itch.io

very funny and well written but also embalmed in self, surrounded by a lonely malaise. 

it's been a while since I've read it but in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, there's the machine that shows you how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of the universe. a main character gets put in it as an execution, everyone who sees that information dies from shock or kills themselves.
however he happens to be in a simulation designed specifically to contain him, so he sees that he's actually the most important thing in the universe and comes out unscathed and smug.

for his character it's fitting because he already sees himself as the center of everything, but I always thought that to the average person it would be a horrifying revelation: all that surrounds you is a hall of mirrors and nothing is meaningful besides you.

boastgusters^2 is kind of like an execution of that fear, not in an indulgently solipsistic way, but in a way that questions the sincerity of our interactions with each other when we all put on acts for each other and ourselves. masks are needed for protection but through those masks we see others only as reflections of ourselves, not knowing if we ever truly pierce the depths of sincerity to connect with another soul. it's lovecraftian in a kind of a lonely and introspective way. fear of the unknowable focused inward instead of outward.