Reviews by MathBrush
IF Comp 2015
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A long, well-developed 'dramedy' about summer camp and dreams, June 26, 2016This game from IFComp 2015 is, in my opinion, one of the best Twine games of all time, and certainly the best outside of the well-developed horror/darkness segment.
In this game, gameplay is split up between a summer camp with a slice-of-life scenario and dreams with an absurdist take on talking birds. As the game progresses, the two halves become more related.
The game takes a stats-based approach, with a twist. You develop statistics at night during your dreams; in the day, it affects what options you have for various activities. At first, I felt like the stats didn't matter, because scene follows scene in the same order regardless of your actions. However, on replay, I found that some of the best material is contained in stats-enabled actions.
This story is long and has several surprising turns. It's split into several days, each of which can be accessed independently in case you can't finish in one sitting. Because stats seem to be reset each night, I don't think you lose anything just skipping ahead.
The game includes some mild summer-camp-normal sexual references near the beginning, and one branch of one scene contains strong profanity.
Recommended for everyone.
Edit: When I played through again, I counted the distinct pages I viewed, and I took 234 choices/pages to complete the game.
An experiment in making parsers more storylike. Near-future sci fi, February 4, 2016This game focuses on a career involving mood-altering or mood-activated equipment; however, the real story here is a slice-of-stressed-out-life story of a woman, her career, and her love interests.
This game responds with story text no matter what you do, and it's purposely written in a style that can jump back and forth between different topics. This allows the transcript of the game to read as a short story.
It also presents a novel challenge: decipher if your text comes from real commands or the 'floater text' (the name for the text from wrong commands). It helped me a lot to just type important keywords. You'd think UNDO would help you figure out what's real and what's not, but it's cleverly been disabled.
Worth checking out.
(note: I beta tested this game.)
As of now, longest Twine game ever. Part crazy, part deep, February 4, 2016Spy Intrigue is not my type of game. But it is an incredible game, which I have played through twice, and is excellently crafted.
It is a game of layers. It literally has two layers of text, interwoven within each other.
It also has two levels of meaning. The top level is just crazy and silly (you very quickly learn that most spies have died of "spy-mumps"). But there is a much deeper subtext in the game, much like another 2015 IFComp entry TOMBS of Reschette. Both games encourage you to look under the standard shoot-kill-loot structure of normal games and see what existence would really be like for protagonist and enemy.
That's probably the deepest contribution of this game: to show the protagonists humanity. The author has succeeded in a very well-crafted game, which I feel should be nominated for several XYZZY awards. She has done an excellent work here.
As I said, this isn't really my type of game; I'm not into profanity or sex, of which the game has it's fair share. But it's certainly never exploitative, and it all makes sense in the context of the game. I will also always fondly remember (early spoiler)(Spoiler - click to show)"OATMEAL TIME."
An experiment in player agency and in creating an uncomfortable feeling, February 3, 2016I played this long (but purposely repetetive) IFComp 2015 Twine game twice, about two weeks apart.
Let's just say what it's about now; this is a game whose experience does not depend on spoilers.
You are enacting an ancient scottish ritual where you are trying to summon a demon by roasting cats alive over several days.
In the game, you repeatedly click on the same thing over and over again, with some procedural text generation changing some minor details.
The game changes over time, but it takes a long, long time to do so. In the mean time, you can, as I did the first time, just start letting cats go and give up on the whole ritual. In fact, it may be cathartic for some (including myself) to play again and just let all the cats ago.
You have to roast somewhere between (Spoiler - click to show)40-100 cats to reach the ending.
I did not listen with audio, as I never do, but many say it contributes to the experience, for good or for ill.
An only mildly interactive Twine game with photos, but a powerful story, February 3, 2016This game was written both for IFComp 2015 and for an undergraduate research project at Hope.
It is just a choice between three linear sequences. After each choice has been picked at least once, two more open up. There are scattered photographs.
Interactivity-wise, this game doesn't make any groundbreaking changes. But the story is great. It is based on real-life journalist Marie Colvin, a war correspondent with an eye patch who died in an explosion.
I played this game twice, 3 weeks apart. The first time, I was rushing through IFComp, and dismissed it. But the second time, it struck a real emotional cord with me, and I really enjoyed it.
