Dark secrets are hidden within someone’s files and web wanderings, revealing some deeply unsettling events and habits in Online Simulator.
CONTENT WARNING – Abusive relationships, body horror.
Online Simulator tells a story of an abusive relationship through chat logs, site histories, and other files left lying around a strange computer. You’re free to wander through the executables and programs as you see fit, opening up whatever you want to peer into someone else’s life. Each of the things on this computer are a piece of the puzzle, and it’s up to you to piece them together to find the dark events that occurred.
Not that Online Simulator is without some sense of humor. The game’s take on early websites, internet, and programs can make for some laughable nostalgia. Some of what you read will also be quite ridiculous, offering a few laughs at the expense of online behavior a few decades ago.
Even so, Online Simulator is a disturbing look at the footprint we leave behind with our tech, as well as some unhealthy aspects of relationships we might be ignoring. That it does so through dating games and ancient websites allows for some intriguing detective work where you’ll have to piece much of it together yourself. Still, that you can shape a person in your mind from their histories and online chats is a bit unsettling all on its own, leaving one to wonder what sort of imprint of ourselves we’re leaving behind on our own computers.
Online Simulator is available now on Itch.io and Steam.
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