Say, this IKEA is kinda big. Kinda... really, really big. This game is based on the Infinite IKEA SCP, if you didn't hear about it before, do click that link! In this store you don't really get to do any shopping for Swedish furniture - you have but one objective, and it is to survive. As long as you can manage, anyway. But I believe in you!

So, I really like this game, and I'm absolutely not alone in this, because at any given time there's thousands of people playing it! By now I have put probably a lot of hours into it, and for a good reason! It's a sandbox, and anyone who's ever played one knows how easy it is to get sucked in. Time for a bit of a description on how it all works. You get put into a random spot in this "infinite" IKEA (or rather, ROKEA, as it says in various places within the game), and you're left to your own devices. Here's the main feature: you can pick up anything that's not bolted down to the floor, which includes toys, chairs, plants, beds, kitchen appliances, billiard tables, and much, much more. You have enough strength to lift anything you wish with ease! After picking up something, you can throw it, rotate it, or place it wherever. And I MEAN IT! You are crafty enough that you can stick things to other things. Just hold it close enough to the floor, other furniture, or even walls, and put it down with a satisfying clunk to have it stay there, welded for eternity (or at least until someone picks it up again). This lets you build, and build you must, if you want the highest probability of staying alive as long as you can. For movement, you can walk, run, jump, crouch, slide, and climb appropriate surfaces. Everything you might need! There's also a couple additional actions, zooming and whistling. Zooming lets you take a better look at faraway objects, while whistling is helpful for locating friends as well as enemies. Lastly, there's things you can put into your inventory, mainly food and medkits. Those you can use to recover your health, hunger, and energy, and it's best to keep them full! At any time you wish, you can take them out again and also do the same kind of funny things as with furniture items.

That's about it for the things you can do, time for the elements that are out of your control. Firstly, the day/night cycle. The merciless passage of time applies to this game as well, and after a set amount of minutes, the day will become night, and vice versa. If it ever becomes hard for you to tell, it says exactly which it is at the top of the screen at all times. Additionally, the game cycles through the days of the week, which is first and foremost pretty cool, and secondly the supply restocks are tied to it, with food and medkits reappearing on Mondays and Fridays. To find out what day it is, mouse over or tap and hold on the aforementioned day/night text at the top of the screen. Alternatively, you can listen to the music. I'll say more about this later.
Okay, so the time passes, what about it? It's probably obvious, but nighttime puts you in danger. When exploring the store, you're more than likely to encounter the employees, especially if many days have already passed on a given server. During the day they're perfectly indifferent towards players, but as soon as the lights go out, they will try to grind anyone they see into a fine paste. Once they spot you, you will hear them ask you to exit the store, and I wish I could ask them where said exit is, because as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist. In any case, that's when you gotta run so they don't get you! A tip from me is to jump over as many things as you can, because it slows them down enough to let you escape. Breaking line of sight as much as possible also helps a lot. If one gets a bit too close for comfort you also have the option to push them away to stun them for a moment. It costs energy to do though, which is a good way to make people not overuse it, as that would just be overpowered. In any case, it's best to keep away from them as much as you can. Unless, you actually want to bring them to you, perhaps to make them leave a friend alone, in which case stand out in the open and whistle. They will track you down instead, or at least be distracted for a bit.
By the way, if having the employees be aggressive at night is not enough for you, then there's also foggy days! Those guys will then still track down and hurt players, but they will have their usual sluggish daytime speed, so they're not that much of a bother, really. And they're quiet too. And if regular nights are too easy, then you have blood nights too. Those make these abominations faster and stronger! Better hide and don't even show the top of your head. Unless... one of them just decides to give up on life and just stand there doing nothing. I have found one such employee and we chilled together through the whole blood night - then I had some fun making her a comfortable space to relax in.

I also got her some tasty pizza.

Moving on, as I already wrote, what you need to do is survive, but now I'll break it down into 2 Easy Steps: build a base, and get food to eat. It's that simple! Yes, really! If you quickly put together even the smallest hideout (definitely with a ceiling!!!) and just hide for the whole night, and only come out in the day to gather supplies, you just can't die. Foolproof, I swear! But just surviving is kind of boring (because it's so easy). The truest fun is in making a cool base, and not just one made out of whatever was on hand. There's plenty of elements to make something that looks great that you can be proud of, and if not a base, then perhaps an art piece of sorts, or whatever else your imagination can come up with. It's great to get creative! Recently I've been going around random servers just leaving around various installations and it's so fun to see what I might come up with on a whim, be it a plant sphere, a circle of mannequins, or a tv wall (pictured below!).

