When I was around 9 years old, the website I played this on tried to desperately warn me by saying I needed "nerves of steel" for this game. I didn't know what those words meant. 2 minutes later, shit made me freeze up so bad that it felt like brain paralysis. The first episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People was downloading in the background. My family was in the other room, blissfully unaware of what I just stumbled into. And there I was, absolutely frozen in my chair. Presumably, taking a mental note that I should probably be more careful of the internet from there on out. I proceeded to do some research on screamers, memorized how a couple of them looked, and vowed to never be tricked into seeing them ever again.

A couple months later, my friend put headphones on me and started playing that car coffee commercial. I jumped out of the chair before the jumpscare even happened, knowing full well what this was. My research... paid off in the end.

I haven't just mastered you, you fucking piece of shit of a browser game. I've mastered how to dodge them all.

The more time passes, the harder it is to wrestle with how weird this game is to recommend. I want to tell all my sweaty action gamers to start on Critical and skip all the cutscenes, and I sincerely believe it’s the way to play, but I also realize that’s not a realistic experience whatsoever lmfao.

That intrusive thought verbalized, it doesn’t change how I feel about the game itself. Not sure I have more to add on top of what I said in this video: https://youtu.be/RYdFpv9Ay7o?si=XKNPVk13CDzhNzn8