Game Settings is a very literal title, as this game from Lozange Lab (Rip Them Off and Bomb Club Deluxe) is about an enigmatic handheld where its user, you, unlock a plethora of game settings that act as a guide/debugging mode for the title that comes equipped with the device. Think Bem Feito, only the fictitious device here is from Nexia.
Visually, the game is very much a mish-mash of lots of different styles to the point of ugliness. A transitional trip on the subway with 3D nameless models, to a dull-looking terminal for you to conduct articles as a Content Writer, is somewhat depressing and uninspiring. However, look at the options of articles as a Content Writer (been there, done that), and it all makes sense. Worse, you can generate the articles using AI. I didn’t know this was a horror game. Nevertheless, consider me triggered.
Upon returning home via way of a 3D flyover that looks like it’s straight from a kitchen designing program you’d see at the local DIY store, we enter your hideous apartment with flashes of rosewood and baroque wallpaper. Garish is not the word. Let’s put aside the interior design for one moment, as there’s a knock on the door. Opening the door reveals a package containing the portable console mentioned at the beginning.
Booting up the Nexia, we find that we can only move the character in Game Settings vertically. Collecting a mysterious box then unlocks horizontal settings, and it becomes apparent that each time you unlock something new, you’ll return to the menu to toggle these game settings. Some of them are fundamental to gameplay, while others are purely cosmetic, yet drip-feeding these features makes you appreciate them more and tinker with them as if they were GTA V cheat codes.
Though the game makes it clear that there are no clear objectives, combat or score, each new feature in some way unlocks new capabilities within the game, but also transitions into real life. Acquiring the light settings switches the lights on and off in your home (the game’s ‘real life’, not your Hues). Sprialling into the journalist’s everyday life starts to play tricks, and messaging sceptical pal Mark doesn’t help, though it is an opportunity to sound out these weird things that are happening.
The hacking aspect of Game Settings is introduced early on, if we’re considering entering a password as hacking. Once again, hints and tips are drip-fed much like the actual game settings in the game, so when you’re initially locked out and need the admin password, it’s readily available to you if you go back and review. Not boasting the same synapses of my youth, I used my fan to snap some of the clues to refer to, and this added element of interactivity made me enjoy it more.
In fact, putting aside how ugly this game is (subjective, of course), the concept is excellent. For those with an inquisitive mind, your thirst will be quenched with the exploration and puzzles seen in the demo, and for the high-achieving overthinkers, those gaps in between for you to speculate ‘what is going on?’ are abundant, and for that reason, it offers plenty of immersion. If it weren’t for the option of automating article writing using a ChatGPT equivalent presented at the start of each working day, and those graphics only a mother would love, I think I could find myself quite swallowed up in the intrigue.
You can dip your toes in the mystery by playing the Game Settings demo via Steam.
