Reviews by manonamora
springthing
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Too short for real consequences, May 16, 2024Thanks, but I don't remember asking. is a short blurry Twine story, set in some sort of (post-)apocalyptic future, in which you are an unnamed woman living along in what seems to be a school (maybe a religious boarding school?). In comes to bother your tranquil life three individuals, two men and a woman, who snoops around and find things you'd rather not remember.
Vagueness here is important to keep the suspense of the game, as it is the "twist" of the story (though if you are a sucker for the (Spoiler - click to show)amnesic trope, the signs are all there).
Decisions must be made, though the choice is singular and not quite obvious at first (that is until you rewind and choose another path). It also does not seem to change much of the ending either, it seemed.
It is not so much as the shortness of the piece, but how far the story goes, how much you (the player) get to uncover the uneasiness you (the PC) feels around these strangers, and what ticks you when they snoop around (why can't you snoop around as well). As well, while you learn of past events, little is of true weight for the story - it always ends the same way.
I wish it went a bit deeper in the narrative choices, such as the gender of the characters clearly having an effect on their fate (it's clearly important to the PC), the importance of control and agency (ironic since we don't really have any), etc... a bit more exploration if you will.
That said: the (Spoiler - click to show)POV switch at the end sent a shiver down my spine.
Deep Dark Wood is an anthology collection of micro games created by Slovakian children in Twine. Though the authors are different, the group is the same as last SpringThing.
In the deep dark woods, seven paths will lead you for a strange journey. Beware...
Back to the City: trying to go back home, you stumble upon a party. Stay or avoid it. Explore the forest or leave it. And find your way home. Maybe even help a stranger. It's a cute micro path.
Dark Dream: in this widely branching path, many actions are available to you to see this dream unfold, most of them quite dangerous. Will you know which one to take and wake up unscathed? For you must watch out, dreams often affect reality...
I didn't expect the whiplashing end screens, but it game be a good laugh. Surprisingly intricate!
Halloween: the Hunt has begun, and you might not be the hunter this Halloween, as strange paths are offered to you, many leading you astray. Will you find a happy ending? or live the rest of your life in misery (that is, if you survive at all)?
Another widely branching story, with many endings (I counted at least 8 of them in my playthrough). Some little text issues here and there. Surprisingly dark and gruesome at time. Would have seen something like it at the EctoComp!
IXI in the Forest:branching into on sentence passages, you are IXI, an enthusiastic character exploring the forest and trying to make friends with its inhabitant. Your actions determining widely different endings.
Another cute micro branching piece.
Little Froggie: life is filled with moments, some boring, some angry, some sad... and it's all about picking the right one to continue on an interesting path. Or you might end up emptying your savings for costly medicine...
Really cute! Some endings give me chuckles!
Survive or Die: it is usually not recommended to explore an empty home by yourself, or at all, that is if you want to avoid meeting scary monsters. But the true moral of the story is that sharing a meal helps calming everyone down, and look at things more rationally.
This one threw a curveball or two to get to the end. Good job on the misdirection!
The Dark One: with this ominous title, I sort of expected an unreliable narrator, and for many of the side/wrong paths, he indeed was! Leading you astray... Trust your friends, but trust yourself too!
Nice use of branching here too, twists, and paths to good endings.
I really enjoyed what the group had done at the last SpringThing, and I was really glad to see them submitting this year again. It is really lovely to see younger generations taking a crack at IF and creating even the smallest thing. I hope we get to see submission from the group next year, and all the years after that. And I hope the singular authors will continue to make games too!
Grinning all the way through!, May 16, 2024Rescue at Quickenheath is a delightful fantasy swashbuckling Twine puzzle-y game, where you play as the dashing highway-person Kit Valentine, who just learned that their partner-in-crime, Aubrey, was not only captured but about to get executed at sundown! And only you can save her!
The premise is silly, the puzzles are pretty straight-forward, and it's pretty linear (afiak you can't lose). But boy, did I have fun playing through the game. The vibe was so big and bright, with hints of cool adventures behind you and hopes of more in your future. A daring escape plan you need to manage on your own, which will require some wit, definitely some crimes, and discovering life-changing secrets (though the games hints enough at it that you can make the connections pretty early on). I was seriously grinning all the way through the game.
While the first half of the game is pretty exploratory and lets you do things in whatever order you want to (sort of), the (Spoiler - click to show)Fae chapter is a bit too I'm-getting-pull-around-to-move-the-story along. I get that time is limited before Audrey gets the chop, but it would have been nice if the gameplay between each section mirrored each other a bit more (and adds a bit more to the stakes).
