Games You Might Have Missed: These Four Walls Called Reality
These Four Walls Called Reality by Lim Sidnee is a new visual novel available over on itch.io. Be warned, this game does include some graphic descriptions and is recommended for people 14 and up.
Taking inspiration from “The Shadows That Run Alongside Our Car”, by Lox Rain, These Four Walls Called Reality is a visual novel featuring two strangers trapped together at the end of the world. The zombie apocalypse has been raging for some time now, with herds of Infected roaming the land, attacking anyone they can find. This is where the story starts, with two people who have never met hiding from an imposing herd inside a metal shipping container. Forced to either talk to each other, or live forever in a crushingly awkward silence, the two, Tabbris and Maxwell, start a conversation.
There’s no point putting on airs with death only a wall away, so the two quickly divulge their tragic backstories. Through these stories, we see Tabbris and Maxwell become fast friends, and show that they are both incredibly human. But more importantly, their stories reveal much more about the humanity of others. These Four Walls Called Reality does a better job of showing the darkness that can be found in humans in a fifteen minute conversation than an entire season of The Walking Dead could ever hope to, without a single zombie actually appearing on screen.
It’s not an especially long game, maybe half an hour depending on how quickly you read, but it doesn’t have to be to get its point across. While sometimes a bit corny, These Four Walls Called Reality is a sad queer game I can actually get behind. Instead of ruminating on the tragedy of queer existence, it simply makes a point of how queerness and other forms of difference are treated in a non-apocalyptic world, and how those experiences can help bring us closer together instead of tearing us apart.
If you’re looking for something short yet poignant to start off your year, These Four Walls Called Reality should hit the spot nicely.
(Shout out to Cameron Kunzelman for making me aware of this game today in their great article for Waypoint)
