In general, games are broken up into two broad categories. On the one hand, you have the AAA titles like Grand Theft Auto and FIFA Soccer, designed by enormous teams of artists and developers, manufactured to appeal to the broadest audience possible. On the other hand, you have the “indie gems” like Balatro or Vampire Survivors, made by a single person or a small team, conforming only to their own personal vision.
While the universe of video game coverage and reporting revolves around these twin stars, we don’t live in a binary system. Indeed, in the inky depths of the video game universe, there are dark stars composed of titles that don’t submit themselves to the tyranny of “gameplay” or “narrative.” It’s upon these dark reaches I want to shine a light so that I don’t have to be alone in my experience of the mundane horror that is Spreadsheets and Nothing More.
Wait, is it really just a data entry sim?
Work simulation games (depending on how you define them) have been around since the 1960s, but they really entered the zeitgeist around the time SimCity and Rollercoaster Tycoon left their indelible marks on video game history. Today, work sims have evolved away from broad macroeconomic control and focused down to hyper-specific niches such as managing a garden or a gas station. One thing all of these games have in common is their cozy vibes and sense of progression. Spreadsheets and Nothing More has none of that.
I went into SaNM thinking the title was a red herring and that it would morph into something else if enough time was put into it. I was wrong, and yet I was also right. On its surface, SaNM is “just” entering lines into a spreadsheet, but it’s also a clever bit of performance art where you are obliged to be the performer and the audience. It’s both a critique of modern work culture and a celebration of the persistence of humanity in the face of overwhelming drudgery and tedium.
The point of the game is to input 1,000 sets of names, emails, titles, and phone numbers into a faux spreadsheet program. One. Cell. At. A. Time. Complete 500 entries and you will be certified human (a promotion from mere “subject”), receive a virtual cake, and be given the opportunity to enter 500 more entries. Finish that, and you will be certified as a monk, given virtual bread, and given the opportunity to avow your devotion to labor. While I am not devout enough for such prostrations, the ordeal has been recorded if you want to witness it (via FluffeyPanda’s World).
Spreadsheets and Nothing More was developed by Rinanda Hidayat, a solo developer from Indonesia making self-described “weird games.” You probably haven’t heard of Hidayat before, as his dev account only seems to have been active since January, but in that time, he’s put up six games on itch.io and has two on Steam.
Hidayat’s latest game borrows heavily from one of his earlier titles, in particular 7 Jobs at the Same Time, which is also built around doing (mostly) mundane office tasks on a virtual Windows-inspired desktop. And while SaNM repurposes the data entry mechanic from its spiritual successor, it also borrows heavily from its themes of the absurdity of the modern work environment and submission to the banality of its necessities.
What is it all for?
Spreadsheets and Nothing More leaves me scratching my head for so many reasons. Its bald-faced declaration of the futility of “work” resonates with me on such a profound level that I’m compelled to reevaluate all of my life choices up to this point. But this “game” only exists thanks to Hidayat manually creating all of the data to be entered (except for the phone numbers, which he concedes he let AI generate), creating a virtual golem of his own drudgery.
What’s more, by packaging SaNM as a game, he calls into question the meaning of effort in a video game. Is there value in mastering a rhythm game like Guitar Hero or reaching level 99 in RuneScape? SaNM will oblige you to reconsider the notion of “playing a game”: Are you engaging in a leisure activity or are you grinding achievements, and what are achievements if not data to be entered on your Steam spreadsheet?
To be fair, SaNM is an experimental game that straddles the line between art and anti-game, and its approach to these philosophical themes is more tongue-in-cheek than heavy-handed, so if you do decide to dip your toes in its absurd waters, don’t worry about getting beaten over the head with a message. On a practical level, this is a great real-world typing trainer, and it’s really dialed in my input accuracy on my Sofle keyboard. Plus, there’s a soothing classical music track in the background, so even though the experience of SaNM may be monotonous, at least you can relax while playing it.
