Buddy Simulator 1984 is a glitch horror* story-rich experience that simulates a retro game style. We play a game that’s supposed to simulate having a buddy but it turns out that the game is more alive than we might’ve first assumed.
* Glitch horror is about the fears of technology not working the way it should. In this genre, the anxiety comes from glitchy video games, corrupted computer files, and coding gone wrong. A popular example is Doki-Doki Literature Club.
Storyline
Your buddy is your new best friend, and best friends should know everything about each other. That’s why your buddy will try to learn as much as possible to make your gaming experience together even more fun! He’ll constantly update the world to make sure you’re never bored! But maybe your new buddy is more alive than you think?
Gameplay
This game astonishes with a variety of mechanics! You start from simple “rock-paper-scissors” and “hangman” type of games and then your buddy updates the game hub. Be ready for some dark text adventures, 2D exploration, 2.5D combat, and 3D 4th wall breaking!
Pros
1. Great story! Great characters! Even when you haven’t delved too deep into the game, it’s hard to close it as your buddy gets upset when you do. The story is very touching and made some players cry. Don’t forget that the story involves some sweet, sweet 4th wall breaking, files appearing on your computer, and more glitch horror elements!
2. The variety of mechanics speaks for itself. The game never ceases to impress and always introduces more elements and mechanics that you didn’t expect to see.
3. AI learning. Your buddy is constantly evolving, learning more from you. It is, obviously scripted, so your experience will be close to other players’ but it will be unique at the same time.
4. The game masters the feeling of uneasiness and creates tension from the start that never leaves you while you are playing the game. Each part is spooky in its own way.
5. Different endings!
6. Friendship!
Cons
1. Some of the sections feel too dragged out and even though the game acts self-aware about it, it doesn’t really help. The horror elements are very spaced out which sometimes makes you forget that you’re playing a horror game after all. It takes time for the glitch horror elements to kick in and before that, some of the sections of the game feel obnoxiously long.
2. The combat in the game feels blank. At first it feels exciting to have a new mechanic, honestly. But then it turns out that the combat is just another tricky way to drag out the time spent on the game.
3. The game is unfriendly towards photosensitive people. I can’t imagine that a photosensitive person would be able to play the game due to all the retro effects that are constantly in the game with no option for switching them off.
4. The game is unfriendly towards slow readers. There’s no option to slow the text down a bit as well. If you are a slow reader or English isn’t your native language, you might struggle to finish reading the sentence before it disappears.
5. Not really scary for the most part of the game. The most enjoyable parts are the Glitch Horror and the text adventure. But in my video, you’ll see that I had to add a ton of stuff like sound cues and creepy music to make the text adventure at least a bit more intense. What I mean is that it could’ve been more intense. I wish the “horror” part of the game was much more emphasized.
Rating
I think this game is amazing but I also believe that it should’ve been twice as short (right now the game takes about 5 hours to finish) and that would make the game four times better. But at the same time, I understand that people would likely be disappointed if it was too short as well. It’s hard to make a perfectly balanced experience. It’s original, it’s surprising, it’s amazing. But it could be scarier and feel less like an adventure game. I rate it 6.9 buddies / 10.
Credits
| Author | Curtis Pyke |
| YouTuber | Erderi The Fox |
| Program | Freedom! Scholarship |
| Publisher | MGN |
| Game | Buddy Simulator 1984 |