Kyle is Famous (2019)

I finished the complete edition on Steam, which took me over 9 hours in total. In this small-scale choose-your-own adventure game, you decide the titular character's path on planning through his day as a show host (and more later). How you prepare will decide the outcome of the day, and possibly unlock more choices in future runthroughs.

For instance, what if I told you that Kyle could eat a whole fridge...? Yes, it's a comically weird world where the fridge is a prime example of the narrative's sheer unpredictability in nature. Whatever you do next could open up new twists, in an amount that the John Szymanski seemingly had a field day with, creatively.

This abundant hilarity is even brought to a new level thanks to Gianni Matragrano, the sole voice actor who did all narration and character voices (even female ones). You could see yourself sitting as he reads the script cards for the children around and adapts to the story events as seen fit. With over 117 endings to catch onto, it feels like he has enjoyed voicing the lines and I would like to hear more from him.

Exploration certainly gets rewarding as you try out different paths and picking up different items, but there have been some stale moments when I'm running out of ideas looking for new paths and endings to unlock. That's why it's better if you have a guide walkthrough in hand to save time.

The music is not in the main focus, but some tracks I hear playing at certain events sounds like something Mr. Bungle would write if they were picked as composers. Overall, Kyle Is Famous is worth to pick up and can be run over a quick coffee break or at longer sessions (though the unpredictable nature of the writing would leave you better off taking it in moderation). I've had more than a dozen chuckles through and through, so I can recommend this game for the general audience looking for abundant hilarity in text form (and added sounds). Good thing that the Steam release has a Workshop for custom stories to add in, for those looking for more.