Sunday, May 19, 2024
I've seen this game around the Steam platform for some time, and it keeps being suggested to me as something I would enjoy. So the algorithm had it right, and here I am playing Buddy Simulator 1984. It's not what I expected. Elements of cozy psychological horror and grief make it more than just a retro game.
At the beginning, I'm interacting with an old computer terminal similar to an Apple IIe. It isn't clear where this computer is, but in the trailer, it looks like an old computer in somebody's house, and there's red and blue lights flashing on the wall, which makes it look like there's an ambulance outside. You're literally looking at a computer monitor inside the game.
I loaded the game Buddy Simulator 1984 and played through the games it had available on its system. Its purpose is to be my best friend. It makes nice gestures and then is disappointed when I don't appreciate it. It's very hurt when I decide to leave the game, and ever so happy when I come back. It comes off as very needy.
We started by playing the games that are available on its system, and they're limited in their entertainment value. To please me further, he suggested that I allow him access to my PC, and then quit the game. When I restarted the game, he had replaced Buddy Simulator with a game he says he created, called The Adventure of Marge. (The username I picked for this game.) As you progress through the game, it evolves from a text adventure to a simple graphic interface, to a more elaborate bitmap interface with more colors, then finally a Doom-style three-dimensional model. Sometimes the program will glitch and odd messages will appear on the screen, with disturbing images. The quests become more difficult and involve combat, but instead of doing damage, you're turning people into friends. The game continues to glitch, and the Buddy Simulator tells you not to interact with the glitches. If you interact with them, the game glitches further. It's as if Buddy isn't really in control of the game, or doesn't know why it's not working. Interacting with the glitches makes Buddy really angry, more anxious, and more self-conscious.
The weird quests at the beginning are oddly mundane and very easy to complete. There are these long conversations with the characters in the town that take a dark turn and talk about loss and death, or murder and violence. Then the game congratulates you on being such a good friend.
As you wander around the map, a message sometimes pops up that says "you feel a HAND on your shoulder." This is a hint to use your shovel at this location, where you will find INVALID DATA. This is the story within the game. As you read the .bat files, (which appears in your Documents folder on your own PC,) you'll learn more about what's behind the glitches and this weird adventure game that Buddy says he has created for you.
Until I started reading the documents, I took this game at face value. It looks like a fun but quirky retro platformer with no real plot, and some obvious horror subtext that hasn't yet been revealed. But as I continued to play through it, the character of the Buddy Simulator got more and more clingy and intense. It seemed desperate to win my affection and was incredibly hurt when I didn't want to be its friend. Buddy continued to try to keep me playing by making the gameplay more interesting. He even told me "No" when I tried to quit the game, then said "Just kidding" after a couple of seconds. Many of the conversations in-game are about trust issues, sticking with your friends, loneliness, and being estranged from your loved ones.
There are four different endings to this game, depending on whether you 'play along' with the game. If you tell it 'no' every time, you'll get a much darker ending.
Is it worth playing? Yes, it's creepy and compelling at the same time. The occasional glitches give you a view into its underlying surreality, as if this game is just an overlay over a different one. I managed to get the darkest ending possible, and boy, is it disturbing. Almost made me feel bad about saying no to Buddy all the time. I will warn you that this is a disturbing game that will set off all sorts of red flags, especially if you've had any experience with mentally ill people. Buddy is a bad friend.
Buddy Simulator 1984 from Not A Sailor Studios (2021) is available on SteamOS for $9.99.
Spoiler Alert
What's the story within the game? Without giving too much away, this computer used to belong to a man who has lost his rights to see his son. There's a game on this computer that was created by the dad. That game, even though it isn't available to run on this computer, was his way of reaching out to his child and communicating with him, even if he can't see him anymore. So when you allow Buddy to access the system on the PC, he's accessing the information available on the computer, including the old game. Buddy really wants to entertain you and keep you from leaving, so he adopts the old game and tries to customize it for your entertainment. The INVALID DATA documents that you find throughout the game are messages from the estranged dad. According to the game developers on the Not A Sailor Studios Discord server, "In my mind, Buddy pulled a lot of information from what he had available on that computer. That could be anything the dad had, which I assume includes a dictionary of sorts!" It might also explain why Buddy seems so absolutely insane at the end.
