day-to-day mundanity. It's possible to read the control scheme as a metaphor meant to foster this sentiment. Everyday the Same Dream is full of all sorts of this namby-pamby existential stuff -- too bad it's missing a multiplayer mode.
Coma is a platformer mixed with elements of a point-and-click adventure that has you playing a boy named Pete. Of all the games on this list, it is probably one of the most conventionally fun to play, but throughout, it hits its fair share of emotional beats. Is the whole thing the lucid dream of a boy in a coma? Is he headed toward wakefulness or death?
Company of Myself (play it here)
This title is easy to boil down as "Braid, Jr." And while it's certainly derivative of designer Jonathan Blow's somewhat-contentious title, it enjoys its own fair share of charm. Company of Myself is another of the more conventional games on this list, but don't be fooled. See it through to the end, and you'll find some surprising twists buried in the mind of its unreliable narrator that are sure to titillate navel gazers like me.
Following in the path defiantly trailblazed by BioShock, Loved brazenly plays with the notions of quest-giving and goal-achieving. Throughout the short platformer, a disembodied voice commands you to perform different actions at key junctures in the game's sole "level." The choice is whether to obey the voice's often-peremptory "love" or carve your own way.
ImmorTall is a short, character-driven piece that plays with the French idea of a bête noire or "black beast" -- the literary archetype that describes something conventionally disliked in a story. In this case, it's a towering space monster, and the plot does its literary backflip using a double role reversal. If you open yourself up to the game's short narrative, the ending is somewhat shocking -- and moving.
