Do blades of grass ever experience self-doubt? What do phytoplankton and spiral galaxies have in common? How do telephone poles dance? Do you know who Alan Watts is? Have I lost my mind? The answer to those questions and more can be found within Everything. Well, except for maybe that last one. Fair warning though, if the thought of controlling a grain of sand while a renown philosopher lectures you about the universe makes you groan, then maybe this game isn’t for you.
Described as an “open-ended interactive experience and reality simulation” by its developers, Everything is by far one of the weirdest games I’ve played…ever, actually. Part procedural world builder, part quirky sandbox game, Everything is a thoughtful adventure that can’t quite be done justice through a secondhand account. To see is to believe, as they say. Problem is, I wouldn’t have anything to write about if we left it at that, would I?
The premise is simple enough; you play as an incorporeal, body-snatching entity who can take control of, well, everything. You then roam the lands (or air, sea, universe, etc) as said inhabited being, interacting with other things that are strewn across various planes of existence. There are two main ways to interact with the world around you. The first takes the form of dialog bubbles which protrude from objects in your immediate surroundings (such as the thought bubble shown in the gif above). This is where you’ll be able to read an object’s thoughts or find the aforementioned philosophical disquisitions by Alan Watts. The second form of interaction is an interface with which you choose your next host. While in this mode, you’ll either be able to hop between objects in your vicinity or move up or down in the scale of objects you are allowed to select (as shown in the gif below).
While the jury is still out on whether Everything does indeed contain every single thing imaginable like the title implies, I’m willing to give it a pass due to the seemingly unending amount of objects, animals, and landmasses found in my roughly three or so hours of playtime. On numerous occasions, I was genuinely surprised by the sheer ridiculousness of something I’d stumbled upon. During my time with Everything, I had possessed just under 300 things, which included a boat, a traffic cone, a cougar, a piece of gum, and a cumulonimbus cloud, just to name a few. If a more passive experience would suit your fancy, there’s even an “Autoplay” mode (which makes a return from the creator’s previous project, Mountain), which is exactly what it sounds like. There is so much more that could be unpacked here, but I’m choosing to omit some details in an effort to avoid spoiling what makes this title so special; discovering the unexpected.
We’re well into what many have referred to as “Golden Age” of indie games. This era is defined by gumptious developers who want nothing more than to push the envelope. Everything isn’t the first game to be so wonderfully weird and eccentric. Luckily for us, it won’t be the last, either. Everything is both novel in its subject matter and unorthodox in its presentation. If any of this has piqued your interests, consider taking a walk on the metaphysical side. Consider Everything.
Oh, and here’s a herd of bug-eyed buffalo rolling around.
