Heated

A game about going to work.   By Timothy Peers

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The game begins with the player lying in bed, in the player’s own home, just woken up from a dream by the sound of an alarm clock and already late for work.  No, this isn’t 9:05 by Adam Cadre, or any of a dozen other games that start out that way (but I checked under the bed just to be sure).  This is Heated,

The character voice is interesting and consistent.  You are an entry level employee somewhere who evidently has not attended one of those career skills boot camps that many universities now offer to their graduating Seniors.  In some places that voice is entertaining.  In other places it just sounds cynical and bitter.  The game is competently programmed.  I only found a couple of places where I was frustrated by parser errors.  I did not see any beta testing credits.  Have I overlooked something?

The game is a tightly timed resource management puzzle.   In this instance, the resource being managed is your own stress level.  Each time something frustrating happens within the story, the character’s stress level heats up.  Each time something pleasant happens, the stress level goes back down again.  Choosing the UNDO function recovers squandered time but increases stress.  At the end of the game, the character’s boss evaluates their job performance.  I had to check the hints once to figure out where to plug in my iron.  I replayed several times before getting an optimal review.

A timed puzzle, done well, can be an amusing exercise.  “All Things Devours” was the best short puzzle game ever, and timed very tightly.  The time limit in “Heated” just felt frustrating.  I think other players may  enjoy this game more than I did.  Right now I would rate it near the middle of the games I’ve played this competition.