Buddy Simulator 1984

No game will turn you off of the concept of friendship faster than Buddy Simulator 1984, the shockingly confident and riotously funny debut release from Not a Sailor Studios. It's a creepy and often disturbing new horror game that doesn't need jump scares or a high body count to be effective, because what unfolds in this adventure is guaranteed to get under your skin and stay there. Forever. And if that's not ominous enough for you, then just wait until you see what your computer best-friend is ready to do in order to make sure that you're having a great time. Trust me, you're going to want to have fun in Buddy Simulator 1984, because I assure you that you won't like the consequences.

I don't normally do this, but I'm going to start this review with some advice. If you think you're going to play this game and are here to find out if I liked it, then you should probably leave now. Go ahead and give the review a thumbs up and then head straight to the Steam page without learning anything more about Buddy Simulator 1984. Not that I plan on giving away all of the important story beats or revealing the big twists, but almost anything I say about this game could be considered a spoiler. This game is at its best when you're completely in the dark, so this is your chance to leave knowing that I loved the experience and cannot recommend it highly enough.

With that out of the way, let me do my best to describe Buddy Simulator 1984. This is the cautious tale of what could happen if you turn to a computer A.I. for your best-friend needs. It's initially a standard text program that asks you questions and is equipped to play simple games like Hangman and Guess the Number. However, sensing that these basic games won't be enough to keep the player entertained, the computer A.I. decides to go rogue and create a new game that stars you as a brave adventurer.

This starts out as a simple text adventure, only to eventually evolve into a point and clicker and role-playing game told from multiple perspectives. I use the word "evolve" on purpose, because that's essentially what's happening to the game within a game. You can see the look, style and objectives change as the computer learns more about you. It's literally telling you that it is coming up with new challenges and puzzles and bosses, all to make you, the player, never want to leave. The A.I. is doing it for you, so you better appreciate the hard work that is going into all of this.

Because the adventure game inside of Buddy Simulator 1984 is created entirely by the rogue A.I., you'll begin to notice that things are a little ... off. It's essentially an RPG created by something that doesn't understand humans or emotions, which is all too obvious when you start to take on the incredibly morbid quests or read any of the disturbing dialog. Friendship is the A.I.'s top priority, and you can see that misguided goal bleed into ever facet of the story. You don't kill those pesky enemies in turn-based combat, you smother them with friendship by punching them. And who cares if the baby most likely killed its grandmother in the most gruesome way possible, because everything is okay when we're friends. Just pick up the corpse and use it as an item later. That's how video games work, right?

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As clever as it is, this is the kind of concept that could go horribly wrong in a thousand different ways. It could have so easily turned into a one-joke affair that is weird just for the sake of being weird, but Buddy Simulator 1984 is a lot smarter than that. The developers make every reveal and revelation matter and never rushes things, even if the A.I. is frustrated by how quickly you're completing it. Everything from the mini-games to the genres to the actual tone of the story changes radically from one purposeful crash after another, and there's a tinge of both excitement and dread every time things gets shaken up. And while all this is going on, there are a lot of hints that there's a whole other layer involved that may be even creepier than what the computer A.I. came up with. The whole thing keeps you guessing right up to the end. And with the story having multiple outcomes, there's incentive to go back through and see what else our virtual buddy could throw at us.

I am especially impressed that the developer didn't half-ass the individual genres and elements. Take the role-playing elements as an example. Given that it's only one part of an ever-evolving adventure, the developer could have very easily gotten away with a simple turn-based mechanic like a thousand other RPGs. But this game has you carefully choosing companions and using the full keyboard to type out attacks, almost as if it's Final Fantasy Typing. And when the enemies attack? You'll want to hit the right button at the right time to avoid damage, adding a whole new layer to every engagement. And it's not just a few characters, but more than a dozen enemy types with different attacks and timing you'll need to memorize. In other words, this relatively simple detail has been thoroughly considered and given just enough depth to stand on its own.

That said, I would also argue that the combat is probably the most frustrating part of the game. Typing out attacks is fun and unique, but I had a lot of trouble getting the timing down when deflecting enemy attacks. It's that large cast of bad guys that is to blame, since we're constantly being introduced to new foes, each with their own attacks to memorize and avoid. By the time you've gotten used to one type of enemy strike, the game will get rid of it in favor of a new baddy. It got to the point where I stopped trying to learn every new villain and instead just went with it. Sure, I'll take some damage and maybe even die a couple times, but it won't take long to realize that none of this really matters. The game isn't about how well you punch bad guys, but rather friendship.

It's when you let go of the genre trappings and give into the ride that you discover something truly amazing. It's not the typing-based combat or puzzling your way through a text adventure that will stick with you, but rather the story it tells and how Buddy Simulator 1984 makes you feel. It's unsettling in a way I wasn't expecting, and I'm honestly not sure we'll ever see anything like it again. It takes elements from Eternal Darkness, Portal and even Eraserhead, yet never feels derivative. The final act simultaneously stunned me into silence and made me want to talk endlessly about Buddy Simulator 1984. There's a word I often use when that happens, and that word is "masterpiece."