It's Easy & Hard to Put Your Finger on Wurroom

Wurroom is the creation of Michael Rfdshir and Serge Bulat. What kind of creation is open to interpretation. Described as an interactive art experience or short exploration adventure game with casual point-and-click puzzles, its surreal imagery, lack of context or structure, and experiential gameplay defies familiar labels. And in this way, it proves that art is in the eye of the beholder.

Indeed some have suggested this roughly 10 minute long experience is not a video game at all. By that same token, I imagine others will claim this is not art. But as far as I'm concerned, it's both and helps push the boundaries of the medium in important ways that hopefully continue to redefine the nature of video games, their place in entertainment, and their acceptance as a legitimate art form.

The game begins with the warning “this game could be played only in handheld mode” because, as players soon discover, gameplay involves touchscreen controls. This is entirely appropriate and verges on the absurd (in a good way) given the opening setting reveals a surreal landscape populated by hands (walking on index and middle fingers), before a large hand comes down and scoops one up.

From that point on, players will use a hand icon with moving fingers to accomplish a variety of tasks. The first interactive scene includes a simple sculpture of a head (think Easter Island) and a shovel. Pressing on the screen reveals a hand icon, which then grabs the shovel. Dragging one’s finger across the screen moves the grabbed object, while pressing anywhere moves it immediately to that spot.

If you land on an interactive location, animation will be triggered either in-game or as a cutscene. The animation is appealing, as it’s in the Claymation – or stop-frame animation – style (with malleable objects reportedly handmade from plasticine). The animation can create more gameplay options or lead to another scene. Pressing and dragging can activate buttons or levers, for instance, or even transform the clay object into something else.

These are the chief gameplay elements. Players might interact with seemingly inanimate objects like cubes or with other creatures, though most things in this pliable world aren’t truly inanimate. Most move on their own or when the player interacts with them, either automatically or when pulled on. There are snails, TVs, mugs, etc. among settings in the air, on water, on land and in blank spaces save for a few objects.

All are colorful and each has a distinctive feel, even when sometimes displaying a similar object(s). The music is perfect accompaniment for the unusual visuals, with a synth sound that at times simulates wind instruments and/or percussion for a contemplative or upbeat score. There's no question that this world dazzles at the same time that it intrigues. Even if players are left without words adequate to describe their experience.

All the creators ask is that you participate. Like the pebble that leaves expanding ripples in its modest wake, players literally touch this world in simple acts that transform it in significant and unexpected ways. And those interactions entertain at the same time that they confound. It is accessible and enigmatic -- both easy and hard to put your finger on. Video game and art. A beautiful and fun curiosity.

But that's all the more reason that gamers should seek out this unusual title. At about 10 minutes long and either free or costing at most $1, it's a negligible investment in a thoroughly trippy exercise that stays with you long after you finished playing. Controls are simple and intuitive so don't get in the way of an interactive world that only asks you to leave your expectations at the door while it rewards your curiosity with an unusual journey.

(This post was based on a review code of Wurroom for the Nintendo Switch, provided by Sometimes You. The game released April 1, 2020, on that platform and on PS4, and is currently $0.99. It released November 8, 2019, on PC and is currently free on Steam.)

​(Be sure to check out additional images here: Screenshots.)