A one-move game combined with an alternative, time-warping reality, February 3, 2016Midnight, Swordfight was an IFComp 2015 game. This game is a one-move game like Aisle or Rematch, where you are in a duel with a countess and have only limited actions available. Innovatively, these actions are listed in a playscript in your inventory.
Another innovation is that you can enter an alternate reality, where you can travel through and around time to change the setup of the duel.
The world is mysterious and bizarre, with some of the darker parts of Lewis Carroll mixed with David Eddings mixed with all sorts of things. The game is dark, and contains explicit descriptions of sex and intense violence (although the violence is not to the level of, say, One Eye Open). The worksmanship is impeccable.
A mid-length puzzle-less parser game about choices with a cool map, February 3, 2016This was my absolute favorite IFComp 2015 game. In Map, you play a woman with a troubled relationship with her family members. You spend most of the day alone in your house, and as you immediately learn, the house is slowly growing new rooms, which is reflected in a map you carry.
During the course of a week, you have the opportunity to (Spoiler - click to show)go back and make changes in your life, which affects your current life greatly. This allows for a lot of flexibility in gameplay, and many endings.
The feeling of the game is poignant and thoughtful, and mildly creepy, especially when strange things happen and noone, least of all YOU, seems to care.
Love this game.
Edit: Before I posted this review, I went through and played again. It was a slow start, but I teared up during the last few days of gameplay. This game really gets me in an emotional place. It had an emotional impact on me that rivals games like Photopia or the Warbler's Nest. It affected me a lot because many decisions revolved around family and relationships.
A mid-length parser game with an intriguing in-game email system, February 3, 2016Life on Mars? is an IFComp 2015 entry that is a translation of the winner of the French IF competition of the same year. It was one of my favorites of IFComp.
This game centers around a woman stranded in a lone base after a terrible event. Her main access to the world is a computer terminal with e-mail. The game has implemented a marvelous e-mail system, with dozens of e-mails to read, with each sender having a different personality. The thoughts and replies of the woman are typed out in real time. The speed of the typing is adjustable; the default is too slow for most people, and the fastest is too fast, so make sure to play around with it before diving in.
The atmosphere of this game worked well for me. Outside of the e-mails, there are a few puzzles and a good amount of exploration. Overall, I would highly recommend this game, especially to fans of puzzle-light games such as Photopia.
A long TADS game about immortals and ennui, February 3, 2016This game was the longest game entered in IFComp 2015, and I enjoyed it. It is complex and long, and well-detailed.
The game is centered around the tedium of immortality. You find yourself a brand new immortal, in a sort of retirement home or country club for immortals. Each has immersed themselves into some sort of activity, whether artistic endeavors, sports, art, or insanity.
The game has a very ancient and purposely static feeling. It implements a 'zz' command that lets you wait for a very long time. It has a few puzzles requiring long patience, and repetitive actions.
This all meshes very well with the story, and when things finally start changing, it makes it more exciting.
Overall, the feeling of this game was similar to the Myst series, but with more people. I recommend it.
Twine survival game with inventory, set in southern Utah, February 3, 2016I'm from Utah and I love the desert, so this IFComp 2015 Twine game intrigued me.
It's a long-form Twine game about surviving after an accident in the desert. In real life, the Utah desert is very dangerous to be lost in, and that's reflected in the game.
The main idea is that you have water supplies, food supplies, and tools. You constantly make decisions about where to look for water, where to sleep for the night, whether to risk a boat trip, etc. Each option carries an associated cost in terms of water and stamina, which you don't know ahead of time.
Overall, it ends up being a bit like Oregon Trail. There are two main ways of surviving. I came close to finishing both trails, but I died at the very end each time, which, as I said, isn't too far off from reality.
This game is well-written. I wasn't a huge fan of the visual layout, but overall, it was pretty good. I have to admit, I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't died right at the end a few times, but I've heard the authors are thinking of making the ending a bit easier.
A mid-to-long 90's parser game with great muder story but some bugs, February 3, 2016This game is a murder mystery with a twist. The game is written in third person, with the protagonist being Madame L'Estrange, spiritualist detective.
The focus here is the story, and it's what got the game nominated for a '97 XYZZY Best Story award. You travel to various locations and get big text dumps spinning a marvelous tale of murder, Australian animals, and the occult.
