I figured it out! All by myself!
If you’re confused, then you need to go play You Have to Burn the Rope. And read about it here and here. And watch a teaser trailer here. It’s a simple, super-short platforming game with one boss, and the secret to beating him is not-so-subtly embedded in the game’s title.
The indie gaming community has lovingly embraced this quirky flash game, and it’s even caught the attention of the mainstream gaming press, who liken the experience to 2007’s Portal (another game which I thoroughly approve of).
The developer created the game as a reaction to titles that are too long and too difficult, hence its simple premise and abbreviated play-time. But despite its tongue-in-cheek simplicity, You Have to Burn the Rope wins over gamers in the end, due largely to the stunningly uneven ratio of reward to challenge.
After burning the titular rope and defeating the Grinning Colossus, the game plays out its credits, coupled with a catchy tune clearly inspired by Portal‘s “Still Alive.” The song is obviously derivative, and a bit repetitive, but the community ate it up, declaring it as the perfect end to the perfect game, with varying levels of sarcasm and seriousness.
Of course, the reason the ending is deemed so satisfying is that it’s rather significantly awesome, relative to the length of the game. In fact, the ending song is as long (if not longer) than a standard gameplay session of You Have to Burn the Rope, meaning that players spend just as much time accomplishing the entertainingly simple task as they do reveling in it.
Regardless of this unbalance (and its affect on the critical reception of the game), I still love Rope. It says everything I believe in about the direction games should go in. Shorter, sweeter, funnier. More rewarding, less difficult, more rope.