I’ve been having a good time playing some Desktop Survivors 98, which is close to being considered a Joke Game with it clearly being Vampire Survivors inspired and using old operating systems as a backdrop for silly, but fun gameplay. It made me think of actual joke games though, ones created purely to evoke a laugh out of those who play it and are not meant to be taken seriously at all as full games.
These can include things such as ‘The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog’, which was a murder mystery game with Sonic characters released on April Fools, or the infamous Desert Bus, a real-time bus driving simulator that had you go back and forth along a singular road for 8 hours each way. These games are meant to be seen as a parody of the systems in play, and often times end up not being very fun to play. However, some Joke Games end up becoming beloved and some serious games even end up being seen as joke games unintentionally ‘The Room’ style. My favourite example of which is Oblivion, which is an entirely serious game but because of the jank and strangeness of the world it ends up becoming seen as a funny game not to be taken seriously. I often feel like our world takes itself a bit too seriously, so when I see games such as this and enjoy them to the point that I am taking them seriously as actual games, you can bet it puts a smile on my face. And in a world in which you can play a dungeon crawling, wave-survival game as a mouse pointer, I think that just makes it all a bit more magical.
What are some of your favourite joke games? Share them in the comments! That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.