The Interview

The Interview is a short, experimental horror-adventure game where the player takes on the role of Adam Ridgewell, who finds himself in a peculiar job interview. The game, inspired by The Stanley Parable, features a first-person perspective and a narrative driven by multiple-choice questions that sometimes trigger visions and hallucinations, suggesting that the interview might be more sinister than it appears. The game can be completed in about ten minutes, with different choices not leading to different scenes or outcomes.

The Interview: A Ten-Minute Descent into Existential Absurdity

Introduction

In 2014, The Interview emerged as a curious blip on the indie gaming radar—a bite-sized, experimental horror-adventure that dared to ask: What if a job interview were a metaphor for existential dread? Developed by the enigmatic studio Anothink, the game drew comparisons to The Stanley Parable for its reliance on narration and player choice, albeit with far less polish or payoff. This review explores how The Interview’s ambition to blend psychological horror with surrealism ultimately collapses under its own brevity and lack of meaningful interaction, leaving players with more frustration than revelation.

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Development History & Context

The Interview was crafted by Anothink, a small team of four developers, using the Unity engine. Released on July 30, 2014, for Windows, the game arrived during an indie boom fueled by narrative-driven experiments like Gone Home and Dear Esther. However, Anothink’s project stood apart for its stark minimalism: a 10-minute runtime, a single-room setting, and a complete absence of traditional gameplay loops. The studio’s only notable credit was a tongue-in-cheek use of Gene Kelly’s Singing in the Rain—a jarring contrast to the game’s grim themes.

At the time, the gaming landscape was increasingly welcoming to short-form experiences, but The Interview’s lack of branching paths or replayability left it feeling more like a proof-of-concept than a finished product.

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Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

You play as Adam Ridgewell, a nameless everyman who enters a sterile white room for a job interview. A disembodied voice—the interviewer—guides you through a series of binary choices: Left or right hand? Black or white? Gun or knife? These questions occasionally trigger surreal hallucinations: walls adorned with gargantuan knives, checkered floors pulsating to an unsettling rhythm, and a recurring red box that symbolizes… something.

The game’s thesis is opaque but pretentious. Is it critiquing corporate dehumanization? Exploring free will? The “twist” arrives via blunt text exposition, revealing that Adam (and by extension, the player) is trapped in a loop of meaningless decisions—a revelation that lacks impact because the narrative neither earns it nor probes its implications. Unlike The Stanley Parable, which revels in meta-commentary, The Interview’s themes dissolve into pretentious vagueness.

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Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

The Interview is a first-person point-and-click experience with negligible interactivity. Players click dialogue options, watch brief hallucinations, and walk forward in one sequence. The UI is utilitarian, with a cursor and text prompts, but the “choices” are illusory—no matter your selections, the outcome is identical.

The most glaring flaw is the lack of consequence. In The Stanley Parable, choices reshape the narrative; here, they’re theatrical props. The game’s lone “interactive” hallucination—a corridor where you click the red box—feels like a discarded tech demo.

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World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s aesthetic is stark and unsettling. The interview room is a blank canvas of white walls and a single table, evoking clinical oppression. Hallucinations introduce grotesque imagery (e.g., knife-filled corridors), but these moments are too fleeting to leave a lasting impression.

Sound design is minimalistic: a drone of ambient noise, the interviewer’s monotone voice, and the incongruous Singing in the Rain—a choice that feels more accidental than ironic. The result is an atmosphere that hints at dread but never commits to it.

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Reception & Legacy

The Interview was met with widespread indifference. On Steam, it holds a “Mostly Negative” rating (34% positive), with players criticizing its brevity and lack of substance. One review snarked, “I’ve had longer elevator rides.” Critics like Joseph Shaffer (HonestGamers) panned its anticlimactic ending: “Dryly stating what went down isn’t nearly as effective as offering players a subtle representation.”

The game’s legacy is nonexistent. Unlike other indie experiments of its era, it inspired no sequels, mods, or cult followings. Anothink vanished after its release, leaving The Interview as a footnote in the annals of failed ambition.

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Conclusion

The Interview is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of minimalism without meaning. Its attempts at existential horror are undermined by shallow interactivity, a nonsensical narrative, and a runtime that barely qualifies as a demo. While its surreal visuals occasionally intrigue, the game fails to justify its existence—a fleeting, forgetable experience that asks questions but forgets to listen for answers.

For historians of indie gaming, The Interview serves as a curiosity. For everyone else? Stick with The Stanley Parable.

Final Verdict: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5) — A vapid, ten-minute venture into pseudo-intellectualism, best left expired on the cutting-room floor.