If I had something to add, it would be a (Spoiler - click to show) proposal at the end of the game. A (Spoiler - click to show)knee on the ground, grumbling because of the pain, lots of tears and happy yes type of proposal. All pointed to it, with (Spoiler - click to show)the ring, the True Name, and all the Aubrey loves you, you dumb-dumb.
Anyways... Be gay! Do crime!
To Beseech Old Sins is a linear sci-fi Twine story, part of a larger series, where you play as Epsilon, a superpowered (if you will) golem, part of a Throuple/Trio SpecOp team. Though your behaviour goes against every directive ever, you and your team are barely reprimanded because you are the best of the best. And this is why *you* get to go on a daring mission to win the war (or at least the battle). All the odds are against you, but luck is weirdly always on your side.
Yay, I thought after reading the long introduction to get here, some action, I get to do something! Let's take over the ship and... oh... they immediately waved the white flag. Ah... ok, then. Let's just read about how great we are, I guess.
While I do not have gripes with the kinetic type (having made and played plenty), I was sorely disappointed to see that I would not have any input in the story. The blurb talks about an admiral (your boss) wanting a swift victory but nothing goes as plan, and I sort of expected we would have to get down and dirty and fight (of some sort) or be forced to escape some sort of prison. But no, you just read about how you strut around with desire in your eyes (which is fine, just not what I expected).
I think my biggest issue with the piece was how I kept playing Guess What the Link Will Do throughout the whole game. Was I going to read a snarky observation or continue with the story? I could never tell, as all the links looked the same, and the one to move forward with the story never had the same position between passages (it was only obvious when only one link was on the screen). So, every time I moved to a next passage on the first link, I kept wondering what I had missed (was it important for me to understand? would it have helped provide more context?). It really made the experience frustrating.
temporary Poetic end-a-eve-or, May 15, 2024Note: I beta-tested this game.
PROSPER.0 is a dystopian Twine game with a very interesting gameplay mechanic. As an employee of CORPOTECH, you are tasked to verify the content of documentations, and to delete any file not including factoid (strangely resembling contemporary poetry). Do your task correctly and you are rewarded (by keeping your job), but do too many mistakes and find yourself on the CORPOTECH blacklist.
If you are lucky enough to go through more than one day of work (really, you only don't if you troll the game), and your screen may get visited by a stranger, who, unlike management, would prefer not to see all those poetic files lost forever. Though you cannot go against your overlords, lest you lose your job, the stranger proposes a different way of keeping these files alive: you reconstruct them... in your own way.
Until one day... You have to make a choice. A choice that could change everything... or nothing at all. But only you can make it.
And here it is, the interesting gameplay, word play, in a different way. As the words are one by one disappearing from the screen, you have the option to "save" them from destruction, leaving you the opportunity to use them afterward to create another poem yourself. You are even given challenges, like only be allowed to save or use a certain amount of words.
And there is no right or wrong way of making those poems, because they are made by you, a singular individual with your own set of words and endless possibilities. It is pretty poetic (eh) and I don't think I ever experienced this kind of interactivity in IF (so far).
Also, it made me thing of those word magnets you can get for your fridge, and create whatever sentences to display to the world. Except, only you ever see it. It's pretty cool. I've been messing around with the other game modes, because it's less stressful than during the game, and made some weird nonsensical poems, just for fun!
All I will say is Down with CORPOTECH!
Potato Peace is a fairly linear game made in Ink, set in a fantasy world where mankind and potatoes live in peace and harmony (sort of). Until one day, the <S>fire nation</S>... urm... the Pie of Peace, symbol of potatoe-human relationships, is stolen. At the time, you were an investigator, child of a famed diplomat, tasked to find the statue. And it was with shame that you were forced to retire, when you could not deliver the goods, never learning of the mastermind behind this awful act.
That is... until the culprit shows up at your door to confess, asking you to participate in a bit of a charade to bring things back to where they were.
You are more pushed through the motions of things rather than exploring the mystery/plot or affecting your situation (save for the final beat of the game), which is a bit of a shame, considering the zany setting of the game. There are a lot of good bits about the worldbuilding already that would have been so interesting to get into (why are the population clashing? have humans stopped consuming potatoe? when did all of this happen?).
