The Death of Erin Myers

It's really difficult to pull off a game about a character who is as profoundly hard to like as the adult Erin; she's paranoid, she'll steal from crime scenes and coworkers or mildly poison people to get what she needs. Also, she's just kind of uncharitable and shitty in her narration. Coupled with the sometimes pixel-hunty puzzles and Erin's nitpicky requirements, I spent a not insignificant part of this going "GOD, ERIN, IT'S A PENCIL, JUST MAKE IT WORK". I still feel like the game mostly pulls it off - the "unlikable protagonist" part, I mean. It helps that we start with a (somewhat heavy-handed) memory of her childhood, which gives context to the whole miserable rest of her; get this girl off the force and into some therapy. I think she'd be terrifying on SSRIs, but probably she'd also be happier. Gameplay-wise - this is a short one, and the puzzles aren't super complicated except when they feel a bit too specific/pixel hunt-y, but I had a good time. Everything, including the bleak visuals, feels soaked through with Erin's perspective, which helps bring it together for me. The price feels reasonable for what you get. I also like that the game jumps back and forth in time. Unlike games that give you more agency in terms of choice while still letting you move around the timeline (here's looking at you, Beyond: Two Souls), here the jumping ends up underlining that what's coming in inevitable. You're playing as Erin, but in a way I felt like Erin's long-out-of-touch childhood friend, sitting next to her and screaming at all her bad choices, like. GIRL!!! WHY DO YOU HAVE A GUN??? Also, I may have missed this if there was one, but I think it might be good to have some kind of [spoiler]suicide tag on this. For plot reasons, I can understand why it isn't part of the mature content description on steam, or why it doesn't come before we see that final note. I just thought it was weird that it wasn't given a "here's help" notice at the end, which is standard at least in other mediums. [/spoilers] I still don't entirely know how I feel about the end. I suppose this is a bit of a weaker recommendation, but you probably know from looking at it if this is a game you'll enjoy or not.

Fun and short point and click game