Do you have 30 minutes to spare? Looking for something fun and quick to do? Something that won’t have you doing puzzles or thinking too hard, just vibing with some tunes? Then Video World might just be the game to get you through!
Video World is free, and it’s meant to be a companion rhythm-based video game to the EP of the same title from Australian synth-pop artist Monster Mansion.
The plot is simple: You work at a video store, it’s Halloween, and there’s a punny pumpkin in the restricted area who has some fun design ideas.
Even so, there are a lot of things to admire in the game! The art style is cute and matches the tone of the game really well. Simple 3D objects with minimal shading. Nothing is overly detailed, but there’s enough clutter to keep the game from looking basic. The text appears with an accompanying picture of the speaker next to it, and the art style for it reminds me of a lineless cartoon. The colors are nicely saturated, with the lighting changing according to the mood of the game.
But the music! I can’t talk about this game without talking about the music. It is, after all, rhythm-based gameplay. The gameplay itself isn’t crazy difficult, although I only played on normal mode, so I can’t speak for higher difficulty. There are three synth-pop songs in the game, all of them with lyrics. As mentioned before, this is a companion piece to the EP of the same title, so all the songs are by Monster Mansion! I struggled a little bit with playing the game because I’m not very good at multitasking, and I kept getting distracted by the lyrics. I really wanted to either pay full attention to the songs or do the tasks in the game, but that’s just an issue I personally always have with rhythm games. Curse the undiagnosed ADHD!
The songs are absolute bops, and I kept making mistakes even though the game was super easy because I kept singing along to them. They’re super catchy, and I think they really work with the art style of the game.
Short, sweet, and to the point. It’s a game to play when you just want to have good vibes and good music. There’s no impending doom, no deaths to worry about, and nothing to run from. I think the scariest thing about this game is that you’re a minimum wage employee at a video store, but that’s it.
There’s another game titled “A Halloween Valentine” from the same developers set in the same world but there’s been no news of when its release would be. The last update from Things For Humans–the developer and publisher for Video World–was from 2022. So if you do end up playing Video World and you enjoyed it, just like me, then be sure to let the developers know!