As for the Interface, it was a bit jumpy at times, and often, I found the AI-generated illustrations/mashups distracting (I was also really confused about the appearance of the woman on the screen, until I realised it was supposed to be me [the player] - I thought we were a man?). I would rather have had more text and exploration in the story than the pictures taking 2/3rd of the page.
The writing was pretty fun, and the puns made me giggle. It was a pretty nice distraction from the rest.
Do Good Deeds... is relatively short Twine children's story, where you play as Modis, an outcast elf on a stroll in the forest. Along the way, he meets many creatures in need, prompting him for help. Some of the animals require council, others your bare arms, and some a bit of wit, to help them out of their situation... if you choose to do so (because you can also ignore them). Depending on the amount of creatures, you get different endings.
At its core, it's a cute game, probably more aimed at children, with some inspirations from fables (The Lion and the Mouse, the Ant and Grasshopper, etc...). The "puzzles" are relatively simple, and if you mess up, the games lets you try again. And the interface with the custom backgrounds and sprites were really cute! It really gave off that children's book vibe.
Some stuff that didn't work quite as much for me:
- except for the white and maybe yellow-coloured text, the dialogue was often pretty hard to read, even with the letter border (often an issue with a multi-coloured background). The cycled link was sometimes impossible to read because of it.
- the timed/typed text was too long, and pretty unnecessary for the type of story. It hindered more the reading of the text than helped build it up.
- there were some awkward space between lines of text (unnecessary spacing) and a few miscoloured lines (switched between the interlocutors).
It was a cute little game, that could use a tiny bit more polish.
The Case of the Solitary Resident is a murder(ish) mystery game made in Twine where you get to play the detective, tasked to solve the mystery. Receiving the case, in you go to the location to investigate, and find... a dead body. Ensue a search for clues by interacting with different elements around the apartment, and interviewing different suspects. When you are good to go (and found enough clues that the game lets you do so - I found 15 out of 16), you can move to accusing the correct suspect and explain how it all happened (got the cause right away, it was the last detail that just didn't come right away).
I love a good murder mystery, especially the impossible kinds where it isn't clear who did it. I think I found what had happened pretty early one, though I couldn't have answered the final question without going through the game (and even then, it got technical).
The investigating is what makes the game shine here, with your little commentary and (sometimes false) observations of what is there. Snooping around people's stuff to learn more about who they are and how they got here is always very fun (aside from, you know... the dead body in the living room). Collecting samples around the place was neat, it even lets you cut a piece of cheese for testing!
All the clues you find during your run is neatly tucked inside a case file, which updates as you find those clues or get notifications of sample analysis being done (that first one made me giggle). And you can even review the interviews of the suspects or ask them more questions as you find more clues.
I struggled a bit with finding the last necessary clue: I thought I would be able to visit locations or go back to the precinct to do some research about them rather than (Spoiler - click to show)finding their number in the victim's phone. It didn't make much sense when the information is given through text or by one of the suspect, to then go through the victim's phone about it...
I also found the interview bits a bit lacking, especially compared to the investigating part. You get to pick topics to ask the suspects but not specific questions (it would have been fun to maybe be more antagonistic than just one-tone). You also can't really confront the suspects on their answers ((Spoiler - click to show)I know no one is at fault in this particular case, but sometimes people forget they've done or said things, or remember wrong). A bit more background on the other characters or more optional questions would have been nice to make the case feel a bit more... real? A bit more fluff, if you will.
One minor thing: the stock image to represent the Police department has a sign saying Polizei (German for Police), but it seems like the case is happening in Australia? The mention of dollars threw me off at first, then I connected the dots when talking to the son to where we were. Also, no Australian accents?
All and all, it was a pretty fun game.
Alltarach is a pretty large Twine game centred around Irish folklore and set in the early Middle Ages. Through a character study of your young protagonist Bríd, we get a taste of what might have been 6th century Ireland, its culture and customs. Between grieving lost parents, worrying about the disappearance of her brother, and navigating new land, we are taken in a coming-of-age adventure, where crude realities and disillusion slowly replace naiveté and childishness, as you uncover secrets and confront your beliefs.
The presentation of the game is really neat, with beautiful illustrations, reminiscent of children's books, incredible enticing prose and very helpful tooltips to translate/put into context local terms. As an interactive novel, it is a very interesting piece (and SURPRISINGLY LONG!).
