The quirkiest, strangest, and yet the most charismatic, walking simulators you’ll ever play.

The …of the Killer games are a fascinating and hilarious visit into a surreal world that continues to evolve in some absurd and unsuspecting ways. And there’s no better tour guide than the internal monologue of our main scrimblo girlie BB, who’s about as bewildered as I was throughout the whole thing… well, half the time.

While BB generally doesn’t want any part of whatever mess she finds herself in, the continuous stream of danger and freaks she is faced with often leads her to become quite jaded, sardonic, and even downright stupid. It’s emotions like these that made Anthology of the Killer forever entertaining:

Tone is never safe. You really have absolutely no clue whether the next dialogue line is going to be a detailed interpretation of the surroundings, a deadpan throwaway line completely trivialising an entire crime/horror media trope, or simply the dumbest pun you've heard all week; thecatamites’ comedic delivery and timing is just masterful.
Shout-out to Ears of the Killer in particular, that one got the most cackles out of me by far.

Many of these jokes are strengthened thanks to the characters' eccentric expressions. …of the Killer’s presentation is absolutely marvellous in this regard, the entire thing feels like an interactive 2000s web comic, with funky colours and text font, and running two frame animations adding just hints of personality onto every small thing. What’s beautiful in particular is the evolution of this presentation across all of the entries, how thecatamites’ prowess in programming and visual design improved over the 3 years of releases must be incredibly inspiring for the aspiring game devs out there.

The more “primitive” entries might even be to the anthologies advantage in that sense, because it helps the player appreciate each element more as it gets introduced, as well as wonder what’s to come. Among later entries in particular, when a new kind of set piece hits it just befuddles you, in the best way.

Unfortunately I must admit that any amount of social or historical commentary absolutely flew over me like E.T. on a bicycle, but it certainly is there, and if that’s your shit then the anthology is quite the sandbox to explore. As someone who tends to struggle with symbolism and an often poetic writing style, I had no idea what this collection of games really was about beyond its bizarre exterior. But that didn't stop me from having a great time with it still.

As much as I try to come up with as many synonyms as I can for quirky, surreal, absurd, or whatever, it really feels like no summary could do this collection any justice and it really needs to be experienced to be understood properly. So give BB her time in the spotlight because she deserves it and everyone should hug her she needs hugs really bad omgggggggg…

While I might not think back on it so much anymore, it’s certainly true that a lot of my core, formative, gaming experiences come from platformers. The big two, plumber and hedgehog, are definitely the greatest culprits. It’s a simple formula that doesn’t need much innovation to remain fun and interesting for its audience; even when you’ve exhausted the game, extra challenges like speedrunning or deathless runs naturally arise, completely expanding the sandbox.
This is something that applies to many types of games, but platformers are where it really hits its stride for me personally.

I first played Celeste at a time where I felt like I hadn’t experienced a good one in a long time. The only game system I’d had for years was an Xbox One, and my older systems with more platformer games had been sold off. Xbox definitely had a fair amount of variety on their store, contrary to what people might have you believe, but none were pure enough to have me as hooked and often leaned into the metroid-vania side of things. I would spend a huge amount of my free time for years watching streamers play kaizo mario world hacks and difficult mario maker levels, because it was the epitome of why I admired platformers. I didn’t want combat or special abilities, I wanted a no-nonsense trial of pure mechanical skill, that ups itself in difficulty over time and feels great to overcome exactly in the way that is asked of you, I wanted it over and over again.

Just a month after release, Celeste found its way to me. It feels like a chance occurrence since the game wasn’t exactly over the radar at that time and I wasn’t very aware of new games generally. Regardless, it was the best 15 quid I have ever spent. Lovely art style and music, perfect platforming physics and a movement system that never stops feeling fun. Top this up with a straightforward yet touching story of Madeline’s journey with self-acceptance, you’ve got yourself a pretty perfect game. Never does Celeste drop the ball.

It was a wonderful time through and through, and was never afraid to supply more challenge than would be naturally expected. I often recall how I would wake up early to play it before my 7:30am bus to school because it was that awesome and the content never seemed to end. Finding all the secrets, beating all the C-sides, watching the speedrun evolve, playing super hard custom maps, and dumping a couple hundred hours into all of those fabulous golden berries; Celeste always had me coming back for the better part of 5 years. It feels like the game in a way, and has transcended itself in my mind at this point in time.

For how much status I place on Celeste, there’s an itch telling me that I should have more to say, but I don’t. I simply wanted to jump, and this game provided some of the best damn jumps, more than I ever could have wished for.

The perfect sick day game.

I bought this half a year ago because it really looked incredibly charming and I recognised the artist! A comfy visual novel about a young girlie named Penny who struggles to get her work done and gets up to silly business around the office sounded right up my alley and I wanted to boot it up very soon. I guess my attention wavered because I kept putting it off. But today I called in sick at work and this seemed like the perfect thing to get through the rainy day. It was indeed a cute and funny time that eventually surprised me with how relatable it was and the lengths it travelled to address an extremely contemporary real world issue.

The art style is my favourite thing on display, it’s just so freaking cute and all the character designs are amazingly pretty. Combining this with absurdity in events and deadpan dialogue made the experience extremely entertaining, cosy and bingeable for me. I saw everything that there was to see in one sitting and I didn't get bored at all.

I wasn’t quite prepared for how relatable Penny would become throughout this. I wouldn’t consider my occupation that of an artist, but there are certainly times where I feel I have to be creative or “inspired” in a sense, making little progress for days or weeks and coming short of what I wanted to achieve. Considering the main dev is an artist themselves this theme comes straight from the heart; despite all of the strange hilarious events I was taken through, there was an underlying sense of dread and depression in Penny’s days at the office that was difficult to not find painful.

The next paragraph will spoil the ending of the game.

It turns out a higher up of the company Penny works for is the embodiment of corporate evil, and the task she was given was purely to compare to the better efficiency of “creative automation”. We as the player struggle through a lot of fuckery to get her 6 posters drawn, only for the boss to demonstrate to the big wigs that a robot can steal the work of already existing creative minds, and pump them out in seconds, resulting in the redundancy of as many employees as she can and the best possible business results. This, of course, is something that everyone in the present day who even considers themselves a fan of creative outputs is very aware of and loathes. What exactly did Endless Monday have to say about this? In the end, not much at all. The climax is exaggerated and pretty drawn out, and abruptly ends with a sudden resolution where they just smash the robot and move on. I can only assume that the goal here was purely an expression of fear, and that this future feels like an inevitability with no clear solution, especially since the boss in question is seen at the end, proclaiming that she will achieve her goal and return eventually. It’s something that hits you a little harder when you’re put in the shoes of someone like Penny, who simply wants to follow her dreams, and should make you want to fight against these practices, no matter who you are, because they mean that those dreams will not be possible in the slightest.

Endless Monday is cute, fun, silly and everything in between and it also has relatable and foreboding elements mixed in that end up making it an emotionally unique couple days at the office to say the least.