As far as I'm concerned, the clicker genre reached its zenith, its purest expression, in Universal Paperclips. In no other game has the "automate exponential growth" mechanic been used to tell a story more poignantly, or make philosophical points so eloquently. Other clicker games use flashy graphics and sound effects to disguise their essential emptiness; not Universal Paperclips. Its austere plaintext webpage offers only hints and fragments of the world the numbers are meant to represent, its minimalism a baleful commentary on the subject matter itself.

I played it twice, and do not regret it.