When I first talked to Justin Roiland and Tanya Watson, the two primary people behind new VR game studio, Squanchtendo, they made it clear that they wanted to build immersive, charismatic VR worlds full of memorable characters. For their first game, they joined forces with Crows, Crows, Crows of The Stanley Parable fame to make that happen.
The end result is Accounting, a short little experience that only lasts about 15-20 minutes and can be downloaded for absolutely zero dollars. It consists of a series of vignettes that each feature a small scene with non-playable characters talking at and about your character in the world. What it lacks in depth it more than makes up for with unmistakable charm and personality. From start to finish, it feels like you’re playing something that came from the mind of Justin Roiland and the team at Crows Crows Crows, which is a very, very good thing. Below, you’ll find our full playthrough, including mixed reality footage of the game.
Note: Language is very explicit throughout and there is some animated gore/violence:
The game begins with you, a new accountant, receiving a phone call from what appear to be your supervisors. They walk you through some information and ask you to locate a tape and place some VR goggles on your face. That’s right — in proper Roiland and Crows Crows Crows fashion, this is a decidedly meta experience.
You’ll travel through a series of layers in VR, messing with things, interacting with characters, and likely falling over on the floor laughing. We opted not to write a detailed, scored review of the experience because it’s only ~20 minutes long, including intro credits, end credits, and scene transitions. We edited the video a tiny bit and it still comes in at just under 18 minutes. This is also something that really needs to be experiences (or watched for yourself, up above.)
However, I can absolutely confirm that whatever this game lacks in length it more than makes up for with its incredible sense of humor, fantastic writing, colorful cast of characters, and insanely creative premise. This is a must-play for all HTC Vive owners that don’t mind a little vulgarity.
Deep down, I just wish it was longer. There is so much personality and energy here, it’s a bummer it ends so abrumptly. Luckily, it’s fun to replay and show people or even just stand there and listen to the characters bicker and squabble back and forth. Hard to argue with free.
Accounting from Squanchtendo and Crows Crows Crows releases today on Steam, for free.
