Plainview is a piece of interactive media created by Tumblr user campyvillain
. It launched on June 16th, 2022, and serves as a reboot of the everplaythisgame ARG, keeping many of the same characters but vastly changing the framing device and plot. Anonymous asks, sent on Tumblr, allow the audience to essentially play as the protagonist and control how the story proceeds.
The story follows an amateur detective by the name of Ralph Devlin, who is called to Plainview, Manesy, a town/social experiment/tourist trap that functions under an invite-only system: the only people allowed to live there are those who have demonstrated themselves to be some of the best in their respective fields- but not everything there is idyllic as it seems.
Chapter one of Plainview (out of a scheduled three) ran from June 2022 to August 2022. Chapter two, titled "Cakewalk", is set to launch in October 2022.
Plainview can be read on Tumblr here.
Plainview provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: Some of the characters who were originally in Ever Play This Game had their names changed. Some of them didn't. This leads to characters named Angelo and Larry in the same setting as characters named Cerebelle and Mr. Maxilla.
- That's not even mentioning the characters without body part names, but with names that are just plain weird.
- all lowercase letters: Every email Helpy sends.
- This is in contrast to the emails
Vocal Cords Guy sends, which are written in all caps.
- This is in contrast to the emails
- Cartoon Creature: As with Ever Play This Game, a lot of the characters are pretty ambiguous.
- Cast Full of Gay: Ever Play This Game already had a heavily LGBT cast, but Plainview takes it up to 11. Every character with a confirmed identity is some form of queer, and the vast majority of the (very large) cast have confirmed identities. If they don't have a ref sheet with their flags, it's probably been confirmed on discord.
- Cerebus Syndrome: When the reboot was announced, it was specifically announced as being tonally lighter than Ever Play This Game. And while Plainview isn't as unrelentingly dark as EPTG was, it certainly has its moments, and as it's gone on, the horror that was a mainstay in its preboot has crept back in.
- Denser and Wackier: While Ever Play This Game had bits, they're far more prevalent and common in Plainview.
- Follow That Car: Ralph drops this immediately after hijacking a child's bicycle.
- In-Series Nickname: Mr. Maxilla still calls Cerebelle Sarah Belle.
- Lighter and Softer: Plainview as compared to Ever Play This Game. This is probably most obvious when looking at Mr. Maxilla compared to his EPTG counterpart, but is pretty clear with most of the characters (at least so far) who returned for Plainview.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Plainview lands pretty hard on the idealism side of the scale, ultimately sending the message that bad things are inevitable, but what's really important is that you get back up again.Scarlet Devlin: Getting better from something is like climbing a mountain. You gotta push through all the nasty, bad, grotty, gross-feeling stuff and all those sharp rocks and stones to get to the manageable top. And from there, you’ve got another side of the mountain, and that one goes down so it’s easier to go through. It’s just a matter of running up the hill.
- Overly Long Name: Max Maxine Maxwell Maximilian Maxilla.
- The Precious, Precious Car: Ralph's Catty 200.
- Trapped in TV Land: The Communicore.