But between the long pages filled with paragraphs, I felt like something was missing. Though it is interactive (you have plenty to ask and explore), it didn't always feel like my action truly mattered at the end, choices being there for the sake of helping the player getting a clearer picture of who the character is, rather than having true consequences on the story.
Even the final choice was not my (as Bríd) doing at all! But of another, who's characterisation is even more muddled and confusing than the main character. That was a bit frustrating.
And yet, I liked it. It had an unusual setting, really good pacing, and interesting takes. It's just missing that little something that would make it incredible.
Had this been a book, I'd have devoured it in one sitting.
Running tediously back and forth, April 13, 2024This review will mostly focus on the Twine version, submitted to the 2024 SpringThing.
The Kuolema is a fairly large mystery adventure puzzle/choice game made in Twine, where the goal is to investigate an incident in the eponymous ship, retrieve an important device, and avoid international conflict. In this one-man adventure, you get to explore the ship (whose many rooms require a key to access), interact with the different objects (and bring them along), question the few survivors about the incident, and maybe learn a bit more about this whole... "deal" (boat, employer, device...). There are a handful of endings depending on a few choices made during the story. This version also includes a "Story Mode", which includes visible hints (helpful for the crossword especially).
The game plays on the conventional and expected twists (uh-oh, that's a dead body) and tropes (e.g. the really smart scientist turning cuckoo banana or the rugged security officer that trust no one) of the genre. And while the writing tends to be atmospheric and gradually will build tension, it switches up to a fast-paced action-focused sequence, which kind of turned me off. While the use of the Security Officer breaks the story into beats, I do feel like the game have worked better had you found no life on board.
With the move to Twine, the game managed to remove some clunkyness from the Google Form format, especially when "moving" forward in the story or trying to go backward, with the "return" from your notes and "rewind" if you die - though there is no UNDO (if you clicked too fast, missed some information or by mistake, too bad); the picking up elements and moving between spaces; or with an easier access to the inventory and notes (which are not always available).
However, it also rendered some puzzles tedious, especially the ones requiring to enter a code to unlock a safe or a door. There are 6 different section using a cycling lock (you click on each number until you have the correct one on the screen), ranging from 3 to 6 cycling link, often requiring an option at the end of the cycle - but unlike those real-life combination lock, you can only turn it one way (if you miss it you need to start again). After the second or third lock like this, that sort of puzzle ends up being more annoying than fun to solve.
I think I might not be the target audience for the 'running back and forth' type of puzzle (i.e. the puzzle at one end of the map can be solved thanks to an object on the other end), I found the running around pretty frustrating reaching the halfway point.
I didn't vibe with it as much as I thought I would. I think I found the game more interesting in its Google Form version, because of the limitation of format.
A note on accessibility: while it is appreciated the game tries to be accessible, with settings to toggle timed text (though the messaging section was missed), or turning some images into text-only version* (if not, you have have super verbose Alt-Text), I had some concerned with other aspects such as: colour-contrasting between text and background - especially with pop-ups and listboxes (when open, the options are barely readable) - as well as the text and image animations (a warning would have been nice, a toggle would even be better).
*It would have been nicer instead to be able to enjoy both the images and the descriptive text, having the later below the former (using something like `< details >`). Having to hover over/press the images would make them at times glitchy (if they ended large enough to read the smaller text).
A note on tracking information and choices: Like the Google Form version, this one tracks your choices and compares it to other players (you can see that at the end of the game). While this is expected for the first version because of its format (that's the whole point of a Google Form), this is not a native option for Twine. When using code to track and store information, players should be able to make an informed decision (whether to agree that their playthrough will be tracked or whether to play at all if they are not given the option). This should be clearly indicated when the player starts the game, rather than told at the end of the game or hidden behind a few clicks. [Note: this may have been changed since this review was written/queued]
A note on the final poll about AI use: since the poll is only available after playing through the game (which contains AI generated elements), the results will surely be biased in favour of AI, as opponents of AI are less likely to actually play the game (as mentioned by the author in the credits). This kind of go against the want of the poll to have an open discussion, as the pool of participants is already pre-determined with the placement of the poll (at the end of the game rather, adding a "wall" to access it). This is a clear selection bias.
This placement could be even used to invalidate users choosing an anti-AI position, as they still played a game included AI elements.
Sequel Adaptation, April 12, 2024The Time Machine is a short-ish parser that continues the eponymous story, where you play as an unnamed friend trying to find clues as to Wells' psychosis (or proof that is tale is true). You get to explore parts of Wells' house, inspect his machine, and travel to the future with it (where you can explore a bit of the new world).
