Future Dimension

I think I've seen this game five times already and still have no idea what it actually is. Future Dimension from 1995 is one of those things you find in a retro game archive, look at the screenshot — something's moving, there are colors, but comprehension just evaporates. The developer? Not listed. The genre? Not that either. Just something from an era when coders thought explaining a game was unnecessary.

Essentially it looks like an abstract puzzle or experimental arcade where you navigate geometric shapes and do something with their movement or position. The colors are sharp, characteristic of DOS on VGA, the screen is crammed with information. You get the feeling the creator had a clear vision, just didn't manage to explain it. The game guards its secrets with the same nonchalance that obscure commercial titles from the second half of the nineties had — when it didn't sell nicely in a box with a manual, nobody knew what it actually was.

Controls are standard for DOS — keyboard, maybe joystick somewhere. Playing is... slow? Confusing? Those few minutes you can let it run, you're more watching than enjoying. It's not boring, more baffling — you don't feel feedback, you don't see a goal, it's unclear whether you're even doing anything right.

Future Dimension is remembered today the way you remember clouds — as something that was there, but didn't leave a sharp trace. It's not evil, it's not a great game, just an interestingly bewildering artifact. A contribution to some CD collection of abandonware you got from a friend with 486 games burned on it and no descriptions.

It'll appeal to you today if you're into exactly that — a mystery without instructions, a visual experiment without purpose. You're better off watching it than playing it. For a moment it fascinates you because you don't understand what's happening, but after ten minutes you won't come back to it.