Within

Within is an excellent way to exemplify the meaning of the saying “less is more”. It’s a small game in stature with a minimalistic design that relies solely on the use of simple lines to create a three dimensional space in which you can walk around. And there’s a neat little twist to it.

Within is played from a first-person perspective and places you at the start of the game in a large, cubicle room that has no door or any kind of exit. You’re a presence stuck in a defined space with apparently no way out.

Your virtual world survival skills kick in and you start to look around for a way out. It takes you a few seconds to look at each side of the cube and understand that there’s no door. Until you look again and out of nowhere, there’ a corridor which leads somewhere. This is the first instance in which the game makes you question your observation skills. Was that corridor always there and somehow you didn’t see it?

As you make your way through, you see it twist, turn and bend in unusual ways, it makes no sense. Unfortunately for you, but fortunate for the developer, that feeling of ‘nothing makes any sense’ skyrockets the moment you set foot into a second room.

You reach your second room in Within. Two reactions might arise in the first few seconds: “Wow! This place looks really cool” and “What the heck is this place? Where am I?”. Indeed, the minimalistic design to Within makes everything look really nice if you’re into games that rely on a few things to create an environment and an atmosphere.

The emptiness of the space however is part of what gets to you on a psychological level. You see, the space in Within constantly shifts as you explore it. The best part about that is that nothing happens before your eyes. Every little or big change takes place in a place you’re not looking at.

This really messes with you sense of space perception and memory because there will be a lot of moments in which you will ask yourself “Was that there a second a go?”. Other questions will be: “ Where is that strange sound coming from?” and “What’s that floating weird thing and why is it coming towards me”?

On a closing note, Within is too good to pass. It takes only a few minutes of your day but it will be something you will think about at least a couple of hours after. Wonderful games really do come in small packages.