Some games try to be fun and entertaining interactive experiences and some try to tell engaging and gripping stories, and some are desperately trying to be movies. But sometimes they manage to catch a vibe. You kids with your broccoli hair and your iPads might not remember the desolate feeling of flipping around basic cable or satellite TV on a weekday, trying to find something to watch, but there was a time when you were stuck with whatever happened to be on, and, buddy, that was it. And what if you could capture that exact feeling again, and also the programming was from another planet?
Blippo+
Developer: YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot
Price: $
Platform: PC (reviewed)
MonsterVine was supplied with a Steam code for review
Blippo+ perfectly captures that vibe, providing a smorgasbord of weird cable TV programming including news, weather, sitcoms, dramas, and a programming guide that is also from another planet, even filmed on vintage equipment (not just a crappy filter slapped over some high quality footage) to get the feel right, and you never know what you’re going to find wandering around the channels.
The wider story is delivered as you watch all the content…if you watch all the content. Because it’s truly a basic cable simulator, and once you’ve kind of watched everything that looks interesting, there’s still a little more stuff you might not want to watch, but that’s what’s on, and if you want to figure out what’s going on, you gotta. It’s interesting.
Gameplay or Experience? Blippo+ Blurs the Line
“Does a game have to be fun?” is one of those questions that games writers jerk off talking about on BlueSky and Blippo+ takes it even further: it’s not all that interactive or playable, you really do just poke around the channel guide watching some really weird stuff and trying to figure out what’s going on, to the point that we were encouraged to play the preview build on the Steam Deck and really settle in and watch it.
“Are games art?” is another one of those questions that stimulates The Discourse when you’re just trying to figure out if the new Call of Duty is any good, and this is more of an art project than a traditional game with, like, levels or achievements or gameplay. It’s more of a cool experience than a game, and you have to vibe with the idea of watching basic cable shows from another world and enjoy the prospect of watching the news and weather, and sitcoms of this weird planet. Even the program guide menus authentically feel like a shitty 90s cable box or satellite TV box.
It never goes to any great length to hold your hand or explain itself or tell you what’s going on. It truly is like downloading a bunch of pirated satellite feeds from this weird world and trying to figure out what’s going on in a wider context. The style, the vibes, the effort, and the overall experience are incredibly cool…but you have to be really into the idea of watching a bunch of fake TV to figure out what’s going on on another planet for this to vibe.
The Final Word
If you’re into weird art projects and vibing to some cool fake cable programming and recapturing that vibe of trying to find something to watch on a weekday afternoon, there’s nothing like Blippo+. But if you’re weirded out by, like, the entire preceding description, you’re probably not going to have a good time. I suggest: drugs.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
