Talk:Free Games/@comment-25021327-20150122160530

I actuall got a kick out of this story. It starts off like a normal "crazy guy gives kid creepy games" story, but takes a pleasant turn, and deviates from the formula.

I liked that this tale takes place in a reality pretty much identical to our own. Nothing supernatural happens, and the story is still unnerving, likely moreso due to that fact. There were some of the cliché elements here, like that old man giving away free games, but they don't snowball into some incredible story.

It is entirely possible that some insane person knew who the narrator was, or at least that he loved gaming, and popped a flyer into his mailbox, either with, or without evil intentions (we still don't really know who was in the videos). Perhaps he didn't intend to give away the "videos" disc, or even know that he had it in his box.

Though I mentioned that nothing supernatural happens, there are a few surreal moments, most apparent, the old man laughing and dancing. As silly as it is, it helped lighten the mood a bit, and I actually chuckled. It seemed almost like a jab at typical haunted gaming stories.

There were some elements here that could use work. Though in pretty good shape, there are some typos and grammar flubs, nothing major. I found it strange that the narrator spent "an hour or two" breaking through the window screen. And at that point the parents were likely asleep anyway. The way the narrator builds up how awful these events are seemed a little heavy handed, but I suppose a child would be traumatized if he were old enough to understand just what he was seeing.

Other than that, I liked the realistic tone, and red herring-ish use of clichés. For what this was, I think it did a pretty good job. What I expected, and what I got were quite different, and I'm pleased they were :)