Spaghetti or waffles?

Towards the end of the fourth chapter of ‘interactive EP’ We Are OFK, there’s a scene in which two characters take time out to discuss how they process life’s more challenging moments. There are two kinds of processors, says one: spaghetti and waffles. “You’re a spaghetti. When something is bothering you, it’s all mixed up in the rest of your life. It’s combined and you deal with it. I’m a waffle – I keep things in their little pockets. Separate.”

The same, we’d argue, could apply to the way we play videogames. Are you a spaghetti, whose playtime is intertwined with various other leisure activities? Or are you more of a waffle, who prefers a degree of separation: do you, perhaps, tend to focus intently on a single game to the exclusion of all else? (In which case, 100+ hours of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 should keep you busy for the foreseeable future. See you in a couple of months.)

With videogames competing with other entertainment for our precious free time, it’s little wonder that some are taking inspiration from TV and streaming services. Interior Night’s As Dusk Falls is designed to be binge-watched, its cliffhanger endings encouraging you to start up the next episode immediately. By contrast, We Are OFK is happy to give its story room to breathe: starting with a double-bill on August 18, the rest of its episodes will be released on a weekly schedule afterwards.

But the real appointment viewing this month comes in the form of a game that has its roots in cinema rather than TV. Half Mermaid’s Immortality is a story from which you’ll struggle to pull yourself away – even as you might regret unearthing some of the more disturbing details of what really happened to forgotten film star Marissa Marcel. Either way, the result is extraordinary – a spaghetti tangle of a narrative that keeps the waffle to a minimum.