Stimulation Clicker is web 1.0 and web 3.0 having a fight inside one browser window

The absolute best and worst of existing on the internet

The more I tell you about Stimulation Clicker, the less funny it will be, so let's keep this brief. It's an idle clicker, obviously, which starts with a single button in the centre of a browser screen. The more "stimulation" you accrue through clicking, the more options become available. It escalates. And escalates. And escalates. I found that my feelings of delight grew roughly in proportion to the toll taken on my computer's processor. After 30 minutes, I was huffing and hooting like a drunken horse to a soundtrack of disintegrating laptop fans.

Stimulation Clicker angles forward and backward through the history of the internet. On the one hand, it's a merciless piece of trolling that tramples all over nerve endings worn to the hilt by the web 3.0 era of hyper-velocity enshittification. On the other, it's a testament to the expressive power of HTML, a reminder of those glory days 20 years ago when every website was a wishing well full of elusive or hidden moving parts and connections, including digital will-o'-the-wisps called "pop ups" that, back then, were a source of wonder and curousity. You'd even click on them, occasionally! Awwwwww. I miss the internet being good.

Thanks to reader jamhandy for spotting Stimulation Clicker and chucking it into the latest Maw liveblog. I'm reviewing an open world game at the minute, and this was exactly the change of pace I was looking for, though I do now have a bit of a complex about owls and the Welsh. The creator is Neal Agarwal, whose other works include the alchemical monstrosity that is Infinite Craft.

For a more involved and narrative-led take on the above, mushy sentiments about the lost enchantment of webpages, play corru.observer, which Alice0 (RPS in peace) called "one of the most surprising and delightful games I've played all year, a sprawling, shape-shifting sci-fi story which is still unfolding through updates".