The rest of the game is a bit spotty. There are numerous typos and spotty implementation. Sometimes you talk to people automatically when you see them; you almost always have to 'ask about' something even if you want to tell, except for one spot in the game where you have to 'tell' several things. A lot of guess-the-verb, but you can do most of the game on your own before using the walkthrough (you don't get any points at all until you're about 3/4 of the way through the game). Even the inventory has a typo with a misplaced colon.
Overall, a great game if you're into a good story, which I am.
An allegorical journey exploring the role of 'Nice Guys' in relationships, February 3, 2016In the Friend Zone is an allegory like Gulliver's Travels or Alice in Wonderland, but centered around the plight of the Nice Guys who get stuck in the Friend Zone by women.
Although the love interest and PC can have their gender chosen, it seems to be centered around men; after all, the entire world seems to be (Spoiler - click to show)a woman, where you explore her arm, eye, mouth, anus, and vagina, getting progressively more disturbing.
Gameplay is linear at first, turning into exploration later on. The game directs towards different 'questions', which you hunt through to find. I enjoyed this part of the game, as well as parts of the openings.
The overall theme is something I don't quite identify with, and as a prudish person, there are more sexual references than I would like. The general feel seems to be that women are torturing men by placing them in the Friend Zone, but the subtext is that the men are torturing themselves. Nowhere, though, does it suggest open dialogue or communication as ways of developing relationships.
So I had mixed feelings about it. I loved the execution and writing, and I'd be very happy to see more from this author.
A short homebrew cyoa game with fullscreen illustrations, February 3, 2016This IFComp 2015 entry was made from scratch by the author. It is a rebelling of the story Godfather Death by the Brothers Grimm. In the original story, a father chose one of three godfathers for their child: God, Satan, or Death. He chose Death.
This game lets you choose God or Satan as well. While it is interesting to see how it plays out, each branch is fairly short, and the graphics are somewhat lacking compared to other graphics in the comp.
Fans of fairy tales may like it, though.
A short combinatorial Twine game with tons of options , February 3, 2016This was one of the most-played IFComp 2015 games, most likely due to its intriguing premise (a machine that can do anything!) and its shortness.
What happens is that you pick one of a few different openings that affects the flavor text of the game, and get a semi-random ending. In between is the real meat of the game: a visually beautiful form of sorts where you place different attributes (like quantity or sound) into 2-3 slots and combine them to something new.
Many combinations don't work, but there's a manual that helps. After tinkering around a bit, you should look at the walkthrough and see just how much WAS implemented.
Overall, short but fun for a moment.
A 3-verb minimalist parser game about a fun-filled puzzle cube, February 3, 2016This minimalist parser game feels like it learned a lot from the success of Twine games, and responded by making a stripped-down straightforward puzzle box. I really liked it.
The box has different moving parts you have to interact with (using the single command U for USE or UNDERTAKE TO INTERACT WITH, according to the author). As you do, more and more pieces show up. You are taught how to use some pieces that you have to remember later; other puzzles require leaps of intuition or timing. I finished without hints, which is very unusual for me.
A richly detailed mid-length game set in a seedy part of Tokyo, February 3, 2016Gotomomi was one of the better long games of the 2015 IFComp. The author spent four years making this game.
You play a young woman who is need of cash in a Tokyo train station. A fairly compact map with a few hidden exits allows you to explore carefully and get to no the culture and economy.
The game is all about money. You buy and sell a lot, negotiating everything. Some jobs or ways of making money require several prerequisites. It's important to examine background objects on a regular basis.
The atmosphere is grungy, sad and dangerous. I really enjoyed this game, but it takes more time than a typical IFComp game.
Fun, short Magic:The Gathering-like Twine combat game , February 3, 2016In this game, you and an opponent are tied to opposite poles and required to battle each other. You have around seven abilities or powers, and your opponent has some preset attacks.
You have to figure what order to combine your attacks, as well as when to wait for an advantage. It becomes an optimization puzzle, where you frequently restart. Some have said that they thought it through logically and reduced the number of repeats.
The writing is beautiful and evocative, and reminds me of Magic:The Gathering. Giant collosi, swarms of bugs, whispered madness.
For fans of strategy-based combat.
