CLICKOLDING exists in a perverse, erotic, and absolutely compelling space. From the moment the game begins to the moment it ends, you’re enthralled with what’s transpiring. CLICKOLDING comes from Strange Scaffold with funding from Outersloth. This game has adult themes and sexual-adjacent material. Even the kerning of the game’s title font suggests something seedy is going on. Strange Scaffold does storytelling like no one else, and this is an uncomfortable one to play; but that’s the point, and I couldn’t wait to see how it ended.
You sit on a bed in a hotel room, facing a masked man asking, nay, demanding that you click his clicker. This could be a euphemism, but for the game it is a literal interpretation, his fetish. You’ll click at his behest, growing more and more at unease at the things you’re being told to do. But you’re doing this for fourteen-thousand dollars in order to pay for an operation. Who’s operation? It doesn’t matter. This is the new low you’ve sunk to in order to make sure it happens, though. I hope you like this room, because this is all you’re going to see for the duration.
Along the mystery man gives clues about himself unknowingly, or intentionally, or maybe they are all lies. Who knows, who could say? His depravity gets more and more sinister as he reveals violent intentions with every sentence he utters. This is an unsettling interaction, this is the solution you’ve succumbed to. You’ll have to click this clicker 10,000 times to satisfy his urges, and collect on the cash. You as the player don’t want to continue, but seeing how far you’ll go and how far he’ll go is far too curious of a venture. The game’s foreword indicates it’ll take about 30 minutes to complete the game, but it took me 45 minutes from start to finish, to include the epilogue. Be sure to click the clicker 1,000 more times in order to see where else it goes.
The controls are simple as you’d guess. By the game’s name, your instinct is to click with the mouse. But alternatively you can press the space bar to advance the clicker, as well. What the game doesn’t tell you, is that you can hold either space or the left mouse button for a consistent click without needing to release and press individually. There’s an interact key to activate certain objects in the room. Movement around the room was a bit of a surprise, because you navigate the room like it is an old-school dungeon crawler like Wizardry or Legend of Grimrock. While that’s all there is to the controls, the relative unease will outweigh the fact you’re trapped in a room clicking a clicker for money.
If you try to leave through the front door before reaching the game’s goal, the game will close and all of your progress is reset. This is a game that can not only be experienced in a single sitting, it must. What works so well is the fact that you have to play CLICKOLDING in one sitting, further adding gravitas to the player having to endure this agonizing experience. It’ll be one you won’t soon forget, and will always remember.
CLICKOLDING is the best three dollars you can spend on Steam right now. It’s short, sweet bitter, and sure to leave an aftertaste. Strange Scaffold has crafted a fantastic thriller leaving you degraded at the whims of a deviant. CLICKOLDING is a different kind of clicker game, and you’ll be edging for more.
A Steam code was provided in advance by the publisher for review purposes
