By John Walker on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:15 pm.
Kieron spotted this in the 2010 IGF list. Called 78641, it purports to be an English translation of the classic Esperanto game, Pato Viro Simulilo. It’s, um, sort of an adventure game, but mostly an exercise in surrealism. And unlike most things that people label “surreal”, this isn’t just “silly” or saying “fish” a lot – it’s a genuinely surreal and often unsettling experience. In the game you play Doug Beachez, a frying pan. Who sells dildos.
It’s mostly about conversations with various other characters, be they thugs, old men who attack you with sentences, or murderous leaves. There’s a few minigames to play, and some sort-of action sequences, but mostly it’s about experiencing disconnect, and then staring in shock at some of the language. It’s clearly in NSFW territory with it’s “dick selling” activities, and may cross some other lines. I was slightly taken aback when a character declared, “I cannot part with this [picture of Swayze]. Patrick Swayze is dead of the AIDS. Better luck next time.” To which the frying pan replies, “I hope you kill yourself in the hopes you are reincarnated as something other than a gypsy next time.” I’m just saying.
You can get the full game from this link here. It’s… an experience. Here’s the trailer:
This game is hard, you will fail many times while playing it. It’s really short once you figure out what to do.
Here’s the original post from the the indie game source forums, back in August:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=7956.0
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A much, much better game from these guys is .
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http://members.shaw.ca/gzsoft/barkleygaiden.html is the link. My kingdom for a preview feature.
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Of course this game came out before Swayze kicked the bucket, so it’s more an unfortunate coincidence than cheap assholery about his death.
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He’d been slowly dying of pancreatic cancer for a couple of years. It’s not a coincidence. Which is why the AIDS thing seemed a bit indecent.
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78641 is totally my Zip Code. I’m being completely serious.
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http://www.city-data.com/soz/soz-78641.html
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So funny! I totally LOL’d.
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Nice retro graphics, but not a fun game.
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It doesn’t look unsettling at all. It looks very silly.
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Seconded. Not unsettling at all, unless you find boredom unsettling.
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“I cannot part with this [picture of Swayze]. Patrick Swayze is dead of the AIDS. Better luck next time.”
I laughed, I’m a bad person.
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You aren’t the only one. But this sort of humor probably wouldn’t be as funny if it didn’t piss some people off.
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I always lose the sentence-dodging game. Fuck this
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how do you not say that its from the same incredible folks that did Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden??????
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Seriously? That game was delightfully silly (though I stopped playing shortly through).
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Haha, I remember this game from a little while ago. It’s awesome.
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this game came out before patrick swayze died, it is a coincidence, and the world does not revolve around patrick swayze.
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worst comment ever, John already explained why it is not coincidental at all.
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I am Patrick Swayze and am very upset about all this.
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Do a dance for us, Patrick Swayze.
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AIDS and pancreatic cancer is unrelated, no?
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We don’t know how close the terms for pancreatic cancer and AIDs might be in Esperanto! Something may have been lost in translation!
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Keiron “spotted” it? It’s the second game in the list! ;-)
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Normally, spam posts ruin a discussion, but here, random necro spam feels right.
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On the other hand, the day spam bots become context sensitive (like Google adwords does) we will be doomed.
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