The Day tells the story of a young girl in a (POW?) camp. It’s only 15mins long and worth a quick play through, well actually 2, as there are 2 endings. It’s in the experimental spectrum of exploring gameplay and narrative, so won’t be in everyone’s taste (e.g., it receives 4.5/10 by the armor games community). But I like it, so go play it now, as spoilers lurk below.
SPOILERS BELOW!
I liked the simplicity of this story. As you pursue the primary goal of competing with the other kids, fragments of the world are revealed around you. The fact that the children are playing a game about warfare while being trapped in the camp is quite macabre. The game itself is a relatively simple puzzle in logic, which has an ‘aha!’ moment when you see how to solve it.
I confess that I watched the walkthrough for the second ending, the one where you walk out of the camp, as I missed the little dirt path while I was exploring the camp. As it turns out the ‘gameplay’ element of this second goal is almost non-existant, but the narrative element is strong as you slowly realise that the camp is empty of guards.
Thus the game balances nicely, with two subgames. The first with a strong gameplay/puzzle and hint of story, the second with a stronger story and less gameplay.