Meaningless Random Numbers Has Instilled A Greater Fear Of God In Me Than 11 Years Of Public School

The Balatro-like is a weird subgenre. These roguelikes are overstimulation incarnate, fighting between having mechanics that are easily understood as well as hitting your brain with happy chemicals to make you keep playing. 

Meaningless Random Numbers is one of these, skipping any kind of gameplay mechanics with the most simple one front and center: roll dice. Between its mad flurry of pop ups and visual effects, it's actually artistic how hard this game overwhelms you. It's so economically made, consisting of mostly static images and text effects. 

And yet, this game is more than just stimulation for stimulation's sake. Its premise is simple: You owe a debt to the devil, and you're gambling to pay it off. Catch? God is watching. 

Meaningless Random Numbers And Personal Faith

Of the game's many mechanics, Fear is one of the coolest. Basically, every time you roll a three-of-a-kind you get ammo. With ammo you can execute people, increasing fear which translates to an increased multiplier, letting you hit the game's mechanics. But, as I said earlier, God is watching. The game screams at you this every time you reach for your gun. 

This isn't just some "see what you did isn't it bad" mechanic, by the way. Meaningless Random Numbers has somehow made the perfect depiction of religious guilt in their gambling game. When the game screams at you to think of God, you have half a second to analyze every fish that is on screen. At any time, one of them might have an eye on their scales. If they do, God is watching and will intervene in your killing spree by locking one of your dice. 

I've never had a game legitimately inspire such thoughts as "did God see me sin" before I played Meaningless Random Numbers. But there it was. The back half of the demo throws some insane money requirements at you, and one stage replacing its money requirement with a Fear debt means you're not clearing the demo without splattering some brains. In my final run I was a nervous wreck- generating almost 6 bullets (the maximum) at once per roll, as I desperately gunned down Nurses, single parents and cops to make 50 mil. 

The game was even kind enough to tell me that God had a 67% chance of appearing before me to get in my way- and every time I picked up the gun I let out a sigh of relief if I didn't see a single divine Eye in that whole school of fish. It wasn't even all religious fear, the game even nails religious salvation: every time God called me a sinner I knew that I could be forgiven if I only just prayed enough. It's not a thought many adults have, Ibut somehow Meaningless Random Numbers did it. 

While Meaningless Random Numbers has no release date yet, I can't wait for this game to come out. It's like modern art made interactive, throwing all manner of banal imagery into a blender and creating some of the most evocative displays I've ever seen. Its visuals may be a little overwhelming for some- I certainly hope developer Nikko Nikko adds something for those of us not used to brainrot levels of stimulation. But considering even the demo managed to have a satisfying ending, I'm really excited to see what my sinner's heart will be subject to next.