Machine of Death

That was cute. I think I'm going to have to start keeping an eye on this Hulk Handsome character: I like his sense of humour.

Anyway. "Machine of Death"! There's an ominous title for you. It's not an original premise, though -- this is someone else's intellectual property, used with permission. The premise is that there's a machine which can predict some aspect of your eventual death; and, though the prediction may be cryptic or easily misunderstood, it is never wrong. The original book (which I have not personally read) is apparently a series of short stories about the various twists that could happen with such a premise. The game here takes it a step further by examining the ways in which a single prediction can be twisted.

Well, there are three different possible predictions, so this is done three times.

"Looking Up" was perhaps the most interesting of the three. There are so many ways in which the phrase can be interpreted that it begins to look as though death were lurking around every single corner. Ultimately, though, the moral seems to be that it is pointless to worry about these things, and in fact the final puzzle seems to have little to do with the prediction at all. The question, really, is whether you are going to let this thing control you and run your life.

"Old Age" focusses in on a more specific situation, and asks how much of this comes down to self-fulfilling prophecies.

"Shot Through The Heart By Bon Jovi" seems to be the silliest of the three, but it wouldn't do to dismiss it. Here, we've already taken several steps down the road of paranoid obsession, hinted at in "Old Age"; and again we are asked, how much of this comes down to self-fulfilling prophecies? Should we let this prediction control us and run our lives? Without the prediction, would we take some of the more obviously foolish moves offered by the game?

So, anyway, I had fun. I like the humour, and I think the author has clean, readable style. As a breakfast, I think this is like a strawberry-and-banana yoghurt smoothie with graham crackers on the side: a nice, refreshing tartness.