Don't Move

First off, I think Don't Stop is more a performance about the absurdity of nonsense leisure than something worthy to be actually played, playing over the key concepts of the developer as a trader of failure, and the user as a mindless amoeba whose only goal in existence is existence itself.

I deeply appreciate how this game goes beyond gaming, even reaching the point of no-return where it can't be considered a game anymore. As a matter of fact, it's a really bad game, unfathomably unrewarding and utterlier pointless then the games it criticizes, thence a paradox of launching a worse game to start a debate about bad games. This provokes a feeling of futility and uselessness, which we all may agree it's part of the message the artist transmits but whose catharsis is bleak (and costs 1$).

As what we could call an "intervention", it's lovely and very welcomed, but it must be treated as what it is: a piece of protest art sold in an App Store. STVR's not selling a game or an app nonetheless, he's putting up for sale an experience, one that could have been pushed even further.

In the end, since it's in a game store, where function is dependent on artwork, it must be rated as such: merely a game, a very bad one. Anyway, we should thank its developer for releasing something as bad but in its very own way far more valuable than plenty of well-made, rehashed games that roam the Store every day.

Just a last word: for those who think that the dev is somehow tricking people, it must be stated that it's clearly claimed in the dev's description:

Don't Move is about ninjas = yes, there's a ninja in it

failure = what would you expect of an apparently unbeatable and unruled game (which is not)

ludonarrative dissonance = gameplay mechanics don't match the 'message' or story. Get used to this term, it's in vogue.

player investment manipulation = gimme a buck and I'll explain what this means to you.

Aaand if you were wondering how it's played, just install it and follow the instructions therein.