Strange Scaffold, the developer behindEl Paso, ElsewhereandLife Eater, has announced their next game,Clickolding, which I don’t want to write out in its stylized, all-caps format around my mother. Although, I don’t think she’d get the reference.
Clickoldingbills itself as an “incremental narrative” game. You play as someone holding a tally counter. A strange person wants to see you click it. Yeah, click it. Click it harder. Just like that. I’m guessing that as you click, the story advances. Judging by the trailer, the person pulls out a pistol coercively, but some of the screenshots also suggest a cash reward if you’re able to reset the counter.
Beyond simply clicking, the press release promises that there will be “environmental puzzles and managing a tenuous and uncertain relationship with an uncanny host.”
I’m not really certain how in-depth I should go in explaining the subject matter. It’s hard to be certain how facetiousClickoldingis, though it seems clear that it’s trying to plunge into the darker side of the subject matter.It will supposedly feature an “uncomfortable and shifting atmosphere.”
Approaching what could potentially be a sensitive and disturbing topic reminds me of Strange Scaffold’sLife Eater. With that game, I felt that its handling of the subject wound up blunting the message. However, in that case, it was mostly that the gameplay did not support the narrative, whereas here, the actual game part of the game is so simple that it doesn’t seem like it could even bend that way.
We won’t have to wait long to find out.Clickoldingis set to release on July 08, 2025 on PC.
