I’d love to say that this Non-Review is the usual sort of Non-Review where it’s really a nicely-written analysis of a game and I say what I like and don’t like about the game. In the case of Linger In Shadows, the new piece of, uh, software on the PlayStation Store, this really isn’t a review of a game, because there is no game to review.

Non-Review after the break.

Linger In Shadows is a project by Polish ‘demosceners’ Plastic designed to push the capabilities of the PS3. Demos have existed for at least a couple of decades, evolving from “we can crack your system” display screens on Apple II computers and at-the-time-impressive simple animations and music loops into non-interactive, boundary-pushing presentations of video and sound.

Basically, Linger In Shadows is what you’d expect it to be from the presentation above. It’s a boundary-pushing presentation of video and sound (as the definition goes) with a tiddly bit of interaction thrown in, and that’s all there is to it. Whether or not it validates a purchase is entirely up to you, but here’s a helping hand so you can make up your mind.

Now the cat I recognise from the real world. The crane too. But the octopus?

As such, Linger doesn’t sound like a very good idea for a platform such as the PlayStation 3. Computers, certainly, are seen as all-encompassing machines (so demos fit in snugly) but games consoles? Not so much. The lack of interaction in demos means that creating one for a games console leaves it open to a very niche audience; but then, it’s not really trying to attract one, is it?

To overcome this Linger In Shadows involves a very small degree of interactivity in what I suppose you’d call its “gameplay”. While you can watch the overall presentation in the aptly-named Watch mode, you can take part and unlock the story for yourself (along with some hidden extras) in the main Linger mode.
Quite how Lingering works you can find out over the page.

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