Reviews by ArloElm
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After All, We Are All Kor, March 26, 2023I very much enjoyed this game. The player character is an AI named Ov, a caretaker aboard an interstellar ship orbiting a giant sentient plant/planet named Kor-Lađə.
Lađə has been learning about the ship's inhabitants. Based on the attempts at "parental humor" (dad jokes), and the response ilicited from Ov, it seems Lađə's a fast learner.
The UI is excellent (typical for any of this author' s games), and utilized very well through features like files which tell us more about the ship and settlement, and through requests made of the AI. These requests range from endearing and humorous to poignant and heart-renching, and the protagonist's struggles are likely familiar to those who have dealt with with mental illness and grief, or anything that can cause someone to feel alienated from others, and from themself.
The ship's environment is the medium through which Ov and Lađə communicate. Through Ov's (sometimes intentional, often unintentional) manipulation of lights and air vents and sprinkler systems, to Lađə's unfurling flowers that have grown throughout the ship.
We also see follow-ups to completed requests, which is a nice touch and reinforces the positive impact Ov has on those around them, even as they struggle with their own loneliness.
In the end, (Spoiler - click to show) it is Lađə's appeals to solidarity through mutual experiences that really drive the game's themes home. Both Ov and Lađə are alone, different, misunderstood, but maybe they can be alone together, if Ov decides to stay.
All in all it's a really beautiful game. It's still not complete, (I think the author has said this is something like 30% of the total story). So I eagerly wait for the gaps to be filled, and to see what the rest holds for Egravn, for Tlan, for Ov, and for Kor.
An Excellent Start to the Retro Apocalypse, March 14, 2023The first thing that stands out about this game is the UI. Styled after old VCR graphics, it's eye-catching and retro in a way that perfectly fits the setting. This is a world where tapes and old computers are about as far as technology developed before some unnamed cataclysm sent everything grinding to a halt. The player character explores a violent post-apocalypse with little more than the shirt on their back (that is, of course, assuming they elect to wear a shirt).
The character creation offers an extensive array of choices, boasting around 130 items of clothing, all very stylish and post-apocalyptic. I had a lot of fun reading all the descriptions and choosing a suitable outfit for my disaster of a protagonist. (I ended up with a player character who has zero common sense (or -1 SAVVY, according to the stat screen, so less than zero), and a high SIGNAL stat. I adore them to pieces.)
The game uses a dice rolling system, plus skills and XP, in a way that will be familiar to players of ttrpgs, but it's simplified enough that those who are less experienced won't find things difficult to follow. There's SAVVY (street smarts), BRAWN (strength and intimidation), GLAM (aesthetics and charisma) , and SIGNAL (sort of like intuition, but there's more mysterious and interesting things going on with this one). Occasional dice rolls are affected by the player's skill-level to determine the outcome of a situation.
There's an impressive amount of detail packed into every bit of this game, too. Whether it's a side quest collecting zines for a peculiar bookseller, or the 'genderfuck' identity achievement that can be gained from talking with the security guard at a brothel, these details really make the world feel lived-in and fully realized. This is a game that truly says: Explore every corner, see what you might find.
As you explore the post-apocalyptic environment, bits and pieces of the plot begin to emerge. (Spoiler - click to show) A stolen package, a death god, militias and socialist(-ish) mercenary crews, drugs, brothels, vampires. Radio signal, *Signal* signal, assassinations. I can't wait to learn how these different threads connect, and see where all this is going as further installments are published. The author clearly has a bright future in game development ahead of him.
On a final, and more personal, side note, I played this demo at a time when I and my friends have been pretty down due to recent anti-trans laws where we live in the US. Playing a game that is so unapologetically queer has been very good for morale. So thank you, to the author, for that.
A Strong Introduction to Demonic Adventure , November 20, 2022At the time I'm writing this review, only the game's prologue and character creation are available to play, but that's more than enough to see what an amazing game Zorlok is already shaping out to be. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this is one of the strongest game intros I've encountered.
Stylish UI and atmospheric music set the scene for the player's introduction to Tommy (it is his story we follow during the prologue, to get a picture of his life pre-demon-summoning). We follow him through part of a ttrpg campaign, some tumultuous teen feelings, and a meeting with a local witch (The witch, Harlow, is a personal favorite, and I'm excited to see how the author handles her character in the future)
Eventually, the demon emerges. I don't want to spoil too much, but the character creation for Zorlok is probably the most extensive I've ever seen in an IF game, full of thoughtful details, trans-affirming choices, and more than few excellent jokes (especially if you take the time to play more than once and gague Tommy's reaction to different choices). The music also sets the tone during this sequence and really helps hype the player up. All-in-all this is an excellently written, masterful introduction to the story. I can't wait to see where it goes.
