Life Tastes Like Cardboard is a very personal and candid narrative-driven experience filled with surreal artwork and thought provoking subject matter that covers everything from orange juice containers to depression and mental illness.
It takes around three hours to play through Life Tastes Like Cardboard and there’s a lot going on throughout. The main character is a creative individual who clearly suffers from depression and feels worn down by the boredom of day to day life. He escapes into a lucid dream world full of strange sights and odd characters, where he wanders around, recovering lost memories which he can then talk about with his psychotherapist (or a cardboard cut out of one anyway).
It’s quite a lonely and oppressive experience for the majority of the time, but there is a ray of sunshine in the form a friend you meet along the way. This friend has a much more upbeat disposition than you and you have a lot of interesting conversations with them. The conversations range from deep and meaningful discussions about life to commentary on different types of orange juice containers. Whatever the subject matter, the conversations are all very well written and are often full of insightful observations and interesting symbolism.
Life Tastes Like Cardboard contains a lot of heavy subject matter and you really need to set by a little time to decompress after playing it through. It’s a fascinating experience though with striking artwork, an eclectic mixture of visual styles and insightful subject matter that really makes you think. There are themes of mental illness throughout, but it’s not just about that – it’s about life, the universe and everything. An outpouring of thoughts, memories and contemplations that will stick with you long after completion.
Controls: Arrow Keys – Movement, Spacebar – interact
Available on: Windows
Gameplay Video: Here
Download Life Tastes Like Cardboard Here