As the video game medium becomes more evolved, with games now having stunning 4K graphics, constantly updated content, and paradigm-shifting peripherals, it’s endlessly compelling to look back on the various stages of video games throughout the years. With the new action/brawler title Stick It to the Stickman from Devolver Digital, the question must be asked: how did we go all the way from meager, 2D stick figure games about killing your boss all the way to stunning, 3D stick figure games about killing your boss?
Flash games from iconic sites like Miniclip and Addictinggames set the template for video games being widely accessible to the masses, with dingy, yet effective 2D games like Whack Your Boss being the equivalent to early paintings on the cave walls of video game history. Sometimes it’s hard to look at games like Stick It to the Stick Man without wondering… how did we get here? Can we draw a straight line — like the torso of a stick figure — from these primitive 2D stick figure games about killing your boss to the modern, robust 3D stick figure games about killing your boss? Perhaps not.
Games like Interactive Buddy now seem an archaic relic of the past, with gamers being spoiled by much more complex, polished games about a doodle just going to fucking town on everyone after clocking in for the day. What seemed a watershed moment for flash games is now rendered a pathetic preview to the high-tech future of butchering stand-ins for your fellow employees.
If only we could go back in time to tell the children toying around in the school computer lab with free, shoddy games like Kill the Stickman Boss that one day, years in the future, gaming will be completely different — virtually unrecognizable to them — in that the game will be a bit more glossy and complicated. Would they even be able to comprehend the information?
Only time will tell what the future of gaming will hold. With every passing year, developers make leaps and bounds in technology, constantly pushing the limits of how stick figures can murder their workplace. It’s fascinating to watch game designers constantly challenge our perception of how a poorly-drawn man can dismember his employer.
This article is sponsored by Devolver Digital! If you wanna check out the most powerful 3D stick figure game about killing your boss, make sure to wishlist Stick It to the Stickman on Steam. Isn’t it amazing how far video games have come?