The middle game of a sci-fi trilogy; a Twine game with images/animations, February 3, 2016Capsule II is an IFComp 2015 game that was well-received by many people. It involves a group of people called the Sandmen who are custodians over a giant ship. Each one spends years alone, and the game deals with their isolation.
The game has some great animations and illustrations in a sort of vintage washed-out/watercolor look (look at the cover art). I think it is just fantastic as in-game art.
The game has some profanity, references to porn, etc., which is a turn-off for me. But all of it fits with the character's personality. Many people have expressed the opinion that they expected the game to not be that great but that it somehow has that essential 'it'-ness that makes a game good. I see people talking about this game for a long time to come.
A game about fate and modern culture, February 3, 2016This is a short Twine IFComp game about fate. A vagabond is passing through a wood, making a variety of moral choices and inconsequential choices. They meet a strange figure with an air of mystery.
The game has more to it than it looks at first. I enjoyed trying various options to see how the game turned out in the end.
A nice part of the game is the visuals. The game has a beautiful set of images later in the game that are worth checking out.
I recommend this game to those who are interested in discussions of fate and morality.
A grungy look at superhero origins in Undum, February 3, 2016Cape is, in my opinion, one of the best web-based interactive fiction games of all time. It is an engrossing story about a young petty criminal who has 'greatness thrust upon them' as a result of their crimes.
The most influential choice you make in this long Undum game is the choice of your super powers. I've heard some people say that the powers end up seeming the same, but I felt that all three big options were very different from each other. I think what people are talking about is a fact that the actual story is the same; just the details of it change from choice to choice.
Your superhero comes to grips with their powers and their crime-fighting. They are simultaneously uncomfortable and thrilled by their powers. There is an interesting mystery leading to a thrilling climactic confrontation.
The feel is grungy, dark; I lived in Manhattan for a while, and this really reminds me of the feel of the Lower East Side at night. I just loved this game. Loved it loved it loved it. (Note: whenever someone hypes up a game to me, I am always disappointed in it, so you might not like it as much as I did. I just happen to really like grungy superhero stories).
A short, simple heartwarming choice game about a cat, February 3, 2016Forever Meow is an IFComp 2015 game. It has an interesting mechanism where you advance the game by clicking a key on the computer or clicking a link, and go back by clicking a permanent button.
The story has plot twists, but the way it starts out is that you're just a cat doing cat things. Throughout the game, you can bat stuff around, meow, hiss, jump on furniture.
This game was a bit simpler than a lot of the other IFComp games, but it made me feel good. I've seen a few people rate it as one of their favorites in the comp, and I can see why.
Recommended for people who like cats (so, quite a few people).
A short, simple puzzle game about pirates and treasure with two main goals, February 3, 2016This is an IFComp 2015 game, and was written to be a clear and simple example for middle school students to learn about writing games. In this game, you wash up on an island after a pirate attack, and need to find treasure on your own, without the guide of your professor.
You have frequent humorous memories about your time with the professor, providing much of the humor of the game.
You have two main goals in the game:(Spoiler - click to show)find the treasure, and get off the island. Both goals are fairly simple; if you get stuck, what to do next is fairly well-clued, although I did forget to examine the scenery at one point, getting stuck for a while.
Hopefully, the author will release the source code at some point, as it was specifically meant to help people learn to write in Inform.
Mid-length Twine game about identity and fate, February 3, 2016Unbeknown is one of those games that is hard to discuss without spoiling it. It is mostly a sci-fi game, mid-length, with two significant endings. It was created for IFComp 2015.
Alan De Niro has produced some incredible writing before, with Solarium and Deadline Enchanter being my favorites. So I entered into this game with high hopes.
However, it draws most of its imagery and setting from a place that I don't really identify with:(Spoiler - click to show)an MMORPG, a genre I tried one summer, but didn't really get into. This impacts my experience, but will probably enhance the game for those with more familiarity with that area.
The game offered a couple of choices that were especially interesting, and which were the highlights of the game to me: (Spoiler - click to show)the choice of name was especially significant to me; I chose the love interest's name once, and I let Able name me once, too. The other big choice is whether the past keeps up with you or not.
Overall, something didn't click for me, keeping this game from being perfect. But it is a good game, and I still recommend it to everyone.
