knytt on your knelly

Not many of my friends are really into video games.

They have other hobbies, like knitting, recreational drugs and talking to girls.

And that's okay.

it does mean that they're missing out on things like this:
I mean this:

That's knytt, that is. Perhaps the most unassuming game ever, and perhaps in its own little quiet way one of the most forward-looking games to come out in, ooh, ages. The storyline is absolutely insignificant, and the gameplay is laughably simple (if absolutely perfectly executed), but the feeling of playing the game is mesmerising. You are the Knytt, and you have been abducted by an alien, who then crash-lands on a planet. Your job is to collect the scattered pieces of your spaceship so you can return home in time for bed. Seriously.

Actually, that's a little misleading, as it suggests a sense of urgency. There's no rush. You saunter around, climbing over objects, admiring the wildlife (most of it won't hurt you, and is squeeeeeee cute) and occasionally happening across a cog or a computer chip. With no obvious signposts and not many wrong turns (the worst that usually happens is that you find yourself in a nice little cave, with some trees), it's more like a stroll through the countryside than anything else. You can stop for a bit, watch some people swimming or fishing, or sit by the side of the lake and watch a giant blue giraffe eat some stuff from a tree. It's cool.

It is a bit like music, in a way: ambient music, with its calm and hypnotic repetitions. (Nifflas, the game's creator, started out as an ambient musician, and the game's got some pretty good music in it, too, which adds to the unrivalled atmosphere of it all). Getting from A to wherever is easy enough, and with no real need to concentrate, or any real sign of when you're going to reach wherever it is you're going to arrive at, you get drawn in in the same kind of way that, say, a Tim Hecker record would.

so, then. Music: crap. Video games: great. Go download it: it's free (for PC users only, unfortunately). It's got a precursor, called Within A Deep Forest, and a sequel-of-sorts called Knytt Stories, which are also bloody excellent, but they're both a bit more traditionally gamey, and what they gain in structure they lose slightly in whatever makes Knytt great.