Something's Not Quite Right About "To That Sect"

At a glance, To That Sect doesn't necessarily look like anything too abnormal. It takes place on a small plane where you collect gray ships while avoiding strangely floating statues that end the game if you touch them. In playing it, though, you quickly get the feeling that something's not right. The music is a unsettling segueing soundscape complete with mournful bells that unnerve the otherwise silent world; similarly, the statues are strangely unnerving and alien, matching both the landscape and the towering monolithic men that stand in the gloom.

What's creepiest of all, maybe, is the game's surreal, narratively sparse description: "This is a game about a disgruntled child. A Founder. The game only has one level, and the objective is to reach the exit. Along the way, you must avoid the Tomb as they kill you, and collect the Ship."

If this all sounds a bit odd (and more than a bit disjointed) the horror behind it is even worse: To The Sect was written entirely by an AI. Known as ANGELINA, it's a computer that's been designed to make video games, and the damn thing created To That Sect (even the name is creepy) for a competition against real human beings. Including the description.

"Let me know what you think," ANGELINA says to close the introduction to the game. "In future I'll put more levels into my games, and also make the mechanics more interesting."

If you can shake the nightmares of SHODAN from your system, you can try To That Sect yourself via the link below. Funny how something simple and rudimentary, can be so utterly fascinating – and horrifying – in context. Don't say you weren't warned.

Via Games By Angelina