"Look for D," she says, and I giggle. Internet culture has ruined the fourth letter of the alphabet, and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die is drowning in D-driven dialogue. "I must find D," he says, and I become a puerile manchild; every line becomes a double entendre, and I can barely contain my laughter.

Perhaps you don't know why nine-year-old me is so tickled; you've never heard the lewd interpretation of the letter D, and that's OK. I suspect that D4 creator Swery 65 didn't intend for his lines to take on such sexual meaning, so feel free to disregard the naughty undercurrent. But I also suspect that Swery would approve of my salacious laughter. D4 is insanity distilled into adventure-game form, more self-consciously wacky than another Swery game, . No--D4 is both the game you are playing and your cooperative partner. I was never not aware of its 'game-ness,' I was never swept away into its world, I was never not aware of the real world around me. I do not mean those statements, however, to serve as a criticism. On the contrary, D4 and I laughed together at its own absurdities. How could we not? The game gamifies its own mechanics, for heaven's sake, awarding you points for thoroughly examining your surroundings, and taking them away when you interact with people and objects. There are even online leaderboards that somehow rank you against other players, an absurd and unnecessary feature in an absurd game that doesn't benefit from it in any meaningful way. No, I believe D4 understands itself, and I understand it too. It speaks an unusual language, certainly, and I couldn't blame anyone for finding it nigh incomprehensible, or just plain barmy. But if you're foolhardy enough to buy what it's selling, then welcome to the D4 Appreciation Society. There are worse clubs to belong to.