PAX East 2024 IMPRESSIONS: TEST TEST TEST

Publisher(s): Toge Productions
Platform(s): PC
Release Date: January 17, 2024

TEST TEST TEST is probably one of the wildest, most unique and thought provoking games I played throughout all of my time at PAX East 2024. The concept is simple: you are an office employee who has to finish different tasks within 15 minutes or be executed and have your day start over again. The art style is hand-drawn pixel-art that I think is meant to invoke the 32-bit era, and it frankly looks gorgeous.

Where TTT really shines though is the puzzle solving. As you go through more and more time loops, carrying over real life-knowledge of what you’re experiencing, you will start to get quicker and quicker at doing things that lead up to where you inevitably failed (and you will repeatedly fail) during the prior time loop. Each time I did a time loop, I felt myself uncovering more and more of the story — and the Alternate Reality Game (“ARG”) elements kept surprising me in more and more ways.

TEST TEST TEST | Waking up in your home — You start each time loop at home (see above), and you will inevitably end up taking the train (below) to get to the office. The timer in the upper right corner tracks how much time you have left until noon and when the loop ends. (Images owned by Toge Productions.)

You will have to think incredibly creatively in order to beat TTT and make it through to the end. I am being purposefully vague about the ARG elements, as I do not want to rob any player from figuring it out and experiencing it for themselves. I promise you there will be multiple moments when it will all click together in your head of what you need to do next, as TTT does a brilliant job giving you just enough to figure out what to do if you think about it while not being purposefully obtuse like 2007’s Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure. Fascinatingly, the game also peels back the underlying storyline during each loop you play through — and you will want to figure out what the heck is going on.

Opening a Folder. — *There are a lot of puzzle elements that require real-world interactions to complete as you unravel the complete story. (Image owned by Toge Productions.)*

If you’ve got several hours to set aside to play a game, and you want to really work your brain in a great way, TEST TEST TEST is the perfect game for you. I will say that I got pretty far in it with my hands-on demo (with some help from the developer sitting next to me!), and I loved how well-crafted this game is. It was released back in January of this year, and I think it is worth picking up — especially because it is free on Steam.

What do you think of ARG games?

Are you going to give TEST TEST TEST a try?

Let us know in the comments below!