That was a great parody, but how much of those effects still worked even though you knew it was coming? The fade ins, blurring the outsides, the emotional voice talking to you... it definitely raised my interest more than just opening minesweeper!

I mean, it doesn't last very long without something else going on, but there is a reason.

> That was a great parody, but how much of those effects still worked even though you knew it was coming? The fade ins, blurring the outsides, the emotional voice talking to you...

Worked?

The game takes a very long time to load. This is funny, but not desirable in an actual game.

There is voiceover dialogue as you start. You can listen to it, but at some point you'll want to start playing the game.

There is an indicator telling you which square to clear next. I ignored this for several reasons:

- I want to know if you're compelled to follow it (you aren't);

- It's pointing to the wrong square;¹

- Following it would defeat the entire purpose of playing the game.

Dialogue continues as you play. But you can't listen to it because your mind is occupied. Following the indicator would solve that problem...

¹ There is a game you can find called Hexcells that is supposed to be an "improved" version of minesweeper. The "improvements" are two:

1. It's a hex grid, not a square grid.

2. In general, there is only one hex known to be clear at any given time. This means that the structure of the game is that you mindlessly reveal whichever tile you just gained information about rather than suffering under any obligation to think about what you can tell from the board.

I'm not sure why this was supposed to be an improvement; the only effect is to remove the entire puzzle aspect from a puzzle game. But hey, Steam reviews are "overwhelmingly positive". https://store.steampowered.com/app/265890/Hexcells/