This Bed We Made (2023)

one of the perks of getting a laptop after years with a desktop was knowing that i would likely get into playing steam games again. This Bed We Made was at the top of my list. a point-and-click mystery game, this is less up my alley and more the alley itself.


set in 1950s Montreal, it follows Sophie, a hotel maid, throughout one day at work. on this day, she stumbles across some suspicious information about a hotel guest, makes the decision to investigate it, involves a coworker (who can become a romantic connection), and ultimately encounters a body. it's a relatively short game (3-6 hours, i think), but there's a lot of variation in the choices you make, which can impact what's revealed throughout the game, as well as how it ends. the game is also extremely queer, but the degree to which the player (and sophie) engage with that queerness depends on player choices. i also really enjoyed how the game's writing incorporated the player's natural (imo) inclination to open every drawer and paw through every suitcase into sophie's character. i always get a kick out of narratives which find uses for game mechanics or aspects of genre.

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several switch mystery games

during the end of year sales i picked up a bunch of games on switch and steam. i brought my switch with me on my holiday travels, so i thought i might play them then. i didn't. i played part of one. i DID, however, end up trapped in my house while my city fixed its broken infrastructure for a full week, during which i plowed through the rest of them. here they are in chronological order. (i played all of these on switch, but they were all available on steam first, and many are also available on additional consoles now.)

( several games follow )