bellclap


It's an okay idea, I suppose. You play a supreme being of sorts, issuing commands to an angel-like servant, who in turn suggests them to the title character, a generic-medieval odd-job man, and reports back on his progress. I found the servant's voice quickly irritating. He's like one of the "suits you, sir" outfitters from The Fast Show ("You're looking radiant, sir, radiant") but with all the rudeness replaced by supplication. With being called "sir" every other command, I had a deference overdose long before the end. In addition, passages like "That was the single most intense experience of his life. Well done, sir" are dangerously close to Power Porn. Though in that respect, Bellclap is similar to other god games.

With three rooms and nothing obvious to do, I went to the walkthrough very quickly. Turns out I had to a lot of non-obvious things. Maybe if I had gone through two hours of trial and error I would have come up with the idea of moulding and sacrificing a blood-soaked statue, but the writing didn't encourage me. Also, it's unclear why the god would force his follower to do all this stuff in the first place. But then, who am I to guess the ways of the almighty?

Actually, in this game I am the almighty. Maybe Bellclap is suggesting, in a quietly subversive way, that if there is a god then most of the time he hasn't a fucking clue.

Rating: 3


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