RATIFACT is a puzzle game where you are working in a factory trying to make rat toys for other… rats, maybe?! Sort of like making doll kits, except these different rats are very much alive, until they aren’t, and you need to do a lot of set up to create a doll out of them.
RATIFACT’s first level does have instructions, but after that, there isn’t really anything to guide you other than simply seeing what you have to work with and then trying to solve the screen. The first screen does have you taking a rat from a conveyor belt, then cutting out it’s heart, stitching it back up, and putting them on another belt. They then leave.
The level selection screen did take me some time to understand; you are able to move your mouse icon around the factory, to the next stage, then take on the task in that room. You will need to scan rats to see if they have a heart, then set them and their accessories into packaging, before they go off to a vending machine where other rats can purchase that doll.
There is something captivating about creepy, short games that have a twisted perspective on something that seems so normal. RATIFACT feels like a unique world, where rats obviously need toys, but would they be buying mini-versions of themselves who have had their hearts removed? I’d not purchase a doll and accessories if they were made of tiny humans who had their hearts ripped out! It’s a strange idea that has you literally creating the creepy thing that you then end up buying in the last scene.
If you are looking for something that will make you question life, or you just enjoy this sort of artstyle, as I do, you can play RATIFACT for free on itch.io.
