The Play’s the Thing
originally posted on Reddit
“Bad reviews aren’t actually fatal,” director Nichol reassures a young playwright on the opening night of their first play in an early chapter of The Play’s the Thing. If they were, though, authors Jo Graham and Amy Griswold would have nothing to fear from me.
I’ll be honest: I’m not sure it was possible I wouldn’t like this game. It’s so full of things I love - a world that evokes Elizabethan England or Renaissance Italy, a focus on the theatre, a writer protagonist, the agonies and ecstasies of the creative process, so many Shakespearean allusions, even an adorable little dog. Of course, since I knew most of these things going in, my expectations were high, and this game still managed to exceed them. This is the kind of immersive experience I’m hoping for every time I sit down to play a new (or new-to-me) ChoiceScript game: a setting brought memorably to life through brief but richly evocative sensory details, characters I couldn’t help but care about, choices both large and small that have an immediate impact as well as a long-term effect, and a PC who has to balance multiple goals and responsibilities. Oh, and excellent replay value. I’ve played twice now, and got an entirely different last chapter the second time around. I spotted some clever foreshadowing along the way, too!
There’s just so much attention to detail here. The plays the PC writes can be customized in so many ways: even on a couple of occasions when the subject is chosen for you, you still get to make decisions about emphasis, tone, theme, and staging. Even deciding which sumptuously-described outfit to wear on opening night feels meaningful.
I especially appreciated that you get to decide in the first chapter whether your PC is interested in sex, romance, both, or neither. Too many games in my experience either don’t include an asexual option at all, or include only the possibility to be aro-ace. As a romantic asexual, it’s nice to feel seen. (And games that allow the PC to be an aromantic allosexual are even more rare.)
I do have a few quibbles, barely. I don’t understand how the stats under the heading “Influence” on the stats page actually factor into the game. A few times, my PC had the option to use simple magic to solve a problem, although it was never established up to that point that they had any magical ability or training at all; is this just something everyone in this world can do? My biggest pet peeve about this game is actually a sort of praise in disguise: six major characters in the story (including all four ROs) can be either male or female, based on the PC’s sexual/romantic orientation. I understand very well the logic behind variable-gender characters, and although it’s not my preferred style it usually doesn’t bother me. The problem is that this game draws me in so completely that the characters etched themselves pretty firmly into my mind the first time I played (with an aro-ace PC), and when I played again (with a straight woman PC), I kept having to stop and remind myself that Diar and Kit were men this time around.
The Play’s the Thing joined the ranks of my favorites the first time I played it, and playing it again (and again) has only made me love it all the more. If you’re a big nerd like me who gets positively giddy spotting a Winter’s Tale reference, this is your cup of tea for sure, but even if you’re not, this game is well worth your time and money.
P.S. If you’re a fan of this game, check out the Heart’s Choice game A Player’s Heart. It’s (obviously) more romance-focused and gets less into politics, but it has a very similar feel, with delicious worldbuilding and a focus on theatre life.