The Company of Myself is in indie flash game developed by 2DArray. The game describes itself as "a story about a hermit", but the story proves to be far deeper and certainly far more emotional than its description would lead one to believe.
To start things off, this game is, without a better word... morose. The soundtrack is almost-but-not-quite minimalist, and quite somber. The text that appears onscreen during and after the levels is often haunting and adds to the plight of the "hermit", although it occasionally throws in some fourth-wall related humour to break up the stream of sorrow, which is a fantastic notion, but simply doesn't work as well as it should in the context of an otherwise stark experience.
The game itself is a sort of hybrid of platforming and puzzle elements. The gimmick in The Company of Myself is that the player can press the space bar to return to the start point, with a clone performing the player's actions up until the point in time that the space bar was pressed. These clones cannot be controlled, but can be manipulated in a variety of ways. The puzzles themselves are middle-of-the-road in terms of challenge, no cakewalk, but not "I haven't a clue what I'm supposed to do here" calibre. Despite this, the puzzles are quite fun as a whole, although the final puzzle in particular abandons all types of strategy and manipulation in favour of a far simpler and more mind-numbing solution.
The gameplay, as engaging as it is, takes a definite back seat to the story. Without any spoilers, let me just say that the story is quite depressing, with a moment that puts Portal's infamous Weighted Companion Cube to shame. The ending is shocking, putting all of your past actions in an entirely different and darker light, to haunting effect.
If you enjoy platformers/puzzles and aren't on the verge of suicide, The Company of Myself is, by all accounts, worth a play.
You can play The Company of Myself at http://www.kongregate.com/games/2DArray/the-company-of-myself
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