My first base that my sister later helped me with!

Forgive my low graphics making this look blinding.

Alright, I think I'm more or less done describing the gist of the game to any potential people that come across this page that didn't yet play it. Time to start gushing about any and all things I appreciate about this experience! I'm gonna start with how when I first played, it gave me some amazing vibes right off the bat - being put into what seems to be an endless furniture store with fog covering anything that's too far away, seeing a couple faceless employees wandering about. You really get the feeling that it goes on forever, and that if you're not careful, you'll get lost. The background music reverbing around the huge space, playing from what seems to be faraway speakers that you can't locate. Everything lends itself to convincing you that this place is enormous. You feel so small in it all. My first night caught me when I was out and about, still without a base to hide in, and I quickly learned how to run from enemies, and got out mostly unscathed, if a bit shaken. I learned how to build and assembled a tiny but functional base, and it even had a lamp! In there, I felt such a specific cosy feeling, knowing I was safe from whatever was out there. It's hard to describe, but in my first hours of playing, the vibes were truly immaculate. It wore off eventually, as with any game when you get used to it, but it was nice anyhow.
Another funny beginner moment of mine was this: I was reading all the useful tips that appear in the chat, so I knew that food restocks twice a week. When I saw the plot with garden chairs standing around a fire pit, and there was a little pile of supplies in one of the corners, I was sure that that was where food appeared! Well... no. I just found what was left of someone who met their demise right in that spot. I didn't realise until a good while later.

Now for more cool details: every time a new day starts, you get shown the date, which doesn't really do anything, and I'm not even sure if the date actually aligns with the in-game day of the week - but it doesn't matter, because it still adds to the immersion.
There's interactable objects! Mostly various light sources, but a few of them change colours! Let's you pick whatever fits best for the palette of your build.
The children's play area plots usually have cute little toys in them, many of which represent the avatars of contributors I assume. It's just really nice.
There's a handful of cool secrets to discover and badges to get, some more difficult than others - God knows how many hours I spent looking for a very specific pillar, but the satisfaction was worth it. Somewhat related, you can play all the different versions of this game, kind of similar to Minecraft, which I think is really awesome, because it lets you see how the game changed over time. Trying the oldest version was such an experience, seeing how much more rudimentary the building was, the smaller variety of items, etc. It really gives a good idea of how much effort and passion went into this game to make it into what it is today.
And as a last tidbit that I have at the top of my head, which perhaps might be silly to mention, is that the gamepasses are pretty much almost free AND useful. I feel like it's something you rarely see on the platform, you know? Just makes me appreciate the game more, and how it's clearly a labour of love and passion made for others to enjoy.

Lastly, I would like to ramble just a tiny bit about the sound design (something I'm not exactly very well-versed in but want to talk about anyway). The general echo really helps sell the illusion of endlessness, the employee voices are appropriately creepy and monotone, and many other sound effects add nice feedback and immersion. And now the most important part: the music! In short, I really like it. It has its own distinct style and flavour, and it's one that fits the game perfectly, I think. Each day of the week has its own theme, but they're kept fairly similar and with the same percussion. I think it's an interesting choice, as it makes the days blend together into a sort of general day theme, but still stand out a bit from each other. If one is familiar enough with the tracks, they can tell what day of the week it is just by listening. Unless it's a foggy day, which gets its own theme, and a great one at that. In general, the music sets the mood nicely, making you feel exactly like being in a store that has something weird going on in it. And if it wasn't enough, there's special music that plays only above certain elevations, and it will probably make you feel things. The special "Shattered Reality" version of the game also has its own tune, and generally I recommend checking out the whole OST, which was made by the creator of the whole thing! Check out their other tracks as well, they don't disappoint.

And that's probably enough of my rambling about this game, even though I could probably talk abt it way, way more, but I should give my attention to other things as well. In any case, this is an experience that's a must-play for anyone who likes horror, survival, and sandbox games. Or those that just like to be silly and mess around.

I don't have a funny so have a banger instead.