There are only a couple of puzzles (mainly to get and handle the machine), most of the interaction being conversations with the different characters. A sidebar includes your full inventory, NPCs you can interact with, and conversation options with said characters. There are also hints and a full walkthrough in-game.
The thing is, there isn't much to do after running the machine. I get that your goal is to get proof your friend isn't crazy, but had I been sent to the future, I would probably have tried to explore more or find a way to interact with the world... or just stand right there and freak out. Time may be of the essence for your friend, but you have a machine to rewind time (at only a push of a lever, how practical...).
Or go off the trails and get back in time. The possibilities are ENDLESS!
Give me a P! Give my an R! Give me an I..., April 12, 2024The Truth About PRIDE! is a short bitsy piece, where "you" explore the meaning of < pride >, by going through each of its letters (and an exclamation point). It is short and sweet, though it seems more of a personal interpretation of the meaning of the word rather than its "true meaning" (is there truly a true meaning for the word? or wouldn't you end up with individual interpretation of the word depending on your personal experiences?).
Each path leads you down that-letter-shaped corridor, where you can interact with that-letter-shaped element (where the author defines and question the meaning of each letter) before you can choose which path to go through (get the special meaning of P or back to the main room). There is also a secret path (which wasn't working for me).
Moving the sprite is a bit tedious (which is usual for bitsy) especially when you need to go across the screen with no interaction, or when an element is blocking your path in the next screen, or when it is not quite clear which tile is the exit.
Does it challenge any concept? Not really, it's more of a feel-good celebration of Pride, a pep-talk about yourself as an individual rather than pride as an aspect of your identity. But sometimes, that's all you need.
The Portrait, also titled as A Taste of Isekai in-game, is an exploration parser, a sort of amuse-bouche to a larger game coming out in the future. You are introduced to the PC, isekai'd into a strange world (and a new body!) without knowing how or why, and are given hints of the world you stumbled into, through exploring the couple of available rooms and examining the different elements in this room.
As the title of the game suggests, there is a massive portrait in the first room you land on, with an insane amount of details to discover (earning you points every time you find something interesting). Depicting three women, the picture will trigger memories (which you are certain are not your own) or mention other elements you could examine next.
This was clearly influenced by the "IF Art Show" competitions, where the goal was to focus on one specific object and mainly interact with it. This piece would have fit right in that event, as you (mainly) interact with the painting and all its little details. It's kind of neat to see newer games being influenced by (almost) forgotten events that defined IF. It makes for a lovely tribute.
The text is pretty verbose and extensive, similar to the very flowery style of the late 1800s. And quite focused on the body (which shouldn't be too surprising as (Spoiler - click to show)you are a man, waking up in a woman's body), which at times sounds a bit strange. It reminded me quite a bit to those pulpy romance novels, actually. It feels a bit voyeuristic and a bit uncomfortable, as we are told the PC to be, and somewhat disorienting. I mean (Spoiler - click to show)wouldn't it be extremely disorienting to wake up in a completely different body?
From the little you get to explore (and examine), it is clear that a lot of worldbuidling has been put down to paper (in the same way Creative Cooking felt to me - are they connected?). From the different species (maybe even are in conflict with one another?) with visuals reminiscent of known fantastical creatures, down to the architecture and decor reminding you of cultures on Earth (maybe there's more than just one link (you) between the two worlds), there is still quite a bit to learn to make this picture whole...
I finished with a score of 64 out of 80. Though I didn't find all the details, I feel like I have had a complete experience.
You Can Only Turn Left is a surreal piece exploring "the hypnagogic state between sleeping and wakefulness", based on a past dream journal. Though it may seem quite linear when going through the text, the game actually includes multiple endings, affected by the choices you can made throughout the story. I found two out of the four coded.
The game is quite unsettling from the start, with a fast animated sequence of moving text, uncomfortable sound, and changing background, asking you whether you are present or still dreaming. This aesthetic, along with blurred or flipped text, continues on in the rest of the entry, emphasising on the unreality of it all (whether it is describing dreams, "memories" or pure hallucinations). It often veers on the uncanniness of things (especially one ending), edging on the nightmarish.
There were some moments where reading the text was almost impossible, as the white text would barely be readable behind a light moving background, or bring too blurry to make out the different letters.
