Games

A CHRISTMAS CAROL would have us believe Scrooge learned from his mistakes.

He was afforded the chance to see the future and amend his ways. But life isn’t always so simple.

Once Chance (PC; free) is a simple little flash game that has caused a stir online over the last week. In it, you play a scientist who has just found the cure for cancer — only for the cure to mutate and become deadly.

In six days, you are told, all life on Earth will be gone. How will you spend those six days? With your family? At work?

As games go, this is the polar opposite of Black Ops or Gran Turismo. Once Chance looks 20 years old, takes about 20 minutes to complete and was made by just one person. It’s an amateur, independent effort. What makes it different, however, is the simple message behind its gameplay.

Each day, you have a variety of choices about how you spend your time. You can spend it with your wife and daughter, at work trying to find a cure, or even partying. When the six days are over, the simple choices you made dictate the ending you get.

The twist is — you can’t restart the game and try again, even if you switch off your computer and return to the website later. Your first play-through is the only one that counts.

As the title implies, you have ‘once chance’ and that’s it. Thus, the ending you get, the choices you casually make during the game’s short span, have a greater emotional impact than if you could simply restart and get the best outcome like in every other game.

Once Chance might have terrible graphics and next-to-no gameplay, but it makes a cool point about gaming and how we deal with consequences.