Available environments: PC, iOS, Android
Desert Golf is exactly what it sounds like and nothing more. There are balls, holes, and auto-generated desert land in between. that’s it. No par, no club selection, no music, no items, no pause menu, no restart, not even an avatar. Just drag the cursor back to determine the angle and power of your next shot and try to get from A to B. Once you run it, a new hole will appear and you can proceed to infinity. (Technically speaking, this game has an “ending,” but God bless those who can play to the end.)
Desert Golfing reads too simplistic on paper, but it makes sense as a snarky critique of mobile games that waste time and degrade players. But when you actually play it, it’s almost like meditation. The game’s radical minimalism makes everything important at once. There is a shot counter at the top, but it is functionally meaningless and simply indicates play time. You may spend 60 shots on a hole, but you won’t be judged by the unseen eye. Instead, you can focus entirely on the simple joy of watching the ball arc through the air, kicking up sand, and eventually plopping into the hole. It’s more about the act of play than the rules of the game, and it’s golf, not golf. And when something new appears – a water well, a sunset, a cactus – it becomes a serious mood.
