Well what a wonderfully thoughtful thing this is. Passage is a… er… video game? I think? You see Passage kinda defies the conventions of video game in favor of acting as a piece of art. Which it definitely is. Providing you “get” it. Which hopefully you will. Oh boy… this is going to be tricky to explain…

Without ruining anything (not that it can be ruined… you know what I’m just going to leave these side comments alone now) Passage is a game about life. There is a lot of depth here to what is essentially a 5 minute diversion. Literally 5 minutes. That is exactly how long this game is.

Basic graphics, deep themes. Click to download Passage

Why only five minutes? Well hopefully when you play it you’ll get it. It’s a top down 2d game with extremely basic controls, just 4 arrows and 4 directions to move. But to be honest in a game like this controls are almost a side note, a thing you point out so that you can play it, it controls neither good nor bad just… exactly how it should be.

The graphics are extremely basic but cute pixels reminiscent of the Atari era, but with a bit more color thrown on and perhaps a tiny bit more detail. The music is a chippy, 8 bit thing that loops. It is vaguely annoying but sets the right tone.

And really that is all I can say without spoiling it. Sorry to be so mysterious but with a game that is literally 5 minutes long there’s not much else I can say. Suffice to say it’s an interesting if slightly pretentious experience that depending on the way you look at it will either be extremely powerful or confusingly dull.

When I say this game is not for everyone, I mean it. As for value for money, on PC this game is technically free so knock yourself out, on iPhone it’s $0.99 or £0.59 and I’d say it was worth that if you want to fund crazy ideas like this (also the controls on iPhone are fine, no issues, don’t worry). Passage is unique and quite touching, but you have to be the right kind of person to like it.

Score: N/A. It’s an entirely personal thing.