WHY ICYCLE IS EVEN MORE RELEVANT TODAY

You know that distinct feeling when someone sees you completely starkers?

You’re not only physically vulnerable, you’re personally exposed, disarmed and stripped of all pretence. It’s in those terrifying moments you can’t avoid the truth. A bit like when you see modern day news bulletins, forcing you to face harsh reality but on a grander scale. But these days you’re more likely to witness the reader chuckle than shriek to help them cope with this growing sense of apocalyptic hysteria. You have to laugh because it feels surreal and completely out of your control. It surely won’t come to pass, it’s absurd!

And yet… there’s that little undercurrent of doubt.  A bead of cold sweat.  That reality check when you catch yourself in the mirror and glance for just a moment, an all too real… reality.

Well you’ll be relieved to learn that none of it matters any more.  For the last survivor, it’s already too late – the end of the world has come and gone. What a liberating circumstance, there’s nothing left at stake!

So let’s toy with the cold carcass of civilisation. Let’s play in the playground of the frozen aftermath. There’s nothing left to worry about so why not have fun, right?  Ok, maybe it is a bit close to the bone. Maybe it does poke fun at hope and despair. But look on the bright side – in irony there is harmony, and in the case of the penultimate level 26… there is even spiritual and political unity!  Better late than never, eh?

If nervous laughter wards off despair, then perhaps Icycle offers a similar form of therapy by treading this blurred line between absurd humour and heartbreaking bleakness. While you’re desperately trying to survive, you’re reminded throughout that you’re fighting a losing battle. You will fail.

Icycle is about failure, failure at its funniest. Regardless of statistics, it often feels to me like the world is failing.  So if we’re going to survive this winter, we’re going to need some stupid items of clothing and a slightly morbid sense of humour ;P

Peace and love to all,
Reece
x

Icycle: On Thin Ice for PC & Mac on Steam 25th October 2017
http://store.steampowered.com/app/658990/Icycle_On_Thin_Ice/
Game home page – Icycle: On Thin Ice

Note – Players should refrain from reenacting the fish kissing scene from level 6 to avoid any more near fatalities as demonstrated in Bournemouth two weeks ago – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-41598493