This vibe is also mirrored in the text itself, as you move from memories to dreams, with the narrator waking up, only to find themself still dreaming or going back into that hazy realm. You will go from very detailed and vivid settings to just a passing blurred line in the distance, real and grounded moments to bizarre and skin crawling hallucinations.
This was very strange, and yet very familiar (fudged sleep pattern with insane vivid dreams). It is bizarre and comforting.
Bydlo; or the Ox-Cart is a minimalist micro Bitsy piece about, according to the blurb, the triumph of art over drudgery.
Using a simple orange and white palette, and the dreary Mussorgsky's Bydlo theme from Picture At An Exhibition, the game lets you control a little sprite (farmer?) navigating through its field, day by day, as an ox cart passes through the screen. Each sequence (about a dozen) shows a different iteration of the field, with boulders, plants, and carcases blocking your path. Yet, you must continue on, weaving through the obstacles to reach the next level, and the next, and the next...
Until... the cart exit the screens. And so can you.
There is very little you can interact with in the environment, only moving about the screen. You learn nothing about the setting or yourself, why you are here and what you want further. There isn't any text aside from the title and the final screen. Only the chirped version of the melancholic theme...
I am not really sure what to make of it still... Monotonous work pushing people into boredom and daydreaming? Tediousness making us wish for an easier time, a more fun time? Or is it a confrontation of how we view labour (i.e. seeing beauty and art in the mundane)?
Or... should we just enjoy a piece without reading too much into it...
When trying is not enough..., August 11, 2023A chilling and confusing snippet of life told through the eyes of a small child dealing with struggling parental figures, in a gothic style
Horror is usually not my style because I am a bit of a chicken, but Sweetpea's big eyes and scared demeanor pulled me in and would not let go until this game was complete. [This is actually my second playthrough]
The vivid descriptions of the surroundings or Sweetpea's feelings, as well as the formatting and animations of the text added onto my discomfort and uneasiness. Yet, I could not look away. I had to check all the boxes and find all the hidden links to understand the troubles the eponymous character was going through.
I actually didn't catch this the first time around, but it is (Spoiler - click to show)heavily implied the father is an alcoholic following the mother's departure (death?), behaving strangely in her eyes when drunk. The hints were all there, from the stranger who looks like dad but is not like dad; the broken glass and the sickness in the bathroom, or the father leaving for hours/days on end. It is clear the father is trying his best (and failing at the task), but his guilt is not enough to change him (until the end is reached). The horror of every day life...
Even the second time around, I was still quite confused at the second "act" with Micheal, not because of the change of background marking a new beginning in the story, but by the shift in the story going from a grim reality told through the eyes of a child, to being swooped by some sort of guardian angel in some imaginary place and being served breakfast. (Spoiler - click to show)Then afterwards, the context of alcoholism with the father kind of makes it as if the dad was sobered up then, caring for his child.
While the story ends on the positive note, it still depict a grim part of life, where hurt people hurt other people (and worse, children), which shook me to my core. The contrast of the pain and the panic of the child with the fond remembrance of gifts or the soothing taste of a sweet makes it all the harder to go through. This is accentuated by the gothic style of writing, making this everyday horror more vivid and visceral.
Chills going down the spine at every turn.
Awkward party limbo and self-deprecating humour, June 1, 2023Jumping a few years into the future of Pageant, Karen Zhao comes back, more anxious than ever, for a short evening, celebrating the turn of a new year. Stuck in a house out of social obligation, Karen has the option to interact with a cast of familiar faces, go down memory lane, or hide from everyone as best she can to avoid starting a panic attack before the clock strikes twelve. How ever will she cope?????
The one thing that I love about Autumn's games is how real the characters and their interactions feel. NYE19 is no different, continuing on the tradition of anxiety-inducing situation and self-deprecating humour bordering on self-loathing. But unlike its predecessor, Pageant, NYE19's tone translated less as slice-of-life-of-a-stressed-teenager-trying-to-make-it-through-the-semester-oh-god-is-she-having-a-panic-attack-again-just-kiss-her-you-dummy and more of this-is-what-a-college-student-forced-to-come-home-for-the-holidays-special-sitcom-epidose-feels-like. From the really awkward meetings with your old high-school friends (or did you date them? or were they crushes?), to the adults hounding you with questions about your future, or your family wanting to uphold a certain image around people. It's a party we've all been to, it's the kind we wish we didn't have to stay...
