A little cooler on this now, after some reflection, and upon talking with more people who also played it - the game hit me very strongly and differently at first due to some life events, but that's faded somewhat, now.

It's bold to not allow saving; it feels like the game has a self-respect that is rare in its medium because of that. "I am a commitment! Make time for me!" But it doesn't particularly add much to the overall point of the experience beyond the first playthrough. The meta-stuff is very... "copy-paste previous assets ad nauseam", which has its place here, but due to the context of other games, can't help but feel a little trite.

I think what really carries this game all the same is the main character, Sam. They're an incredibly interesting protagonist in their distressingly thorough inertia; their fear of letting go of the comfortable, the repetitive, the mundane - even if their concept of it needs to be stretched beyond its breaking-point. They are a thornless rose.

I stayed with Rachel, and always would. It's important to seek connection, and stop moving - especially when you're only walking on a treadmill.

I think it was Roger Ebert who said that all art should be judged not solely on one's personal impression but on how succesful it was at achieving its aims. In which case, I guess the game should be congratulated on recreating the crushing boring monotony of the 9-5 Work Week.

And thats the thing though, it really is a mostly boring game about a dull person who's perfectly content with their soulcrushingly boring life. Now obviously creating a disconnect between player and player character is not a new concept and can be played with for effect, but I struggle to think of a player character I despise more than this dull son of a bitch, content to do everything the same day in day out, never hangs out with anyone or does anything interesting with their life. The other characters have some interesting qualities to them I suppose and I got a chuckle out of some of the dialogue but I was just craving for something, anything to happen for most of it. Yes, I know we're going for a slow pacing to make it more effective when it gets upended but Jesus Christ! In the words of Yahtzee Croshaw "It could only be a slower boil if you were holding a cigarette lighter under a swimming pool".

Adding to the character disconnect (also interesting touch that there are always 4 floors shown but only the 2 relevant floor buttons are usable cause the protagonist is such a meek automaton that they wouldnt dare do something as dangerously subversive as getting off on the wrong floor!) when we finally get to the point where everything breaks down into nightmare world, the protagonist seems visibly shaken and uncomfortable and meanwhile Im going "Oh fuck yes, give it to me! Oh stop complaining you dullard, this lynchian nightmare is the best thing that has happened to your utterly banal existence".

Finally the game becomes an actual adventure game, with fairly lame puzzles but Ill take them frankly. Not sure about the imagery here though, you go through a theatre, a gym, a computer room, hotel entrance, and some other nondescript rooms. I guess those places are supposed to convey sort of the feeling of social anxiety? As they are usually associated with stage fright, people who feel seen at the gym etc. Idk. Im also not entirely sure if there is an implication of it all being a computer simulation (presumably one to test how to most efficiently train the most boring person alive).

You would think, that the pacing problems would end after we get to the meat and potatoes of the reality warping stuff but even the Lynchian stuff goes on too long for my tastes. I would have spaced out the sessions but this game has no sodding save function for some reason! And look, Ive done a bit of gamedev myself and know that everything is a massive pain in the ass but surely a save function seems like a pretty vital thing to code as a first priority.

In conclusion Commonplace is the kind of game that I enjoy talking about much more than playing, It goes on for too long even though its rather short. It does seem like the kind of thing meant for replays to analyze its contents but given the whole save thing and the absolute glacial pace of the gameplay I doubt I will be revisiting it soon. I guess it was free, and at least it wasnt bland, so silver Linings.

Edit : Addendum - I must say, a few hours after finishing it, I must say I felt a slight catharsis from the experience, perhaps because of the intense boredom, although I think praising the game for this is like putting on a coat in the desert so you can feel all cool when you take it off. Oh well, I will note it here anyways

The first hour isn't boring you are. Was kinda disappointed when this just became superliminal. idk kinda reductive but i thought the like office comedy thing it had going on was a lot more unique then the more clichely indie stuff after that. It has a similar thing to flower sun and rain where the rigid daily structure is a great setup for comedy. and just like that game every review seems to think it's some kind of drag when i just found it really chill. BUT then that ending bit goes on for so long that it begins to become compelling again and getting out into that outside area is incredibly cathartic. I uhhhh said no to rachel cus i wanted to explore the rest of the island and didn't know it would send me back to the nightmare hell office and i thinkkkk you just get sent into a loop you can't escape from? idk there's like 4 playthroughs of this on youtube and none of them say no to rachel (understandably) so idk if there is an actual bad ending but after samey looking room like 50 i just closed the game lol.

I think it's cool when semi long games don't have saves. It ironically made me more likely to actually finish it. Knowing i can't just save and say i will pick it back up later.

am really excited to see what this dev team can do with a bit more experience on their next game

Can you tell im really tired writing this lmao

This is right after me experiencing it, and I think I'd get more out of it the more I play it. But this is one of those games that really shakes the foundation of what a game can make you feel, and it played me like a fiddle. I was streaming this with a friend who was playing it, and I really related to a lot of the mundane day job stuff it was doing. It had a lot of attention to detail. I love how breaks felt really short, but when you have a good conversation with one of the characters they end up feeling longer. I feel like that's pretty true to life, and the game is full of little details like that. The game starts becoming really weird as it goes on, and it honestly started to lose me at that point. I was starting to get frustrated, and as this game doesn't have a save feature, I was scared it was going to go on for a long time. But I realize after the playthrough that's exactly what the game wanted me to feel. The main character is someone who enjoys the easy mundanity of work, which is a feeling I really relate with. So when the game becomes weird and labyrinthine. I think it's supposed to reflect what they are feeling in that moment. Everything is different, and you are forced into a situation you don't want to be in. It's frustrating and confusing. I've often felt like this at work. I like my more familiar tasks at work, and when I have to do something I don't do a lot or if I have to work with a new person. It ends up stressing me out in a way that's hard to describe. This game really nailed that kind of feeling through its gameplay, and that alone means a lot to me. And there's probably more I could get out of it on a second playthrough. The writing is layered in that way. Kind of like a Charlie Kaufman film. And it seems like the game has some fun secrets in it if you pay attention. Very great stuff.