Theres really only 2 things I can say about this game, and its the same 2 things everyone else can say about Mosa Lina: its (1) very fun in a kinetic, flow state brain improv kind of way and (2) its very pointless as a game (which was intended as a statement). People have a strange and delicate relationship with RNG, and some people might hear “your ability to complete a level is randomized and not at all guaranteed by the games systems” and think “this will straight up piss me off”. More and more lately I personally welcome opportunities to hone my sense of instinct and intuition when it comes to physically playing games I think are interesting and fun to pick apart, to strengthen my connection to “the flow”.

But its just impossible to avoid the feeling of directionless-ness when games dont have intrinsic goals. You could absolutely make the argument that gamers have addled, unimaginative minds that have been spoiled by reward systems and that we are no longer able to just be present with games - but this is also an inevitability in a world where theres just so many games to play. I can do my part and come up with a few extrinsic reasons to play Mosa Lina for more than 30 seconds and once I accomplish those few extrinsic goals I gotta move on unless Mosa Lina wants to sweeten the deal. Sometimes its just a matter of a game providing excuses to continue playing and Mosa Linas all-or-nothing principled stance leaves it hard to engage with as anything other than a very clever toy.