A Twine game with many endings and hidden content/meaning, February 3, 2016This is an IFComp 2015 game. Many people seem to have played this for a couple of minutes, grinded a few enemies or beaten the boss, and quit, giving it a bad review. The game is so much more than that.
It is a retro-style RPG game, in the vein of old DnD adventures. It's stated purpose is to be a game about killing monsters. But as you go about the dungeon, things change. The rest is in spoilers:
(Spoiler - click to show)You begin to learn more about the monsters in the dungeon and their pasts. You can befriend many of them; you can heal them; the game in the ultimate ending proclaims that it is about love.
I recommend this game to everyone; but if you play it, play it for a while to see what lies beneath.
A visually and verbally dense/rich CYOA game about a lost city and melancholy, February 3, 2016To Burn in Memory is an IFComp 2015 game. It has a visual style very different from other CYOA games such as Twine. It is all black with intricate white tracings underneath the text, and a series of icons on either side of the screen indicates what objects you pick up.
The writing style matches the visual richness. The opening line is a good example:‘Breathtaking isn't it?’ says Salandré, gesturing out over the vista, ‘Here is the city as I saw it — empty, painted in rust and gold, below tormented skies writhing in cruel fire.’ she continues, in a tone somewhere between opera and pantomime. ...
The gameplay consists of exploring an abandoned city, activating stored memories, and gathering keys to open different doors.
The game has a strong sense of melancholy. Because of its stylistic innovations, everyone should try out the first part of the game, until you've gathered a few items. Those who want to can then continue.
A mid-length dream/surreal game set in a lab and a city, February 3, 2016This IFComp 2015 Inform game has many parallels with Losing Your Grip; it includes someone taking an experimental medication that causes hallucinations/dreams; it includes a recurring grim authority figure; it includes boxes with hard-to-open packing tape; and it has several moments when you wake up.
Beyond that, they're pretty different. This game is open and non-linear, with many different avenues you can pursue at once. I played it first with a walkthrough, and then tried it again without a walkthrough two weeks later. I got stuck again at the very end, and had to check the walkthrough. There are two points in the game that are fairly underclued, including the main interesting mechanic.
The map consits of a small house and a rectangular grid-like city, with a path connecting them. The city is small, with one building or less per grid spot and each building having one or two rooms each with one or two items.
Overall, this is a game that is good but could use some tune-up on cluing and on some guess-the-verbs (for instance, you can CONSULT BOOKS ABOUT but you can't LOOK UP). A postcomp release would be great.
A short Twine game about working for an alien author; many endings, February 3, 2016This is an IFComp 2015 game. You get hired to type for a disabled alien in a future where aliens are common.
The game has a short series of moral choices, some of which you can backtrack on, and few of which are clearcut. Although this was not clear to me at first, I later realized that the different endings are, in fact, very different, sometimes in ways not clearly connected to the choices you make.
Overall, it's not a very long game, and it has some interesting replay content. Recommended to those who find the blurb interesting, as I did.
A two-puzzle game with plenty of Easter eggs and hidden things, February 3, 2016This short IFcomp 2015 game is, I think, the author's first game, though they are planning on future games. You play a king who has to face the day and his people, and needs to find his King and crown.
This game is notable in that the hidden content massively outnumbers the actual puzzles. The game can be beaten in less than 10 turns. However, the ending is very different, depending on your actions. There are magic words, background stories to find in the scenery, and a hidden part of a novel, as well as a ton of customized error messages and such.
Overall, I would like to see the author make a longer game with similar attention to detail. It would be difficult, but having that much hidden stuff, coupled with more puzzles and a longer plot arc, would make for a great and memorable game.
A game about puns, society, oppression, and charismatic leaders, February 3, 2016This IfComp 2015 game is mid-length, and is full of reversed compound nouns (so, for instance, you are Alec Smart, seeking out the Complex Messiah).
The big inspiration here is the Phantom Tollbooth. As in that book, the clever jokes are the focus, with story being out to the sidelines. Also like the book, you wander about the world, undertaking different quests and talking to interesting characters.
Much of the game is social commentary, specifically on 'smart people'; those who are socially awkward, those who are pretentious, those who are idolized, etc.
I beta tested this game, and it was interesting to see how much work the author put into revisions; many things in the game are vastly different from before, fortunately, the author allows you to tour sections of the game that were removed, which is a very nice bonus.
