Restore, Reflect, Retry

You've played this game before. It's a haunted game about a haunted game. You may not remember, but the game remembers you. I remember you. Restore, Reflect, Retry  is an interactive horror novel by Natalia Theodoridou. It's entirely text-based, 90,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. None of you remember who first found the game: the black rectangular box with the small screen on which instructions appear. Of course it piqued your interest: this is the 1990s, after all; and there isn’t much for teenagers to do in your small town. Your friends were intrigued; you were intrigued. So you started to play. And play. And play. What does it matter if nobody remembers exactly how you discovered the game, or if the story changes, ever so slightly, each time you tell it? Or if [i]you[/i] change, ever so slightly, every time you emerge into the real world once more? All that matters is that you keep playing. The game needs its flesh. Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi. Travel through the world as a visionary artist, a strategic gamer, or a thoughtful book lover. Befriend a ghost; become a ghost; consume a ghost. Save your friends from the game within a game—if you can. Explore pixelated alternate realities to solve the mystery of the game’s origin, and contemplate the deeper truths of this reality. Befriend the being behind the screen—or try to destroy the game that you are playing, and hope that it doesn’t fight back. Come in, Player. I'm waiting.