Can the concept of micro-games, where you experience a gameplay mechanic in mere seconds, be expressed for video game stories? Indie developers room6 Inc. and Mitsuyu Suisan present to you Short Short Fictions, an anthology of short video game stories where you can experience “10,000 Years In 30 Minutes.”
Within this omnibus of short visual novels includes two previously released viral games “DON’T SAY YES” (“a game where you cannot say yes”) and “TO: NORTH” (“an adventure where you cannot go south”) plus an entirely new bite-sized game, “IMMEMORIAL” (“a game where you can’t XXXXXX XXXXX”).
Short Short Fictions isn’t just a bundle of itch.io games, however. Accessing these games is also a game in and of itself, as they are presented as video game cartridges for the mysterious portable game console Newy. (The meta-story/game is dubbed “LOST AND FOUND: A story for the sake of the story.”)
Each game takes less than 30 minutes to complete.
On that note, Short Short Fictions is part of the InterfaceX26 Steam event, which highlights games with fictional game consoles and computers that carry the “FakeOS” tag. It’s a who’s who list of interface games including Zachtronics’ Last Call BBS and Exapunks, Hypnospace Outlaw from Jay Tholen, and not to mention Malaysian developers Kaigan Games with their Simulacra series.
If visual novel canapés presented in a game-within-a-game form sounds intriguing, you can try out the demo for Short Short Fictions right now. Be sure to read the content warning on the store page before proceeding.
Short Short Fictions has no release date yet, but will be out on PC (Steam).