The Interlude is that scene in the heist or spy movie where someone impatiently waits for an associate to arrive. You're a getaway driver, or maybe just a contact, and in ten minutes' time you're going to signal the person you're meeting there, and then the game will suddenly come to a close. There's no big chase scene, and no double-crossing shootout, although given what we know about thrillers, you can feel that something like that is about to happen.
Though pregnant with tension—because we know where this scene traditionally places in thriller movies—The Interlude is nonetheless a game where very little, where in fact almost nothing actually happens. Sitting firmly in the driver's seat while ten minutes counts down in real-time, you can play with the wing mirrors, turn the wipers on or off, eat from a bag of crisps or sip your coffee, as you wait for the appropriate moment to signal your contact.
You can also (and here is where you'll spend most of your time) listen to music on the radio, look out of the window at the street outside, and use your quaint old Nokia phone to play a fully fledged game of Snake. In its message history, the phone houses fragments of backstory that lightly sketch out the world, and slightly enhance the tension. But you don't need to know why you're there to feel that tension in the atmosphere, in this surprisingly gripping game that conjures something out of nothing.
Thanks, Warp Door.
For more great free experiences, check out our roundup of the best free PC games.
