CLICKOLDING Review - Is This Game Playing You or Are You Playing It?
CLICKOLDING is not just a indie game—it’s an experience. Dive into this first-person psychological horror that blurs the line between playing and being played.
SPOILER WARNING
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Game Lobby review of Clickolding, the only game I played this year that felt like it played me. Was that confusing? Well, come on in, sit down, and let me click click click click click click click.
Full disclosure: This review will have SPOILERS. You have been clicked—I mean warned.
Strange Scaffold Indie Gaming Royalty
Clickolding was released this year by Strange Scaffold, an indie game studio known for producing multiple high-quality games annually. This year alone, they released Life Eater, a horror-fantasy kidnapping simulation (yes, that’s apparently a genre now, thanks to the madman and genius Creative Director Xalavier Nelson Jr.).
Following that was the game we're discussing today, Clickolding—a first-person psychological horror game about "the man in the corner of your hotel room who wants you to click something. He wants to watch you click it." They capped the year off in September 2024 with I Am Your Beast, an FPS featuring a comic-book-styled look and fast-paced, timed runs of mayhem. All of these games, mind you, received critical acclaim.
The Clicking Begins
When Clickolding was being teased, Xalavier showcased the main character and his odd look, occasional bugs that made the game creepier than it already was, and promised a short but lasting experience at a reasonable price point.
I woke up that morning and picked it up for the low price of $2.99, which, for a 45+ minute experience, is well worth it. I don’t typically stream games anymore. Back when I started Good Game Lobby, I’d stream some games and use the VOD for review footage. On this particular day, I decided to jump on Twitch and stream the experience: 1,000 clicks. The highlight? For a man who is the creative director of Strange Scaffold, travels the world for events, records vocals for in-game dialogue—let alone singing for his games and other studios' games—he was in my chat! He just popped in to say hello and see how it was going. A person who truly appreciates the gaming world from every aspect. 2,000 clicks. I recommend following his TikTok and Bluesky accounts; he constantly posts some of the funniest videos.
Okay, enough adoration for that brilliant man. Back to the man sitting in a chair, staring at you, wanting you to click. 3,000 clicks. That’s the premise of CLICKOLDING, which, when you see the title, looks like CUCKOLDING—a geniusly intentional naming choice. You’re hired to come to a hotel and just click a click counter repeatedly with no clear purpose. Except for moments when the man pulls out a wad of cash, showing you he’s paying you to do this. 4,000 clicks. He sits in a chair, demanding you click, then click slower, faster, check the room temperature, stand up, sit down, and click some more. His mask? Oddly shaped, with beady eyes staring at you and a gigantic nose comically dead center in your view. 5,000 clicks. At one point, he pulls out a gun. You have no idea if it’s loaded or what his plan is. Will he kill you when you reach the goal? Something about all this clicking makes you uneasy, but you keep going. 6,000 clicks. Whether clicking slowly or mashing the button like my Mario Party expertise taught me, you’re compelled to keep going. The goal is 10,000 clicks. 7,000 clicks.
This is where things took a weird turn. You are literally clicking in real life as much as you are in the game. Thousands of times. And for what? Why? Am I a fool? 8,000 clicks. Was this the real experiment? Was Xalavier in the chat to see if people would actually go through with it? Was I the creep here? Who would play a game like this? Am I the cuck? Was I honestly playing a real game, or was the game now playing me? I was in control, but completely out of control. Click click click click click click. 9,000 clicks. The TV is on, and the snow on the screen feels oddly fitting. Why am I still doing this? What if I reach 10,000, and he asks for another 10,000? If it’s part of the game, will I keep going? 10,000 clicks. A thank you, a gunshot, the clicks and clatter of silverware, and Xalavier Nelson Jr.’s soft voice singing about the end of the world. Credits.
Wow. Take it all in. It’s finally over. 10,000 clicks. We did it. The credits finish rolling, and you’re back in the blood-splattered room. The clicker has reset, and you start clicking again. What? The painting on the wall crackles and shifts; you click, and it happens again. You click some more, and it continues. Eventually, the painting glows, turning into a blinding yellow color. You approach it and find yourself in an all-white room.
Another man, like the one who hired you, with a disgustingly distorted voice and a large counter above his head, explains how this experience and this odd man will stay with you forever and that the previous man was just another clicker—just like you. Except for one difference: the one behind him. The one who clicks. Wait… me? Sey, the gamer playing CLICKOLDING.
It’s true. The man is right. I’m going to carry a little piece of him with me. This is an experience best taken alone.
A Must-Click Indie Game
CLICKOLDING isn’t just a game you play—it’s a game that plays you, questioning the point of everything from start to finish. Since its release, players have shared stories of clicking 1,000,000 times, or of course, 69,420 times, all with no outcome—just because. There’s fan art and even literal clickers purchased after the fact, shared within the community, proving this game will stay with us forever.
For the low price and short time to finish, I believe CLICKOLDING is a must-play. Hell, if I had to do it, someone else should too, right? Was that the point? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that Strange Scaffold is an indie game studio you can bet on, and Outersloth, the publishing company, is 2-for-2 with this and One BTN Bosses which you can read the review for here.
CLICKOLDING
🎮CLICKOLDING | Steam | Out Now!