Everything is me and I am Everything. Or am they? That is the question posed to me by new experience: 'Everything'. Or vice versa. It depends on your perspective.

After watching the intoxicating Alan Watts narrated trailer (above) a few weeks ago, I knew I must play Everything. Big budget games are designed by committee and usually involve shooting people in the face, so now I frequently turn to indie games. Everything is a pinnacle.

Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy fans may be familiar with the Total Perspective Vortex. Essentially it's a chamber that shows how Everything is part of Everything and implies that a person is an extremely small part of Everything. This knowledge kills nearly everyone who enters.

Everything the 'game' functions in much the same way as the Total Perspective Vortex. A pure investigative study, we are invited to see things through the viewpoint of myriad 'things' at myriad scale. One moment you might be a horse; the next a planet; and then a horse planet. Are horses planets? You decide.

A VHS tape talking to a slice of pizza.
© David OReilly 2017

Trophies

There are many obscure trophies. Have you seen Everything through itself yet? Have a trophy.

I say this only because other reviews imply there are no definite goals. There are.

Progress

As you progress in your [self]understanding, you are given new powers to control... Everything. Want to corral a flock of dancing continents? No problem. Want to make a rabbit sing with a shovel? Fine.

Release the controller for a few seconds and the game will play itself. In the settings menu is an option to restrict the scale during this period. If you are in a grassy field, you will stay in a grassy field. Or so I thought...

What actually happened is that I walked away to do my laundry. When I returned I was no longer an ancient piece of obsidian, but a galaxy. Time passes more quickly if you're a galaxy—obviously—so when I returned to earth I could now be a school.

I contacted the developer and have been told that this will soon be patched. I'm deeply grateful. This is another great thing about indie games.

It actually made me think that I perhaps had too much power in the first place. Everything is genuinely mind-altering.

My Place in the Universe

I sank into Everything for three hours last night. I think when I left I was a white picket fence.

There is something I have lost. I must find it.

Alan Watts

Alan Watts features heavily. His reassuring voice appears often to explain Everything. I feel like I am Everything now.

"What is a thing?" he asks.

The End

Thank you for reading.

PS. There is so much more to say about this game. Infinite amounts. If everyone assimilated the ideas behind it there would be no war. Here's a treat for reading this far. It will help.

Everything is available now for a very reasonable price on PS4. Soon it will be on Mac and PC.