I may or may not have played that game that might or might not exist, and here's what it is (not) like

Recently, a few breathless exposés have surfaced about a title shrouded in a rather thin cloud of mystery. It may or may not exist; I could have possibly played it myself – but then again, maybe not – and if you think that the message in the main menu that may or may not be there about asking (pretty please!) not to discuss this Schrödinger’s game is the reason why people have been quiet about this potential experience, you could very well be right. Then again, maybe not.

So, here’s the scoop. Or the complete lack thereof.

Once upon a time, there was a video game. Or, rather, the supposition of a video game. If it exists, it may feature a diverse cast of characters and entertaining gunplay – but seeing how it may not exist at all, it could also possibly involve rainbows and unicorns and chocolate cake and the fictional Apollo-65 space mission.

Who’s to say?

After all, the only way to figure out what’s up with Schrödinger’s cat in the box for sure is to open it, crushing down the possibility space into a singular point. Now, had Schrödinger been a game developer – which would have been a heck of an impressive feat in the early decades of the twentieth century –, he might have taken the same public relations approach as today’s monolithic developer-publisher team is doing (or not doing) with this game (if it is a game at all), softly stopping people from talking about it and insisting that there is nothing going on behind the scenes whatsoever, while racking up progressively more impressive player counts in an invitational system for something that, for all intents and purposes, may not even be real.

But here’s the funny thing: it might be.

We will never quite know for sure until an official announcement is made or a non-official non-announcement remains unsaid. This is certainly an interesting way to generate hype about something. What’s that thing, you ask? Well, if you think about it hard enough, what is anything, really?

(What is the meaning of the word “is”?)

Besides, with a near-endless number of actual video games out there to play, what’s it to you if we’re talking about one that might not exist at all? Is it really so much to ask to take a break from our observable reality, to stop trying to “verify” and “fact-check” and “confirm” and “play this video game for yourself,” when you can just rely on the hushed words of the insiders who may all be playing a global collective prank on you?

After all, games like Warcraft III: Reforged, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and The Day Before exist, and a fat lot of good it did to them! Surely, there has to be some room in our collective gaming imagination for a title that is stuck somewhere between existence and utter unknowability.

So, what is the summary of my thoughts on this endless possibility space of a potential game? To stop being coy for a brief moment, I’ve been enjoying it a lot, much more so than I would have expected. Having little previous interest in MOBAs and hero shooters from a player perspective – something this title, should it exist, may have mashed together in some particular way – it seemed more like a curio than something that might become a regular pastime of mine.

It's tough to put a finger on what exactly makes it tick, and it would be rather pointless to do so knowing the inevitable avalanche of changes that are still to come. I shall maintain the omertà, but I will let this slip: it’s pretty damn good fun, whatever this thing is.

And I kind of like this old-school, anachronistic and rather weird way we’re still (not) talking about it.