And Karen, our favourite anxious lesbian, does too. From the start, she warns the player she does not want to be here, really does not find having to engage in small talk (especially with people she's lost touch with), and actually wishes being anywhere but at this party. It is awkward to interact with people you knew (or more than knew) some years prior but with who you have lost contact (life...), finding how they have (not) changed, and how they've been fairing compared to you.
During the span of an evening, you meet (again) Emily, a trans woman (out of the closet then?) who helped you in Pageant to win (kinda) said pageant; Miri, your best-friend, who tagged along for the party because she did not want to be at her family's party and became the social butterfly you could not be; and Aubrey, your high-school rival, who seems to still be doing just as well with her Harvard education, her Harvard boyfriend, her probably-perfect-looking Harvard life... You also get to roam around the party daydreaming nihilisticly about the state of the world, hide in the basement to watch a MCU movie and be cringe to your brother, stuff yourself with food to temper with your imminent anxiety attack, play some mahjong and lose badly, hide in the bathroom and take selfies sending your into some self-loathing, play some games on your phone...
Whatever you do (especially your interactions), you are constantly reminded of your shortcomings from the past and how you let your anxiety cause the dwindling of your relationships. Your past haunts your every move and your every thoughts, and being in the presence of people from your past makes it all the worse for your mental being.
Half-way through the game, you sit down to have some dinner, forced at the kids-but-not-really-kids table where all your (former?) friends are interacting. It is very awkward, with Aubrey forcing everyone to introduce themselves as if they were having some sort of team-building meeting, her boyfriend forgetting about the No-No-Conversations (Politics-Religions...)... You can choose to participate in the conversation, eat, or listen, but no matter what happens, you will leave the table before the meal/conversation is over, leaving the party as well to go for a walk.
This is where things get interesting. Emily asks whether she can come along, and agreeing or not will give you very different outcomes. The latter will find you wallowing about your loneliness and how devoid of human connections your life is (much due to your own actions), while the former has a more hopeful and levelheaded conversation (leading possibly to a relationship...). With each still, and throughout the whole game, Karen goes on an introspection about the seemingly importance of human interaction, how easy it is to fuck up things, and the transactionality of relationships, all wrapped in a nihilistic and fatalistic bow (everything goes wrong, even if you do the right things).
Even if this sounds all depressing, it strangely is not. I found myself giggle at some passages. The dry self-deprecating humour is honestly hilarious (especially the Narrator's comments). At any moment, I was expecting a laughing track to cue. Or maybe I was just playing this with a strange mood...
The game is also very meta about what it is trying to convey. From playing a dating-sim game within an essentially dating-sim game, to the commentary on human interactions being comparable to dating-sims in the optimisation of [emotions/variables] to get the best possible outcome through a sequence of actions we hope is the correct one while we play a dating-sim where the sequence of choices can be optimised to get that "good ending", the story and the gameplay play quite interestingly on each other to get those points across.
Still, unlike other works from Autumn, while I enjoyed myself playing it, it didn't have the same impact on me. I didn't click as much with it as her other games, and felt a bit unsatisfactory? by the end of the playthroughs. The game has some strong moments, especially the part outside of the house, and some funny moments during the roaming around before dinner/before the countdown, but at other moments, it felt hollow. Maybe it is because of your limited agency in the way you interact with others or act, since Karen is an anxious and socially awkward person who has a hard time expressing her feelings and thoughts. Maybe it is because some of the characters you interact with and the way you defined your previous relationships don't feel as fleshed out (Miri and Aubrey comes to mind, especially compared to Pageant or even Emily). Or maybe it is Karen's blasé look on dwindling and lost relationships that ticked me that only allows her to have superficial contact with people (aside from Emily). Or maybe it is the more fragmented type of different gameplay/mechanics that didn't work as well as the Storylet format of Pageant, or the more linear work of GG and the war. Or maybe because the end was a bit too abrupt... I'm not quite sure
There is a wonderful sentence from the post-mortem that really encapsulate the vibe of this game, and strangely reminds us of the hope Karen feels just before returning to the party... and this is where I will be ending this review:
> The past is inescapable, but the future is not entirely determinate.
There is still time...
Therapy: Hardcore mode., May 31, 2023Computerfriend is a nihilistic take on a future/past, where everyone is miserable and somehow still living through a more-than-poluted world devoid of community sense and safety nets. Following an unnamed incident, you are required to follow therapy sessions via a AI program on your computer, the eponymous Computerfriend(.exe). However, this program is not... what you'd expect of therapy.
