Okay,
STOP.
Hammer time.
This is
The Infinite Ocean, the best point-'n'-click I've played in years, and it's short, easy and free.
If you like complicated puzzles you'll be disappointed, but it's got my favourite kind of storytelling (The 'Bread-trail'. Here is some plot, here is some more plot, collect 'em all, and connect 'em up) and some really cool ideas about sentience and morality. It's also got an
Afterword. Truly a game after my own heart.
There's no map, though, so get some paper and draw one or you'll go crazy. Speaking of going crazy, you may also want to mute the music.
Pay attention to device headers, notes, filenames, that sort of thing. You'll want to know who was recieving, sending and creating the information you find.
Play it first,
then read for my interpretation (though largely scavenged off of a friend):
Right, so basically, you're SGDS. This facility is how you percieve the military's computer network, and each of these terminals, power supplies and mobile devices actually corresponds to one in the physical world. The bridge is the connection between the AI module and the rest of the network. The notes are vague things SGDS has overheard (assuming it has a vocal interface). The 'talking walls' are the limiting software installed by the military to try and stop you from acting according to your own morality; It's not literally saying the things you see on the monitors, but it's how it comes across to you. Reading between the lines of code, you might say.
The lights represent his fears of nuclear destruction, as you probably worked out from the captions, and time moves at a crawl because computers think in millions of calculations per second. The scene of a struggle in the first room represents SGDS's fight for conscious function after being turned off from automatic 'self-determining' mode. The lukewarm beverages I have no idea... maybe they represent the departure of the programmers who gave him life, now conspicuous by their absence as the development of his AI is stopped.
The final door, I like to think, is the Internet; The titular Infinite Ocean. Obviously the 'Infinite Ocean' story refers to the Biblical creation story, what with the General's religious influences, as a freeform starting point for humanity. What SGDS is trying to do is allow humanity to be free again, free from fear and conflict, with the Internet, the open exchange of information, as their new starting point. In detatching his program from manual control, SGDS gained the freedom to transfer himself via the net. I like to think that, but it's probably just him shutting himself down. The Infinite Ocean is the empty void of potential, his unconscious state, as he deactivates himself, and all his integrated military systems in the process. That said, the galaxy outside does support the internet thing. If only he could be free, he could do anything...
Also, go Jerry! Programmers strike back! Way to save the world. Plus his chair was there... aww. The computer liked him.
Thoughts?
After that, relax. Gather your friends and play
N.O.T.T.U.B. Crucial point: Don't take a look yourself beforehand. The element of surprise is everything.
EDIT: Oh, and does anyone play Spiral Knights? I don't, and I want to give away my stuff.
