What do you guys think of the concept of fake games? I.e. manuals, playthroughs, reviews, or fanart of games that do not exist.
The first real big one that hit the mainstream was
Petscop (though you might argue that
Polybius was the real first big fake game). A recent one that fascinated me is
Vermis, by Plastiboo. The story of Vermis is told through a series of manuals (but it has a soundtrack released on cassette as well!) released by Hollow Press (these guys are THE publisher of manuals for fake games). I think the aesthetics of it are top notch. The first volume sort of came out right around the time when all the neo-medieval AI art was making its way around the Wired, so it fit in with the aesthetics of the time quite well. Still, I think the visuals are a treat!
The manual describes an RPG taking you through a dying fantasy world. You get to pick your character, all of which come with their own stats, starting items, and backstory, and you are taken through the world. Your are told about the gods of this world, and given warnings about status effects that may be applied to you in certain areas or encounters.
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I have both the first volume of the Vermis game guide and the soundtrack,
Vermis: Sounds of the World Vol.1. The soundtrack actually comes with a little booklet attached to the front of the box, setting the scene for each of the tracks. The tracks are all instrumental, and they form an amazing soundscape for the world of Vermis. I believe it is available on Spotify and Youtube as well, but over there you lack those setting blurbs, which I think do a fantastic job of giving your mind the visuals to attribute to the songs.
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Another release from Plastiboo is the game guide for
Godhusk:Rebirth. I am kind of sad that Godhusk did not get as much attention as Vermis did, because while I greatly enjoyed Vermis, I absolutely love Godhusk. It has that specific blend of flesh and rusted machine, reminiscent of the first Fallout games, or the works of H.R. Geiger, which I just cannot get enough of. In this "game", you take the role of The Hand, a vessel born of "The Nest". The vessels are modular synthetic bodies which where created to carry out specific tasks. You enter this world without knowing yours, and begin exploring to uncover it.
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Last on the list of my acquisitions is a book talking about fake games, it appears to be the first in a series. Its name is
The Bizarre World of Fake Video Games by
Super Eyepatch Wolf, who you might have seen on Youtube. It's a lovely tome of a lot of fake games I have never even heard about. For a while I was wondering if the book was talking about fake media about fake games, two layers of made up stuff, but no, they do appear to be real fake games (that idea in itself though, a compilation of fake fake media, may make for an interesting creative exercise). The book is beautifully arranged, with each game's section following the design of the games themselves. It is also published by Hollow Press, and probably came out as a result of SEW's video on Vermis, which led to its explosion in popularity. As such, Vermis itself has a its own section inside the book.
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This is all I have so far. I have placed orders for a few other things, and am waiting for them to arrive, but doing so inspired me to actually write this thread! Soon to arrive are volumes 2 and 3 of Vermis, alongside a game guide for "
Final Fentanyl" (saw the name and had to pick it up) by Fatgomez. I could write short reviews for each, if there is any interest in that. If you guys are interested in the books themselves, I am sure there are some scans you could find on the web, but I do recommend you buy the physical copies. They are neat little artifacts, and SURPRISINGLY inexpensive for what are essentially artbooks. Genuinely, most of the game guides are 15-18 Euro plus shipping (which may actually be a bit for American frens, seeing as the publisher is based in Italy). If you are interested though, I have embedded links to each of the books mentioned.
Until then, what do you guys think about fake games? Did you know they were a genre of their own? Do you have any favourite series? I would be curious to know.
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