MAN I JUST WANNA GO HOME is a peculiar little thing. It's a short game by any measure. You can be, quote-unquote, done with it in the first few minutes. But you won't because the likelihood of finding your way home isn't that high from the get-go! This highly stylized interactive bit of fiction is all about reaching an ending. There are 13 of them and I'll be damned, I wanted to see them all - and I've managed to achieve that, too, in a single evening! But I am getting a little ahead of myself, so let me first paint you a picture...
The city is dirty and under a deluge of unrelenting rain. You can tall it rain only if you consider a truly Biblical frame of reference - the wall of water seems to soak through everything. You are a nameless chump down on his luck. Broke. Miserable. Soggy from top to bottom. You are a courier, supposedly, but that hardly matters. For now, you have a simple goal - get home, get away from this cursed weather, and leave the remnants of the past day behind you. Sleep and drying out your socks would do wonders, you just know it. If only you weren't completely dry on funds! A nice taxi would do the trick, no problemo! But if wishes were fishes... They probably would swim away in this deluge, anyway.
And so, you wander, but the night in the city is never peaceful. There are dark deeds done dirty cheap in the corners and back alleys, and it might be your misfortune to stumble upon them. Or not. Life is crazy like that, and as you navigate your perilous way back home you might stumble into events you should not wish to witness. Your life might be at stake. Or, heck, you might make a new friend. Have a bit of fun. Pour some gut-warming liquor on the way down your gullet. Who knows, what your decisions will bring to the table?
That's the core of the experience. I did my best to avoid spoiling the fun, because, well... That's the game, wholesale. You follow a script, but at crucial moments of each interaction, you're given a decision to make. These decisions branch out the narrative into one of the prescribed outcomes, and the fun lies in digging all of them out. Only once you uncover every ending you get to experience the full story, the whole shebang. Is it breathtaking and innovative? Not really, but it's done with gusto. The writing is engaging, with a bit of a pulpy zest to it, not afraid to be crude and rude, but equally not steering away from more serious drama. The overall narrative is proper noir deal, with shady dealings and shadier characters, but you ever only catch a glimpse of them. After all, you're a chump with terrible luck.
The impressive part of this title is the presentation. Described lovingly as "MSPaint-noir", every scene is drawn and animated in MS Paint or at the very least, simulated well. Stark contrast, strong colors, striking silhouetted, sharp, and pixellated outlined. It has that scribbly, scratchy feeling that makes it feel raw and rough. It is impactful - every scene feels very different, the color choices, strange perspectives, and angles... It gels well, giving the game very unique identity, standing out from many titles I've played and sinking into my memory. Now I will always have at the back of my mind 'that MS Paint-looking game'. The soundscapes are equally well suited, bespoke, and fitting like a nice suit. With good music and sound effects, it is so easy to immerse yourself into this morsel of a dreary world.
The game is dirty cheap. Tree fiddy. If you're hankering for a short and sweet prowl through the moody city drawn in colorful, atmospheric scribbles you are in for a hoot and a half! A tiny game for a big appetite - and I do reckon any enjoyer of interactive fiction will find their evening well spent giving MAN I JUST WANNA GO HOME a go.
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