Video games are bodily, and they can be viscerally impactful. Our heart can race while playing them. We can get goosebumps. We can even get headaches or aching muscles from playing games for too long. Our eyes dilate, our fingers move, our hands get clammy – all these things and more are results of playing video games. Barbotine is a game all about the body, sometimes indirectly or even accidentally.

Barbotine is an odd game that I recommend only if you can get the game on sale. Developed by Alex Rassloff, the game can be completed in just twenty minutes – no aching muscles from playing this, then. It is a self-described micro-game, and this is a very accurate description indeed. It reminds me of a game like Isolomus, small and driven to deliver just one integral idea. Barbotine is a poem of a game, that focuses on feelings of isolation and a growing hostility to one’s own body as a result of anxiety and loneliness. The game appears to have no gameplay beyond walking right up until a couple of combat sections at the end of the game, and it made me want more.

You wander around an increasingly disturbed and distorted home, watching as your body (and other bodies) distort alongside the space. It is haunting for its incredible short runtime, and the combat, after you learn the rhythm, is oddly satisfying. I will say it again: I do want more.

But that is the purpose and point of a so-called micro-game, where a single idea, a single feeling, is allowed to shine. It is a playable version of flash fiction, where we might only be able to hit a few emotional notes, but we can hit them much more effectively. Barbotine might not make the body react in every way that I listed, but I can tell you one thing it does very well – goosebumps.

You can buy Barbotine on Steam or itch.io.