Recommended for fans of the Phantom Tollbooth, or those interested in games that comment on real-life issues.
A rapidly branching Twine game with very very different endings, February 3, 2016Crossroads is an IFComp 2015 Twine game about choices and a witch. Unlike most IF games which have paths that temporarily branch then converge, Crossroads branches and stays branched. Some paths visit your past, some involve only mild fantasy, some involve sci fi, some let you type material in, etc.
All of the branches have the common theme of desperation. Well, I think they all do; I doubt anyone besides the author has found all of the branches.
Each branch is fairly short. This game becomes better and better the more you play it.
A short story about time travel with minimal interactivity, February 3, 2016This IFComp 2015 game is written using inklewriter. It contains a fairly large amount of text for an interactive fiction game, but it stops at the most interesting point of the story. To me, it felt like the first two chapters of a long novel.
The story is about time travel, and is complicated and intricate. It is clear that the author is excellent at worldbuilding; I read through this game twice, about two weeks apart, and the second time I appreciated the story much more. I was excited to read more, and I hope the author continues the story.
There are a couple of typos, but I think the author may be fixing them, as I remember there being more the first time I read it.
So this story is more of non-interactive fiction, but it is not bad for a sci-fi short story.
An entirely dialogue-based sci-fi Twine game about a space station murder, February 3, 2016This was an IFComp 2015 entry. This is a mid-length Twine game with an interesting format: each page is written somewhat like a play, listing the location and people present, each in their own color. Then dialogue appears a line at a time, each in the color belonging to the person.
The game is set on a space station. You are a computer, and there has been a murder on the station.
I enjoyed the story, especially the 2nd and 3rd times I played it. Most of the interactivity is found in selecting the order of presentation. I am beginning to become a fan of dialogue-only games, like this and Birdland.
A mid-length parser game with a lot going on, and not what you think it is, February 3, 2016This IFComp 2015 game starts off as a time-management baking game that I at first found very difficult to keep track of, and several non-standard inventory items.
Eventually things start to happen. The game gets much more interesting. However, micromanagment still abounds. Things can get frequently lost; things have to be replaced. A dozen or more NPC's of various types come and go, doing what they please, and it is difficult to keep track of everything.
I played through this game twice, a couple of weeks apart, and it was still hard to juggle everything the second time, knowing exactly what I needed to do. However, I understood the game much better the second time, and I appreciated it more. Some of the meta techniques are incredibly clever.
A family-written Undum story about a kid who changes overnight, February 3, 2016Switcheroo is part of a family-friendly series of stories about a witch who runs a foster home. All parts of the story involve a certain writing style, where the narrator is a magic book that coughs up 'pageballs' from time to time.
In this tale, the focus is on Derik, who goes to sleep as a boy in a wheelchair and wakes up as a girl.
Later, some good things start happening in their life due to the switch. And they have to decide whether to keep their new body and identity, or go back to their old.
This game has affected a lot of different people in different ways. There is an obvious interest from the transgender community to see how this story is represented, and those who have experience adoption have responded to it as well. My family includes some who are permanently disable and use wheelchairs, so it was very interesting for me to think about this game.
Overall, I had fun playing through the first time, but I didn't look forward to replaying this game for the review. I would recommend this game to those looking for a family-friendly game or for a game that examines social issues in detail.
A very long surreal Twine game about identity, purpose, and journey, February 3, 2016This excellent IFComp 2015 game is a bizarre, surreal journey. You choose one of several 'origin stories' in a sense; for instance, once my father carved miniature cathedrals that played music, and once I lived in the swamp and sold frog skin.
The game consists of a journey towards a distant summit. You reach many places in between, in almost a surreal(er) Gulliver's Travels.
As you travel, you deal with an odd thing called a fishstomach, whose details I leave to the game.
Overall, I found the game emotionally satisfying, especially near the end. Well-chosen graphics help the game.
Occasional profanity and some body horror, but milder than Porpentine's games in general.
Choice-of-games style pirate fiction, February 3, 2016This is an interesting pirate world, where magic is prevalent and women have a much stronger place in the world.
This is a choice-of-games style game, which means that it's a CYOA, with choices affecting different 'stats' you have (like magic ability, gun ability, drunkenness, sneakiness, etc.) You have to build up different stats for different challenges.
