Sisyphus's Ship

About the game

You push one foot at a time, left and right, kind of like QWOP. Hit the gold part of the ring for a perfect heave and keep his balance needle in the green - lean too far and he goes down on his face, stand up too straight and the ship starts creeping back on him, and if you press the same foot twice he trips over himself. Push too long on a steep stretch and he gives out, and then the ship rolls right back over him. Rocks rattle the ship harder the faster you hit them, so pieces start falling off on the way up and roll into the river of forgetting at the bottom. Then it tips over the summit and all bets are off - columns go down like dominoes, sheep go flying (they're fine), philosophers get bonked and have something to say about it, and every plank that comes off smashes something else. The gods watch the whole thing and pay you for the ratings.

Then you hammer it back together. Some of the parts are salvaged from the wreck, some are brand new from Hades' Lumber Yard, and the game asks you the question that's been bugging philosophers for two thousand years: is it still the Ship of Theseus? Say yes and its legend grows, so the gods pay more to watch it break. Say no and you get an insurance payout and a new name for it (the names go about how you'd expect - "Ship of Theseus FINAL v2 USE THIS ONE"). The Chorus remembers every answer you give and will call you out if you change your mind, and the Ledger works out exactly where your line is.

And there's no going back to the start. Every hill begins in the valley where the last wreck came to rest, and every one is a little steeper than the one before, from Corinth Hillock all the way up to Mount Olympus (Zeus's throne is waiting on the far side) and then on down into Tartarus, where it never ends. It never gets too steep to climb though - the gods want this to last. You can upgrade the ship (stronger planks, a bronze ram, square wheels at first), Sisyphus himself and the path ahead (paving, rest ledges, a launch ramp). Every upgrade makes the ship a little less original, and if you throw away enough old parts, a guy named Tom will build a ship out of them and claim his is the real one.

Fair warning, it's frustrating on purpose. That's kind of the whole myth.