When Joaquin Phoenix's character in Her isn't wooing his smartphone's operating system, he spends much of his time playing a video game. Called Alien Child, the game is essentially a glimpse at what would happen if Kinect actually worked as promised — it's controlled entirely through hand gestures and voice commands, and Phoenix is able to carry on real conversations with the rude little space kid. They swear at each other and the alien even reacts to other voices in the room.

It's an impressive and imaginative concept for a game, dreamed up by artist and animator David OReilly, who has decided to follow up that project with his first real video game. But whereas Alien Child represents a possible future for the medium, Mountain is barely a game at all. "Both projects are opposites in a lot of ways," he admits.