The last two months have been so busy that I’ve not been able to make time to play many games until recently. There are still new games coming out even as we head closer to the holidays, but I finally managed to play Playism and Lizardry’s recent adventure game Refind Self: The Personality Test Game ($3.99). Before I saw the screenshots or the trailer, I thought the name would mean this is one of those games where you just answer some questions to get a result and share it. I was wrong, and Refind Self: The Personality Test Game ended up being one of the nicest surprises of the year so far.
Lizardry developed 7 Days to End With You which was self-published on mobile, and I had my eye on that thanks to its aesthetic. When I got to know Lizardry was behind Refind Self: The Personality Test Game, I expected good art, and it delivered with its aesthetic and music. Adventure games live and die by their story, and I found the smart storytelling and structure here great, but the characters and introspection aspects really elevated it to something special.
Once you get past the name, Refind Self: The Personality Test Game begins with a grave. You control an android near the grave which happens to be of the doctor who created you. You now have the freedom to do anything or go anywhere more or less. As you make decisions including small ones like how long you sit on a bench all contribute to your personality which is being analyzed. Despite the name and structure, you’re playing this to discover the narrative and secrets more than finding your own personality.
Barring the decisions you make in dialogue or for how you want to spend the limited time you have, you get to see a glimpse of your personality and a part of the overall story. The limited time depends on the analysis happening with each decision you make while playing. A single playthrough will take about an hour or a bit more, but you can’t see everything Refind Self: The Personality Test Game has to offer without at least three playthroughs. Once it is all complete, you get to share your ID with others. It is interesting seeing how others responded to specific things in-game as well.
Despite the simple gameplay, I found myself enamored with the world here, and ended up loving the characters and mini-games quite a bit. Lizardry is definitely worth paying attention to for all future projects. I hope each game tries something different like this one did with its structure. The only aspect some might take issue with, is the length. I have no problem with the asking price of $3.99 for a three or four hour long experience, but keep that in mind before grabbing it if you were hoping for something longer.
While I like the pixel art and character designs a lot, I want to give a special mention to the soundtrack. It was another lovely surprise with how much it manages to accomplish in elevating the narrative moments and mini-games. I haven’t seen it up on streaming, but it is available on Steam here.
I’ve been playing Refind Self: The Personality Test Game on both iOS and Steam Deck. While it looks and runs fine on Steam Deck, it has no native controller support. To play it here, I’d recommend using the controller layout that lets you use the left stick to simulate WASD and then using the touch screen for click interactions. Without that, grab an external mouse if you want to play it. On iPhone 15 Pro and iPad Pro, there is no controller support, but I had no issues with Refind Self: The Personality Test Game barring some slight scrolling jitter in parts. It feels great on touch. It also looks great and loads quickly on my devices. If you have the option, play it on iOS or PC with a mouse over Steam Deck right now. Hopefully we get proper controller support in an update on both Steam Deck and iOS.
If you enjoy touching stories and adventure games with a focus on characters and introspection, you will love Refind Self: The Personality Test Game. I think many folks will skip it thinking it is one of those throwaway test-style games, but I ended up enjoying my time with it a lot across iOS and Steam Deck. I can’t wait to see what Lizardry does next, and look forward to seeing results from more people when they play Refind Self: The Personality Test Game.
