They Might Be Giants fans recreate ‘Apollo 18’ track by track — as text adventures | The Verge

If you were to draw a Venn diagram including fans of They Might Be Giants and those of interactive fiction (“text adventures” to the layperson), chances are there would be some significant overlap. From that overlap springs Apollo 18+20: The IF Tribute Album, which is in fact not an album, but a collection of interactive fiction commemorating the 20-year anniversary of the Apollo 18 album’s release. Each of the 38 games in the collection is inspired by a song on the album, so for example “I Palindrome I” captures the song’s signature phrase symmetry — players are greeted with “Rocky outcropping, unspectacular by itself, overlooks canyon. Canyon overlooks itself by unspectacular outcropping, rocky.” Staying true to the album’s “Fingertips” songs (many of which come in under 15 seconds), the game versions are only a single move. —They Might Be Giants fans recreate ‘Apollo 18’ track by track — as text adventures | The Verge.