Screenshots: The Library of Last Resort
Simon Groth
Screenshots is a regular feature by Simon Groth, highlighting a project, app, or other resource of interest.
The Library of Last Resort
by Matt Finch
The Library of Last Resort is a ruse.
You’d be forgiven at first for thinking this is a standard text-based branching-narrative game, a multiple-choice point-and-click that harks back to thousands of works across the web and earlier to those ubiquitous children’s books from the 70s and 80s.
(Not sure what books I mean? Turn to page 32).

Gameplay and strategic navigation are not my forte, but despite getting lost on more than one occasion, I was able to delve deeper into the story, exploring its setting and absorbing the philosophies that inform its design. The Library of Last Resort charms and intrigues in equal measures, unfolding in an organic and almost accidental way: whims lead to questions that coalesce into mysteries that draw you further in.
But story and simple interactivity proves merely an entrée into something far more profound when The Library of Last Resort essentially rejects its own premise, breaks out from the screen, and demands you interact with the real world. Getting to the end of this game means visiting some unexpected places while contemplating the nature of play, narrative, and reality itself. That it manages to do this while never losing its sense of escapism and fun makes it all the more remarkable.
Related posts
Screenshots is a regular feature by Simon Groth, highlighting a project, app, or other resource of interest. Black Room by Casssie McQuater Described by its creator as ‘...
I have worked as a dramaturg and theatre maker for over 20 years, spending my life thinking about how to create stories for audiences to lose themselves in. My professional toolbo...
Think of a song or piece of music that is important to you. What happens when you hear it? Does it take you somewhere else and bring you back? Are you saddened by it? Does it trans...
When I first began writing my short story ‘Rupture’, I didn’t intend to work with artists I’d never met to produce a piece incorporating animated visuals and sound; this collaborat...
In the run up to the launch of RadioBook Rwanda in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, the three young creatives behind the international publishing project reflect on the digital journey of...
It can be scary to look back sometimes, almost like a fear of heights. It's six years ago (six years!) that I first started thinking about the project that was just r...