Like most high school students, I went through a musical phase, but by college I was completely over it. Songs are for when you have something so important that you can’t just say it, but most musicals wallow in predictable melodrama, hiding their flimsiness behind song and bombast.

But this is cool: a modern revival of West Side Story with the Sharks and their girls singing and shouting in surtitled Spanish. This linguistic barrier creates additional tension between the gangs (modernized as dangerous killers, not loveable punks) and adds an additional level of characterization to the characters who try to bridge both worlds; their shifting fealties are reflected in their chosen language.

This is exciting. So much of our modern culture is mired in pointless trainspotting nostalgia (c.f. Spamalot, Mamma Mia!) that it’s exciting to see a revival actually try to update the work into something new.

Last year’s premiere five-minute interactive meditation on life, death, and everything in between was the strangely affecting Passage. This year, the most moving mini-indie I’ve played is the just-released Rara Racer. Don’t let the screenshot fool you – give it a try.

If the game’s a joke, then we’re the punchline.

(Thanks to Raph Koster.)