Touch grass

Do you ever get the overwhelming sense of dread that things aren’t entirely covered with moss? If so, drop everything and head over to Noel Cody’s itch page and play Moss Moss, a game created by Noel a mere month and a half ago for the PICO-8 platform.

I’m ashamed to say that PICO-8 is mostly unexplored territory for me, considering everything I have played on it or seen for it has been fun or, at the very least, adorable. Moss Moss is no exception, on both counts.

You control a blob (?) of moss (?) or some moss-like substance that creates moss on every light-pink-colored surface it touches. Once you cover all of said surfaces in a single-screen room, you are rewarded with a leaf, and what a leaf it is! The leaves form the path the final, mysterious treasure awaiting you at the end. Also, there are cats!

The entire map consists of 32 screens you must overgrow, and a number of hidden cats to collect along the way, the total number of which was unclear, but I got all the ones I could see, I think. The whole playthrough took about 25 minutes, and, in a word, it was a delight. It hearkens back to a certain type of old Flash game I used to play, such as Anna Anthropy’s Redder, with an atmosphere only unlike Animal Well in that it wasn’t as unsettling.

The only deathtraps are spikes, and if you touch them you simply go back to the last ledge you were on. The whole thing is a mellow vibe and the closest thing a computer can get to going outside and sinking your bare toes into some lush moss.