At a Distance is a game I found whilst perusing through Terry Cavanagh's larger body of work. He is known for his action games like VVVVVV, Tiny Heist, and, to my admittedly unfounded chagrin, an exploration of the roguelite genre with Dicey Dungeons. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him due to his commitment to always having something new to show off with novel game mechanics.

Thus, I came across At a Distance. It seemed like another one of his more experimental games much like his appearance in Experiment 12 or his newer creations like Anyone could be struck by lightning at any time [sic]. However, what ultimately allured me to At a Distance was the mode of play, namely a co-operative game requiring LAN play, with no option for a refined singleplayer experience. Mandatory multiplayer games aren't new per se, but it combined with the exploration-based gameplay and the initial context of its debut as an art exhibit for NYU Tisch's No Quarter Exhibition to absorb a lot of space in my brain for several months.

There was one small problem with this: I could not play the game myself. It required two separate computers to be played as intended, and playing it by myself would've been a hassle that ruined the experience due to how many windows I'd need to juggle. I also don't have many local friends, and don't want to have to give one of them my IP address over the internet for what should be fairly understandable reasons. Eventually, an opportunity came up recently that enabled me to play this exactly as was intended.

I played this with a friend of mine who had set up two computers in her room. We were both able to look at each others' screens, and communication was not much an issue. We had a bit of trouble setting up the connection with the IP, but eventually, we got it working after some confusion. We began, and were subsequently hit with an initial period of more confusion.

I assume this is intentional. There is no given context beyond that, wherever each player is, they are wholly separate worlds save for one mechanic in which the right-screen player must configure a sort of maze which the left-screen player will have to navigate through. With each discovery of a new cube within these mazes, new keys unlock for the right-screen player to navigate different strands connected to the central hub to collect more sections of the maze.

This was lost on us until many minutes into playing. I was merely just looking back at my teammate's screen, anxiously anticipating what'd happen next as I fooled around and tried to make sense of the mechanic. We then understood the task at hand, finding different angles from which my team-mate would approach each room within the maze. My friend fooled around while she waited for me to transport her, always hoping wherever she'd end up would be a new experience.

It didn't take long for us to collect all of the available cubes and keys within each level. We were soon greeted with dark screens that turned maroon, then a blistering 255 red, and then a sun-like yellow. This was, I believed, the end of the game, and it was. It was rather anti-climactic, with both of us faffing about with each of our mouses and keyboards to see if anything would spring up. Alas, nothing.

This last segment should not be taken as disappointment, moreso as a curveball. Given that its initial existence was in an exhibition, it's natural it would end on such an immediate, blank note. I liked it, not sure about my friend

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Thank you to Erato_Heti for helping out with some minor structural issues.