Fixation is a puzzle-platformer about anxiety, and addiction. As the protagonist you traverse familiar spaces, interpreted through the lens of a platformer. The game has a dry self-aware wit, sometimes commenting on the absurdity of the game mechanics. You can double jump (a skill you picked up as a young girl), and blow smoke to trigger smoke detectors, which toggle certain kinds of blocks. {% pullquote You can double jump (a skill you picked up as a young girl), and blow smoke to trigger smoke detectors, which toggle certain kinds of blocks. %}

Early levels are set in an apartment, where chores and disarray are represented as chasms or simple smoke puzzles. Smoking feels like a super-power, allowing you to disable lasers and open doors at a distance. NPCs, such as your roommate or her new boyfriend (TheSphinx) come and go, offering brief conversation. Dialogue in the game is never framed by a cut-scene or a pause in the action: you are always able to continue jumping around the levels, even while speech bubbles float here and there.

Later the game moves into a metaphorical cave, representing the hero’s dependence on smoking. Here you are first encouraged to rely on smoking to overcome puzzles, then you begin to encounter “non-smoking” zones. The annoyance of having to work around them parallels that of a smoker very well. You are constantly having to find crowded little spots around the edges of the levels, and then bounce smoke rings across impossible distances. {% pullquote I’ve rarely been so impressed with a puzzle-platformer’s construction. %}

The game’s message is not deep. You will not be left with a head full of heavy thoughts for days to come, as might be the case if you play With Those We Love Alive. The strength of Fixation is the framing: everything in the game supports everything else, every mechanic evokes the themes, and every time you feel something while you play, the dialogue reminds you that this is happening by design. I’ve rarely been so impressed with a puzzle-platformer’s construction. Again and again while playing, I found myself sympathizing with the protagonist by analogy. Sometimes the envelope goes a little too far, usually for the sake of the puzzles, but mainly this game is solid gold.

One criticism I would level against the game is that it doesn’t convince me that it is based on lived experience. I apologize if it is, but maybe that would have come across more clearly if the plot had not relied so heavily on drama and action. Give me this game again, but with no ending and no antagonist… and I’d put it on my shelf next to Gravitation.

Fixation is available on itch.io (maybe someday on GameJolt?)