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“Everything” is the video game that allows players to become anything

An acclaimed new video game allows players to become anything--and everything--in our interconnected universe.

David O’Reilly is an artist known for bizarre animation like the foul-mouthed 3D simulation in the movie “Her” and a cult episode of the cartoon “Adventure Time.” Now he’s created a video game that allows players to become anything they want to be. It’s appropriately called “Everything,” and it’s getting rave reviews.

In “Everything,” players can become whatever they see: from an atom to a bear to a tree to a planet to a galaxy.

The game also has a narrator. Alan Watts, a philosopher who died in 1973, talks to the player at various points in the game via old recordings. According to O’Reilly, “the game is almost a vehicle for Alan Watts’ philosophy.”

VICE News’ Dexter Thomas sat down with O’Reilly to discuss his inspiration and what he hopes players will get out of becoming “Everything.”

This segment originally aired April 3, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.