And you thought you’d seen everything on the internet…

Or maybe you didn’t think that…actually, just thinking about thinking that gives me the shivers. Seeing everything on the internet would imply I would have to browse 4chan, and I place a higher value on my soul than that.

Anyway. Digital: A Love Story is a brilliant little game about … well, it’s hard to explain. You play as yourself, but yourself as if you were living during the dawn of the internet, back in the prehistoric times when the shrill calls of modems could be heard in the dead of night as hackers plied their trade on BBS servers.

It’s a text based game. The interface is a desktop of a retro computer, and you progress by using it. Dial up the local BBS, talk to some of the users, get some tips on how to surf the ‘net, and stumble across true love.

True love is where this game goes beyond clever idea and becomes something truly special. The story is told entirely in text-only direct messages and e-mails, and yet somehow the characters you meet manage to become real. I even found myself becoming emotionally attached to one or two, which surprised me more than anyone. You meet a lonely girl on your local BBS, and before long you find yourself caught up in a scheme that threatens to bring down the entire computing world as we know it (er…knew it).

I won’t give anything away – it’s more than worth playing just for the story. The game lasts anywhere between three and five hours, depending on how clever you are.

There are a few content concerns – in the true spirit of online message boards, there are some innuendos tossed around, along with a few f-bombs and other assorted words of unfortunate nature.

Design wise, there are a few places where the game leaves you without much guidance. I had to resort to forum-diving at least once to find something I’d been missing in order to progress.

None of that takes away from how sweet and memorable this game is, however. Soft eight-bit music and pixelated screen take you on a retro adventure that is easy to get immersed in and hard to shake off once the credits roll.

Best of all, it’s free and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Check it out here.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.