Computerfriend was my introduction to Kit's world, randomly answering a call to playtest it ahead of the SpringThing 2022. I remember it being very confusing and trippy and gross, and yet I did not want/could not to look away. I devoured that game, and played again and again until I had found all endings.
Coming back to the game felt like swimming in a strange but comforting acid pit, and talking to computerfriend.exe felt like talking to an old toxic friend you are not quite sure whether they mean good or harm. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a bath, refusing to leave.
Not going to lie, this game is very strange. And it has been stuck in my mind for over a year now. It has marked me in ways I'm still discovering today. Even if it is not supposed to be beautiful, with its blinding change of colours or its eye-printing fonts or the literal ugliness of the setting, there is still charm in the harshness of the visual. Even if it is not supposed to be cathartic, each story run left me strangely satisfied and [at peace / terrified / confused / angry / revolted]. Even if it was incredibly bleak and borderline fatalistic, with an unliveable world devoid of nature and cows that can lay eggs, there is still shreds of hope in there that survival is still possible, maybe for a bit longer.
In its indulgence in all that is considered bad, the game manages to be so incredibly good.
One last special shoutout to Computerfriend:
While the story is supposed to be about your recovery, the main show revolved around computerfriend.exe, your at-home therapist AI, which still needs a bit of tweaking before it can help you get back on track. At first, it seems the AI does not truly listen to you, as it goes down a checklist as if to fill in a form (to try to understand you) - the dissonance between your answers to questions and its responses is very staggering (for lack of better word). As you progress down the "recovery" path, the AI will propose different treatments, going from strange to terrifying to injecting yourself with drugs. If you refuse or don't find the treatment useful, it will pressure you to continue. Even saying NO is a painstaking process (and the first time, it is even ignored).
computerfriend.exe can truly be awful, but it remarkably funny. When it first assesses you, it does not just look up your location or how the weather is, but also finding the contacts to the nearest first respondent and pollen level (am i supposed to have hay fever?). This might be the bleakness of the game affecting me, but I still chuckle at it. Same after you close the application and try to reopen it, it will tell you to butt off because it is busy. It even gives you homework, actions to essentially distract yourself until the next session (and the options are delightful).
A delightful crow's adventure, May 29, 2023The Familiar follows Fran, a familiar in the form of a crow, as she embarks on a quest to save her witch mistress who has succumb to an illness. Through a series of puzzles and exploration, Fran uncovers a secret plot and fights for her mistress's life.
I am a sucker for a good simple puzzle and a cute story, and this is no wonder this game made it to my top list of the SpringThing this year (well, it was already a favourite of mine while I was testing it). From its clean and simple aesthetic, the gorgeous pixel art for each "room", to its delightful characters, The Familiar is such a well rounded game.
Obviously, playing as a crow, you are limited in your abilities to help your bedridden mistress (it is a magical wonder you can get her a blanket). Still, the puzzles are constructed in a way that would be doable for a crow to solve (and you a smart little one). Cawing your way into town to get attention, pecking people to move them out of the way, or picking up and dropping objects in the right place, you manage to acquire all needed ingredients to save the witch.
And you are not alone in the process. Meeting first Hazel, a mouse familiar whose master perished not long before the game, who will tend to your mistress while you fly to fetch the ingredients (turns out, it's not the flu but a curse, whomps...). Then a trio of NPCs in town: Miroger, who's bother has died, Cecile, who needs help writing and sending a letter to her lover, and Frederik, who knows a good deal when he sees one. Each helps you getting one ingredient in exchange for a small favour. Finally, the evil wizzard's owl coming at the 11th hour to stop Fran.
But how does it end then? With a happy ending, for course! This is still a feel good story at the end of the day, one that makes you feel satisfied when the ending screen comes around. The day is saved, the mistress is healed, and you made some friends along the way.
What I really appreciated from it was how inclusive the game was for beginners (or terrible parser player like me), as you are limited to 5 verbs (TAKE, DROP, LOOK, PECK, CAW), there is an available tutorial to teach you the controls, and a thorough walkthrough is included in case one is stuck.
I wanted to give a special shoutout to the artwork, considering how long it took to make 30+ pixel art headers, many of those heavily detailed. Those truly gorgeous small pieces of art enhance the atmosphere of the setting, from the cozy home, to the luscious forest, and the different and vibrant parts of the industrialised city. If it all felt like a pixelized version of a Ghibli movie, that was on purpose (the author confirmed the reference).
Anyway, I'm going back to fly after that darn letter...
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