Trust Me, I Nailed It is a turn-based strategy game where you make sick video edits of a really rubbish hero

There are not enough games in the world where it feels like the initial concept was born from the thought, “wouldn’t it be funny if…” I’m no fool, I know this is because developing a video game is akin to getting hit by a car, miraculously coming away from it unscathed, only to be hit by six more cars as you continue your journey. In any case, this is still how I would like to imagine Trust Me, I Nailed It was born, a turn-based strategy game where you have to make cool video edits of some warrior to make him seem like a monster slaying legend.

This is, through and through, a ridiculous concept, one that aesthetically maybe doesn’t mesh entirely well, but I am still clowning with all the same. This is one of those fake OS kind of games a la Hypnospace Outlaw or Her Story, with the main bit of faux software you use being World Movie Weaver (i.e., Windows Movie Maker).

On your timeline, rather than finding the usual video section and audio section, there is an enemy attack pattern section, pre-filled, showing you exactly where an enemy will strike on the grid-based battlefield, and the warrior’s attack pattern section, which you are dictating in the edit. You can drag different clips to make the warrior move, perform different types of or block attacks, there’s “post-processing” modifiers that let him teleport, or even just take no damage at all. It’s movie magic, baby.

Little bits of story are then relayed through emails and posts on MSN (Mana Scroll Network (nice once)), where you can see whether people believe this actually quite cowardly hero is as cool as you’ve edited him to be or not.

The lack of aesthetic meshing I mention is because the hero scenes are all sort of generic fantasy, and the fake OS honestly just looks straight up like Windows 98. I wish there was a stronger sense of identity, what would an operating system look like in a fantasy world? How would technology impact the world, and magic, in kind? This is just a small gripe, though, the concept is fun enough that I won’t lose sleep over it. Plus it’ll be free! Can’t complain about free.

It’s also due out really soon, as it’s currently slated for release next week on February 6th, so in the meantime, you can wishlist it right here.