Overall, a very fun game. I really enjoyed it, first as a beta tester, then playing it in the comp. The story is fast-paced and exciting.
A dark fantasy about stealth and finding secrets. Best to take your time., February 3, 2016I enjoyed Sub Rosa, and rank it in the top 5 of IFComp. It's world-building is marvellous; you explore a strange house in a strange world consisting of different 'planes' (in the Dungeons and Dragon's sense, and in the mathematical sense, and in the geographical sense).
The house and the backstory are weird and interesting, like a 1001 Arabian Nights written by Steven Moffat and David Eddings.
As your find out very early on, your goal is to find 7 secrets to destroy someone. Your secondary goal is not to get caught or noticed.
The game is enjoyable, and the puzzles are great, but it suffers from a bit of hunt-for-clues, like Where's Waldo. There is a library with 101 books, some of which are obviously important, and others which are necessary for winning but not clearly marked out.
As another example of the hunt-for-clues issue, there is one puzzle you solve by examining a background item not usually implemented, interacting with it in an unusual way, using that to interact with another important thing in an unusual way, and then examining two things in succession.
Thus, this game is best-suited for the meticulous. Fortunately, its rich backstory makes such meticulousness very rewarding.
An alt-game about OCD and managing your life, February 3, 2016This IFComp 2015 game centers on understanding and experiencing OCD. It has a nice visual feel, with a fixed-letter-spacing font and some purposely grainy photos/images.
You are diagnosed with OCD, and you learn that it's not what people think it is. You experience OCD as you struggle with how to spend your day and struggle with intrusive thoughts presented in an interesting way.
Overall, a mid-length game. You get a summary at the end describing how you're doing and what your future might be like.
If you are interested in OCD, definitely check this game out.
A homebrew parser with great interface; a catburglar story, February 3, 2016Second Story features a web-based parser that is, in my opinion, a quite nice visual improvement over several other parsers.
The story is about a catburglar who has changed their life, but has to go back to work to save their brother.
Gameplay is straightforward, taking, opening, and dropping things, but the story drives the game forward. It's fast and fun. I especially liked the twist at the end.
I recommend this game to those interested in developments in parser technology, and for those into crime-based stories (it reminded me a bit of the story of PataNoir, stripped from its mechanic).
A very short, fun surreal game exploring a metaphorical place, February 3, 2016This game is almost ritualistic in nature, and I enjoyed it. The gameplay consists almost entirely of reading messages placed in each of about 12 rooms. Doing this unlocks the final step.
Everything is dreamlike in nature, a bit like Plotkin's Dreamhold, but on a smaller scale. You wake up with no voice in front of a locked door In a dark structure with symbolic rooms, some made of glass, others of iron, etc.
I'm always into this kind of game, so I had fun. However, this game is really only for fans of the genre. Intentionally few puzzles, and the story is mostly about cool atmosphere.
A mid-length homebrew parser game with DnD-type quests, February 3, 2016This game resembles to me a Dungeons and Dragons type quest without leveling or classes. You play Questor, on a quest to help everyone. You have to save a man from poisoning by finding an antidote, defeat a witch, gather things in the forest, engage in combat, answer riddles, and do a few more intense Kerkerkruip-like combat segments where you choose whether to attack or defend and what to attack.
I would not classify this as an 'old-school game', but more as a 'faux-ld school game', a game that recreates what people think early parser games were like.
If you enjoy DnD type games (like Eye of the Beholder), this could be a fun mid-length game for you.
A randomized chase through an underground city, February 3, 2016This IFComp 2015 game places you in a preset underground map that is vaguely maze-like, and sets a monster chasing after you.
Although the map is preset, there are many doors that are locked, and the keys randomly distributed. Also randomly distributed are items to set traps with to kill a monster that is chasing you.
It is a fun game, with good atmosphere, but over pretty quickly. It would be fun to see the author add a version with multiple monsters, where you have to work harder to evade them and need to set multiple traps.
An alchemical IFComp game with innovative movement system, February 3, 2016Pilgrimage is a deeply symbolic game. The author has based the game around several symbolic progressions, including a progression of colors, the stages of grief, and more.
It is set in a pastiche of the medieval world, and it includes almost the entire world. Typing E will not take you one room east, it sets you off on a journey of months or years, to Russia or China.
