In A Mall After Closing: Self-Checkout Unlimited
Surreal Vaporwave Indie Game by Argent Games
A late 90s/early 2000’s indoor mall after closing time…all within the space of your own mind. Explore and unravel the mysteries within this surreal vaporwave adventure game.
Self-Checkout Unlimited feels like a walking sim on the surface with the skeleton of a deep philosophical discussion. Welcome to the mall of life where, as you discover more elements of the mall, you discover a bit more about yourself. You traverse different areas such as an empty food court, a multimedia store, and a clothing store, all while making choices that connect you to the Eight-circuit model of consciousness. It’s a surrealist trip that you can gain a lot from if you’re willing to enter with an open mind.
The game has a few different choices that you can make, which can bring about a bit of re-playability and it can be a quick trip of 1–3 hours (though the energy of the game is more of a “slow-burn”). The only issue I came across was the registration of the cursor on interactable objects. It could be a bit finicky and I had to move my POV around a bit before the cursor would appear to interact with an object.
Overall, I appreciate the concepts and believe that there is a lot of great points to take away from Self-Checkout Unlimited (especially in 2020)! It provides some nice reflection on the choices you’ve made throughout the game, puts a metaphorical mirror up to the player to challenge currently embedded philosophies, and leaves you thinking about the world around you.
