Our review of Stuck in the Present, developed by Embersail Studios/Dusk Wave Arts. Available now for macOS, Windows/Steam.

WHAT IS IT?

A 2.5D dark love letter to the Toronto Transit Commission. (Yes, really.)

IS IT GOOD?

It’s an intriguing mystery – with light horror elements – which smartly doesn’t overstay its welcome.

WHO SHOULD PLAY IT?

Torontonians, especially immigrant Torontonians (which is all of us).

RIDE THE ROCKET

The last time I spotted the TTC in a game, it was in the recent Scott Pilgrim EX, the arcade-style beat-em-up entry in the legendary Scott Pilgrim series of comic books, movies, and video games. Before that, the TTC surprisingly showed up in psychological horror masterpiece SOMA, a very strange game which has the unexpected advantage of opening with a subway ride to Osgoode station. Otherwise, TTC nerds have been mostly left out in the cold, like residents on a February day waiting for the 29 Dufferin.

All that changes this year, however, with the recent short-fiction game Stuck in the Present, which takes as its starting point one young woman’s anxiety about riding the rocket, and expands that into a moving meditation on the immigrant experience, with a light dusting of survival horror.

The game isn’t exactly scary, per se, but it does touch on some fairly disturbing themes, so just something to watch out for before, you think about handing your Steam Deck over to the kids.

STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS PLEASE

Telling the story of young Filipina woman Faye and her closest friend Rich, the bulk of Stuck in the Present consists of a recurring cycle of TTC rides, during which Faye/Rich discuss their shared past, childhood traumas, and Faye’s efforts to overcome anxieties about not just riding the subway, but life as a first-generation immigrant in Toronto.

Travelling between lightly fictionalized versions of familiar stations – for some reason, unlike SOMA, the developers opted to not use real-world names, hence settings like “Overlook Park” (High Park) or “St. George’s Cross” (St. George) – Present plays like many a contemporary walking simulator, with dialogue-heavy sequences punctuated by some simple environmental puzzle-solving.

The cyclical nature of the game – Faye/Rich board at the same station every day, though each time something slightly different (and often spooky) happens – is very much the point, as Faye/the player grow more familiar/comfortable with their environs, even as the game throws in wild cards – strange hooded figures, flashback detours into Faye’s past – which add tension to the mix. This isn’t simply a game about listening to subway delay announcements. (Though there’s that, too.)

Toronto easter eggs abound, with ads for fake brands like “McQain” french fries, “Tim Hotons”, “Kraff” mac-and-cheese, and other Canadian staples, and subway stations which look exactly like their real-world counterparts, right down to the nauseating green of St. George.

WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE

Stuck in the Present is the type of deeply personal, maple-blooded video game we need more of. There was a Toronto raccoon simulator a few years ago, but that simplistic if amusing exercise can’t really compare to something as heartfelt as this: a story about Toronto immigrants (check), navigating the TTC (check), while also navigating what it means to be Torontonian (check check). If you’re a Toronto Guardian reader, this is definitely something which deserves to be on your radar, and at CAD $8.99 and only a few hours’ duration, it’s a quick and easy purchase for anyone with even a modicum of interest.

You might even try playing it on your next subway ride.

***
Final score: 8/10 Lower Bay Stations.

Visit the official website for Stuck in the Present here.