Bill's Affair (DEMO)

(small spoiler warning lol)

Honest 8/10, this is an extremely well-made game with masterful writing and a fair share of gut-wrenching horror. There are certainly some flaws with the game, but the flaws are so few and far between and so utterly miniscule I don't believe they actually matter. Really and truly, this is an actually great game.

Basically, the game surrounds you, an unnamed female protagonist (presumably Monica Lewinsky), and Bill Clinton, who, for whatever reason wants to have an affair with you. Extremely simple premise, but please, don't let that bar you from playing the game. Right from the get go the game feels off, but none of it actually prepares you well for what happens later on (I mean that in a good way).

I initially played it thinking it was just going to be a joke game, judging based upon the context and the simple character design from pictures I've seen from the game, but holy crap, I couldn't be any more wrong. The way the game's sinister menu music foreshadows the events of the game before immediately getting you to lower your guard shows masterful writing. Speaking of-- the choice of the music was also surprisingly well. The OST is admittedly rather simple and small, but I personally believe that adds on to the "this seems like a joke game but is actually not" sort of thing. The choice of music also, as I had said before, helps add on to the peaceful atmosphere of the actual game, helping the goofy (but still well written and strangely sinister) dialogue. 

However, I believe that's not even half of what makes the game great. Sure, the game itself is great and well written, but the best part of the game are actually the endings the existential horror that follow them. One particular, maybe weak, maybe strong point is actually the endings. I know I just praised them, but the thing about them is that they're actually quite ambiguous. They don't leave you with a satisfying conclusion, they just leave you tense and bewildered. But after a few playthroughs and letting the game fully sink in, the true nature of the endings becomes extremely apparent, and that's when the existential horror sets in. The creator managed to very cleverly managed to connect the game's two endings, creating a vicious, horrific, and very well concealed cycle:

The first thing you might notice when you reject Bill is that the game informs you that you can't leave Bill. You're effectively forced to accept him and have an affair with him. But guess what happens after that? He gets impeached, and you kill yourself out of guilt, grief, and misery. Here's the kicker though-- grief is described as a deep and profound feeling of sadness, especially over someone's death. But Bill didn't die, right? So who died, then? Spoiler alert: you died. After a while, it becomes very clear that the protagonist has been thrown into some sort of never-ending cycle, desperately trying to break the cycle, to break free and to not have sex with Bill Clinton for the nth time. Every time she tries to kill herself, she begins to realize there's no hope, that as long as YOU, the player, keeps playing, she cannot escape. The deep sense of sadness is coming from the fact that the only thing she can do is to keep committing suicide, in hopes that maybe the cycle ends, or maybe that you get bored, or stop playing, or whatever. The horrifyingly beautiful aspect, though, is the fact that you keep playing, trying to see what else happens, trying to notice any little details, oblivious to the fact you're subjecting the protagonist to such torture, only until it's too late.

Going off on a tangent here, I've actually heard that the 1.995 version is even more utterly out there, but that's going solely off of what I've heard. I don't think anybody actually has the 1.995 version aside from the developer, but I really hope to play it some day. I also heard it had a little smut, which, honestly, isn't quite my thing, but I guess it's an added plus to those who like that kind of stuff? But I digress--

All in all, absolutely amazing game, and absolutely amazing writing. Again, please don't turn away from it just because it seems simple. The writing in this game is some of the best I've seen (maybe not saying much? lol, but seriously), and I don't think there's been that many games that have actually left me feeling genuinely guilty after playing.

Seriously, play it. I don't think you'll regret it.

best game ive ever played 10/10