You travel around trying to gain alchemical knowledge, and acheive a kind of transcendence. You seem to worship a dark Babylonian God, because Blessings of Babylon of disputable benefit are given to several people.
The IFComp release was a bit buggy, but I hope the author will do a postcomp release fixing the bugs discovered in the comp. This would result in a great game that people could discuss for a long time to come.
An alchemy RPG with many stats and fun story line, February 3, 2016Onaar is different than most games out there. It is an RPG with heavy amounts of grinding, but can still be completed relatively quickly.
You are a young person who crashes on an island with a community on it. You become an alchemist's apprentice. The game has a real economy with things you need to buy and sell, a variety of stats, a mild hunger daemon (with plenty of free food items regenerating all over), and many potions you make by gathering alchemical ingredients.
It was fun. It is not like other parser games; if you are looking for a traditional puzzler, you should go somewhere else. Traditional puzzles are here, but the RPG/alchemy system is the real star. You can make yourself incorporeal, stronger, a teleporter, etc.
Great for fans of classic RPGS.
A classic-style parser game about a darkly humorous vampire, February 3, 2016This mid-length IFComp 2015 game is an old-school game that is surprisingly forgiving. While you need to decipher passwords and complex machinery and examine each item and location, it has an internal consistency that makes it easier. Also, on two occasions when I was wandering around stuck, the game openly said "You remember that you..." and gave me the answer.
You are a vampire that seems like he would be played by a comedic actor in a darker film (kind of like a Buffy the Vampire take on an ancient Vampire). The game gets morbid but jokes as it does so (you remember torturing people a lot, for instance, but it' s played as an enjoyable hobby. I thought it was too much at a few points, but this game is unlikely to seriously offend anyone.
If you like puzzley games, you will love this one.
A two-part apartment parser game with an unusal premise, February 3, 20165 Minutes to Burn Something is a short-to-mid length IFComp 2015 game. It is about a woman who needs to set something in her apartment on fire so she won't be fined for a false alarm.
The game is set into two parts; first, you try and set the fire. Then, you (Spoiler - click to show)have to frame your ex-boyfriend so you don't get arrested for arson.
The puzzles are clever and imaginative, but due to the detailed scope of the game, some implementation got left behind. Many reasonable synonyms of things are not implemented, or reasonable alternative to in-game solutions; for instance, as a fictional example, you might have a jar with a lid, where LOOK IN JAR says 'you see nothing', while OPEN LID will tell you 'You find a cookie and pick it up'.
I think theses issues will be fixed in a post-comp release. I really enjoyed the first part of the game, although the second part seemed a bit creepy.
Recommended for puzzle fans.
An engaging Twine story about interning at a magical publishing company, February 3, 2016Dalmady brings their characteristic charm and structure to a mid-length Twine game about interning for a company with actual magic.
The company uses rune/sigil-based magic, but the character is mostly familiar with magic through a Harry Potter-like series of fictional books.
As others have pointed out, the strength of the game is the contrast between the exciting world of magic and the sheer drudgery of intern work (making copies, getting coffee, etc.) I reached all three endings, and enjoyed the variety as well as the mechanisms by which the character achieves the 'good' endings (in my opinion).
There is a single instance of strong profanity, but otherwise no violence and profanity. The horrible reality of a boring office life (with low pay) may be too much for children and most adults, however (How many copies do I have to make!!!!!).
A tight, well-written spoof of 50's sci-fi with comic-style graphics, February 3, 2016This game was my predicted winner of IFComp 2015. This game is well-written, has great pacing (especially in the first half), a strong narrative voice, and excellent graphics. It is easy enough for people to get into with little IF experience, but provides enough of a challenge later on to be interesting.
You play a teenage girl whose town is overrun by the eponymous Brain Guzzlers. You have a cast of creatively-described friends and acquaintances who help you out. Conversation is menu-based, which allows Cherrywell to express the real flavor of the PC's world (with a lot of 'Jeepers!').
The game has some very creative puzzles, and some more straightforward. Each character of the game (besides yourself) comes with one or more high-quality graphics that show up when talking to them.
Game play is 2-3 hours long, I estimate. I recommend this to everyone; I feel like it will be played for years to come.
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