Clickolding is an unsettling experience that shows how clicker games can be more than simple reskins. It isn’t about clicking to unlock upgrades to generate more money. Instead, it has a narrative with a creepy atmosphere bottled up into just under an hour.
Before buying Clickolding, I knew from its name and logo that it was going to be a weird game for sure. But that’s a big part of what reeled me in. It’s obviously a play on cuckolding which funnily enough, isn’t what the game is since it plays more on voyeurism. But that doesn’t work for funny wordplay so I understand.
It starts with you sitting on a bed, in a dark room, while someone watches you from a chair. The atmosphere and vibe immediately feel off but what more can you do than click? That’s exactly what this ominous person in a chair wants you to do. Click. The whole experience revolves around clicking to progress the dialogue.
Which can make for a dull slog as you wait in between milestones. There’s only so much you can do in this motel room with limited interactions inside. I quickly exhausted what I could do so I started looking for ways to pass the time. I held my spacebar down to click slowly while counting flowers on the wallpaper. It feels like when you start following traffic laws in a Grand Theft Auto game.
I swapped back and forth between holding spacebar down and rapidly clicking my left mouse button. It was clear that the pacing was reliant on my clicking speed if I wanted more dialogue. I just couldn’t believe that Clickolding wanted me to click as high as they did. At first, I wondered if it was only a gag and realized it wasn’t.
It wore on my patience which both added to the vibe and made it drag too. There were moments when I wondered who the real voyeur was. Was this experience made for them or me? They may have a creepy mask on with big bright white eyes beaming back at me. But I’m just as much a part of this. I’m patiently clicking while staring right back.
I’m waiting for the next thing they’re going to say. Will they reveal more about what’s going on or who they are? Why am I clicking? What will happen if I keep clicking? What if I stop altogether? What if I defy everything they tell me to do? These questions ran through my mind with every click. This is what makes me wish Clickolding was either more in-depth or perhaps shorter.
I love that Clickolding is different but in the same vein, I wish the developers realized that ironically, the worst part of clicker games is usually the clicking. This is why they implement upgrades or buildings to get you away from that quickly. Which is the last thing I expect here. However, it gets tedious forcing me to almost constantly click.
Clickolding | Closing Thoughts
Clickolding is a refreshing entry to the clicker scene even though it feels slow for a short game. I didn’t want to say much about the story in this review due to how short the game is. But, it’s impressive what the developer Strange Scaffold can do with a limited experience. Even as I drudgingly clicked, I did it because I wanted more. I had to know where the story was going to go.
Review Score: 7/10 (Good)
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Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.