Insufficient Funds: Digital: A Love Story

Insufficient Funds is a weekly post in which we feature a free, or very close to it, piece of media that you can enjoy without overdrafting your bank account. So if you're low on funds, stay tuned to Cerebral Pop every Friday morning.
I don't usually stay up to date on the indie gaming scene, but every once in awhile a game is heralded enough to warrant my immediate attention. This was the case with Digital: A Love Story. Several people whose opinions I greatly respect listed it among their favorite games of the year, so I decided I should probably get around to playing it. After all, it's free to boot.

Digital is a pretty unique experience; it simulates the BBS world of 1988. If you don't know what a BBS (Bulletin Board System) is, don't worry, neither do I, really. I was three years old in 1988, but I've learned since then that they were a precursor to the Internet as we know it. Think of it like a messageboard that is hosted on your own computer and other people access it by actually dialing into your machine. Had I been old enough to understand that in 1988 I would probably rave about Digital's loving recreation of the world of BBSs.

That might not sound like an interesting game to you, and it didn't to me either, but give it the benefit of the doubt and it will likely suck you in. It starts with a fairly straight-forward story of finding love online, but just as that plot point is setup you're suddenly plunged into a mystery that takes a lot of spooky twists and turns.

The entire plot is delivered via reading posts on various mock BBSs, but I was oddly glued to my screen. It's a fairly short experience as well -- you could easily complete it in about two hours, provided you don't get hung up on the few tricky puzzles (remember to "reboot" your "computer" after you get an update) -- so you don't have much excuse to not give it a chance.

In the game industry, people talk about creating games that can actually affect your emotions and leave you feeling attached to the characters. Companies have thrown millions of dollars at games like Heavy Rain trying to achieve what only one person (Christine Love) did in Digital: A Love Story. All it took was a bunch of text and a well-told story and I was sucked in and along for the ride. No amount of minor hiccups in the game (of which there is only one in my mind) could have torn me away from completing that experience. I highly suggest you do the same.

Digital: A Love Story can be downloaded for free on Windows, Mac, or Linux right here.