Imagine a portable console where you play Pokémon... but in book mode where you are the hero. Figment, a hybrid between Switch and Kindle, is trying this out. Spoiler: the screen is black and white, and that's a good thing.
What if video games returned to their textual roots, but with a techno twist? That's the challenge of Figment, a hybrid console prototype from Pedro Porras Luraschi. With its 7.5-inch E-Ink screen and Switch-inspired format, this UFO focuses on imagination rather than pixels. The concept? Transform the stories in which you are the hero into a tactile experience, without harsh backlighting.
The hardware resembles a miniaturized Switch, but more DIY: a shell made of 3D-printed and laser-cut parts, four D-pad-style buttons on one side, three action buttons on the other. Under the hood, an ESP32 microcontroller powers the machine, far from the power of a classic console, but sufficient for text and low-definition images. The idea isn't to emulate Zelda, but to create old-school interactive adventures, boosted by AI.
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Minimalist gameplay, maximum immersion
Instead of HD textures, the Figment displays words and stylized illustrations. The games are based on pre-written stories, like Choose Your Own Adventure books, fleshed out by an AI that generates narrative branches and images for unexplored paths. A clever system... but one with a bug: the Figment must remain connected to the internet, because the ESP32 is too weak to host the artificial intelligence locally. The creator promises an update allowing you to save games for offline play, follow.
This isn't the first E-Ink console project. In early 2024, the Ink Console attempted a crowdfunding campaign (unsuccessfully), before being taken over by another team. But Figment stands out for its potential open-source approach: if the concept catches on, Pedro Porras Luraschi could share the plans and the game engine, allowing the community to create their own stories.
For now, Figment remains a concept. Gamers nostalgic for the text will have to wait... or sign up for the newsletter to not miss the (hypothetical) takeoff. Hoping that the AI will not give us a fanfiction version of Game of Thrones.
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