I can’t laugh without you
I will tell you as little as possible about the game “Smile for Me”. This is one of those situations where it’s best to know as little as possible and just let the world unfold before you. And what a mundane world it is, with distorted buildings that look like they fell out of Pee-wee’s playhouse, residents rendered as two-dimensional figures always (always) facing you, and sending you messages every night. Painted with puppets. Through retro videotape messages.
Smile for Me takes place at The Habitat, a colony for unfortunate people founded by Dr. Habit. your goal? Please keep these people happy! In this point-and-click adventure, your job is to walk around and find out what people need to get over their grief and put a smile on their faces. So sweet, right?
Um… no.
Smile for Me has successfully done a very difficult trick. It’s creepy even if you’re not doing something overtly scary. There are no monsters waiting to attack you in dark corners, no children whispering in the background, and no combat other than a tooth-banging game. And even your primary goal (making other residents happy) will soon shake the gears of Habitat. Dr. Habit’s daily messages begin to point out that it’s his job to make people happy, and his methods turn out to be very different from yours.
Like I said, this game is primarily a point and click adventure. Run around the habitat, click people to talk to them, and collect objects that need to be combined or modified to solve certain puzzles. Most of the solutions are easy (how do I get someone in another room to listen to my confession? How do I convince the surveillance cameras that the guards are still there?), but Other solutions require something like the old-fashioned “Well, let’s just make an offer.” ALL OBJECTS TO EVERYONE’ The magic of finding solutions.
Also, the game has a time limit every day, so you need to act quickly. I have to go to bed before it gets dark. If not, Dr. Habitt will take note and offer another kind of video.
Smile for Me has a 90s pop culture vibe. Kind of like what you see on liquid TV. The disturbing pieces are reeling on a fairy-tale scale, and nearly every part (hand puppets, recorded videos, angular sticker people) recalls a younger perception of fantasy and reality. It has extraordinary vision, and part of the creepiness isn’t that it’s random, but the out-of-reach feeling that somehow it all makes sense. That makes it all the more fascinating to explore, interact with, and understand the trail.
