Chimplant is an unsettling psychological horror game that explores themes of animal experimentation as you become the subject of cognition training at the hands of a primate.
Created for the TOJam 2021 in response to the recent news that Elon Musk’s been implanting chips in macaque monkey’s brains and making them play Pong, Chimplant is a cleverly crafted psychological horror game that turns the tables. In the game you are a test subject who is held in a facility where each day you’re awoken and given single word instructions, such as “Wash”, “Seek” or “Home”. You need to follow these instructions to complete tasks and earn your tasty banana rewards like a good test subject.
There are some control issues with the current build which make the second “seek” area very frustrating, but if you can get past them then it’s a very impressive game. It does a great job of putting you in the shoes of an involuntary test subject and it makes for a grim and unsettling experience. It has some very clever touches, such as the abrupt one word commands of your handler and the way the graphics increase in fidelity as you play – giving you the feeling that you’re becoming more mentally aware and aware of your world as you play. Which only makes the narrative even more impactful.
Controls: WASD – Movement, Mouse – Look, Spacebar – Jump
Gameplay Video: Here