I’m all the way out on Netflix and Hulu, and I’m not alone. Years after people cut the cord to get hilariously expensive cable packages out of their lives, many folks have begun to bin their streaming services. But without a mountain of awful dreck to scroll past on the TV, what can we do to fill that time?

How about playing a video game that simulates old-timey cable instead? Sounds right.

“Blippo+” is a delightfully high-concept interactive art project that lets you relive your channel-flipping days by watching exceedingly low budget cable shows from another planet.

Originally released exclusively on the Playdate in highly-compressed monochrome, “Blippo+” is now available on both Switch and PC in a form that really delivers the goods in the nostalgia department. The shitty chroma key, talking heads covered in flop sweat, and abstract animation all come together to evoke a time and place.

However, it veers away from the realm of toxic nostalgia by forgoing the real world in favor of Planet Blip. The core conceit is that there is some sort of bend in space time, and now aliens (us) are getting access to their totally tubular broadcasts.

There’s clear affection for this odd moment in the history of video, but we don’t have to pretend like things were better back then. We can take the fucked up aesthetics of primitive SD video without co-signing casual homophobia or Reaganism. The politics of Planet Blip certainly can’t be worse than our own, right? Right?!

When you boot up “Blippo+,” you’ll be greeted with a signal search that uncovers a handful of channels with a few programs each that loop over and over again. These range from scrambled “adult content” to alien MTV to teens with ‘tude taking over the air waves. You should expect nothing less.

Once you’ve seen most of what’s on offer, you’ll get a message notification in your cable box’s UI. You’ve unlocked a new set of shows, and you can see all new content on various channels.

While those sets of shows were originally parsed out once a week on the Playdate version, the PC and console iterations allow you to go at your own pace. The programming is, obviously, far from infinite, but there’s more than enough to entertain those old enough to remember ye olde times.

It’s important to note there aren’t really puzzles or many “game-y” aspects here. The way you play this video game is by using it like a television. I’m more than happy to do that, but there are some unenlightened among us that, deep down, believe games aren’t valid unless you’re shooting or jumping or whatever.

If you lean that way, I urge you to actively work on rejecting your preconceived notions of what video games can be. Open your third eye just like the Psychic Barbara would want you to. Stay attuned, and stay tuned on “Blippo+.”

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“Blippo+” is available on Switch, Playdate, and PC.

Image credit: “Blippo+”