Reviews - Rehearsals and Returns

Rehearsals and Returns is a videogame about conversations that will never take place. This non-power fantasy invites players to say something explicitly nice, mean, or wise to various people alive and dead such as Genghis Khan, Hillary Clinton, James Gandolfini, and Leni Riefenstahl. Players platform through various spaces, literally collecting the game's primary resource - things to say. At the end of each scene, players encounter a person. This is the player's opportunity to quote someone famous, or instead, choose a kind or hateful statement to say to that figure. Games let us explore all sorts of fantasies, and Rehearsals and Returns lets us ponder the shortest of exchanges, including the ones we cannot revisit. These days modern media lets us share all of our thoughts, but what would you say if no one was listening?