There are many different kinds of video games: roleplaying, shoot-em-up, strategy, the list is endless. More broadly speaking, however, there are two basic kinds of game: games where the objective is to win and games where the objective is to keep the game going for as long as possible, where the simple act of playing is more important than the end result.
Trust me, it’s fantastic, or have I just been indoctrinated as well?
Dressed like a kind of budget death-metal singer, Robertson takes impish pleasure in singling out audience members to work out what path they’ll take to escape The Dark Room, in the style of text-based adventure games from the eighties. Don’t worry if you’re not an avid gamer or think that reference sounds a tad niche, the game’s mechanics become remarkably clear after the second (maybe third) time that, as Robertson puts it, “Ya die, ya die, ya die, ya die, ya die!” If that sounds terrifying then, fair enough, there is a lot of chanting, screaming and more than enough opportunities for you to reveal just how awful a human being you really are.
John Robertson: The Dark Room is about as close as you can get to joining a cult without actually signing away your entire life and eternal soul. He has an undeniable cult following (the woman sat next to me was on her 15th viewing in four years) and it’s easy to see why – provided you’re not faint-hearted and enjoy unrelenting failure. Trust me, it’s fantastic, or have I just been indoctrinated as well? You’ll have to try to escape The Dark Room if you want to find out for yourself.
