What have they done to you, Santa? Why are you so thin, and so smol? Why have you been forcefully awoken from your slumber and made to travel through time and space to bring in another hellish twelve months? Why can’t pop culture dredge up another character from European folklore to sort this shit out so you can get back to banging reindeer or whatever it is you do for the rest of the year? Where is 2018? What is Where is 2018? Who is what is Where is 2018? No, no, I should have stopped at the last one. Sorry.
Where is 2018 is a hand drawn, extremely short but impeccably designed vignette platformer from designer and graphic novel artist Mateusz Skutnik. It’s got some incredibly tight platforming, and some neat, simple puzzles. He’s been making these yearly games since 2009, along with a whole host of others, including the Submachine series of adventure games. He’s also worked on a stack of graphic novels. Great, it’s been 2018 for less than a day and I already feel like a colossal failure in comparison. No, wait. That was there last year, too. And also forever.
Time Marches On
Where is 2018, along with Mateusz’s other games, feature some incredibly detailed, personal-feeling hand-drawn backgrounds. If you’re interested in seeing how the artist achieves what he does, Mateusz has several live streams on his YouTube channel, where you’ll be able to watch him draw his games in real time. I’ve been waiting for some of that talent to rub off on me, but no luck so far.
As well as his website, you can find Mateusz’s games on itch here. Personally, I’m happy to have discovered a one-man auteur with a distinct style, and can’t wait to dive into more of Mateusz’s work. Even if it does make me extremely depressed.
