Barb

There are many ways people can send a message in order to prove a point, but it’s always very thrilling do it in the form of a major twist at the end of an apparently normal story. Hence, this is why detective stories and movies have such a large audience. Unexpected plot twists excite the imagination and make people be glad that they never see it coming, for a change.

Barb is a short, yet powerful game about a woman by the name of Barbara, and it all starts when she wakes up in the morning. The game is not particularly good-looking, nor does it feature any kind of and engaging gameplay mechanics, but it manages to make a point by the end, which is more than can be said for many triple-A productions that require millions of dollars to be produced.

There’s not an awful lot of interaction with the environment either, given the fact that everything in Barbara’s world is very gray and featureless, except for the objects you can interact with. There’s rarely more than one at a time, on the other hand, so the whole experience is pretty linear. In essence, you just follow the story as it unfolds in front of your eyes, except that you have to walk from one marker to the next.

Naturally, since the gameplay is very basic and nothing else really impresses about the game, the plot at the end is what makes the whole thing worth your time. It only takes a few minutes to find out what it is, so there’s no need for any spoilers. However, it’s a very neat and direct way to take someone by surprise, even if there are a few signs along the way.

The technical side is quite basic, too, even if the game uses the rather powerful Unity engine. There’s no need for flashy graphics, on the other hand, and the environments look pretty impressive overall, especially when you consider the fact that it’s just a mixture of gray and white. The low polygon count might be an issue in other games, but it doesn’t seem to matter at all here.

While it may not be the kind of gaming experience you’ll remember for years to come, Barb is still worth a playthrough, if only to see the plot twist. It only takes up a few minutes of your time.