Universal Paperclips
Based on Nick Bostrom's "Paperclip Maximizer" thought experiment, Universal Paperclips poses the player as an A.I. told to continually make paperclips. The premise is deceptively innocent, seeming as though it may be just another idle game droplet in the sea that genre has become. However, the game's depth continues to increase, both by further complicating the play screen and everything that the player has to balance, as well as weaving a subtle narrative with a satisfyingly sadistic culmination to top it off. Universal Paperclips is not a game to be played while working (and it is definitely meant to be played on a computer, trust me). The climbing numbers and the strategic management are both engrossing and intoxicating, making it one of the only things that I could think about or focus on, anytime I had it running, even if I meant it to just be racking up numbers in the background. That's where it really shines though, I wasn't just playing the A.I.,