One of my favorite things about this game is its ability to capture that feeling one gets upon discovering historical connections and commonalities with gay and trans people of the past (not that they would have used the same terms we use, something the game itself notes).
As the protagonist searches through old records encoded in bacterial DNA, she uncovers diary entries from more hopeful times, scientific articles, and more recent entries from the revolution. Decoding the DNA is her job, and, fascinating as some of her discoveries are, the work drains her of energy. Sometimes she can complete many tasks, and sometimes she can only decode one sample before exhaustion takes her.
The archivist, Em, struggles with chronic illness and survivor's guilt. She is a sick woman in a dying world. She was not radical enough for the revolutionaries, and not conformist enough (or rather, not cis enough) for those in power who would do her harm. Even as the world around her falls apart, she needs to find ways to pay rent, or face eviction. She numbs herself with news bulletins demonizing her and those she cares about. Her struggles are all too familiar and at times heartbreakingly relatable.
And yet, there is hope. More hope than I was expecting from a game like this. Moments of connection with (Spoiler - click to show) her son, S-, and with her friends and former lovers K- and A-, demonstrate someone trying to find connection through undercurrents of hopelessness and despair.
This is a game that manages to pack a lot of emotional weight into a structure that is in large part randomly generated or player-determined. (The DNA fragments are randomly occurring; Em's energy levels fluctuate based on fixed probabilities; the player decides how Em spends her limited time and energy.)
In whatever ways Em spends her time, she is ultimately trapped in a lichen-encrusted, underground city, trying to cling to what life she can make for herself. In several paths, she finds (Spoiler - click to show) a home and a family, however imperfect.
Many of this author's games have made me cry while playing, but not this one. The tears didn't come until the day(s) after. This story seeps into your bones and lives there. A remembered future, a future we can only hope to avoid, even if much of what is depicted only mildly exaggerates what too many people are already facing.
One thing to take away from this game, though, is that in either today's world or in an imagined dystopia, our salvation will surely lie in each other.
Get the Kids into Interactive Fiction Early, October 8, 2022Esther's is a very short game, about 5 minutes of read/play time, and that is a perfect length for a game that models itself after a picture book. Everything from the font choices and colors, to the undeniably charming illustrations work together to this end. The humor is clever, gentle, and exactly the kind of thing to delight a young child like the titular Esther.
This is a game to be read along with the kids in your life. To the authors, thank you for making this game, and for demonstrating that this art form truly can be for all ages.
This game is witty, profane, disgusting, clever, and very, very funny. It critiques the prison industrial complex, satirizes modern(-ish) pop culture, and delves into personal authorial confessions. It does it all with humor that could easily veer into the jaded or cynical, and it does, at times, but there are also moments of deeply earnest sincerity amid the gore and viscera (it is an odd combination, one that the author gleefully relishes).
There are monsters, and even the monsters deserve love. There are flawed, deeply human inmates and bootleggers. There are gross-out scenes involving various bodily fluids that are extreme enough to warrant taking the content warnings very seriously. There are whole societies based on the post-apocalyptic preservation of the entirety of Pitbull's musical catalog.
One Final Pitbull Song is a wild ride, a fever dream, a horror-comedy-romance for the ages.
Beautiful Gameplay, Fun Mixing Minigames, October 7, 2022This game has really gorgeous UI, a story mode, and several arcade modes. You play as a bartender in a fantasy universe (think typical fantasy TTRPGs) and serve clients drinks.
The story mode needed a little more attention when I played. There were still a few bugs, but these will likely all be fixed soon, if they haven't been addressed already. The author has been extremely responsive to all reports of errors.
The arcade mode, though, and the core drink-mixing mechanics, are an absolute triumph. The UI really shines here, with colorful bottles, a variety of recipes, and gameplay that is just difficult enough to be challenging (the timed modes are especially fun).
There are also a few clever UI implementations in the story mode gameplay itself, which add variety to the randomized patron encounters (one involving Tarot Cards was really delightful).
All-in-all, definitely a game I would recommend. Whether you play around in arcade mode for a few minutes, or take some time and delve into story mode and meet the Tavern's customers, you're in for an entertaining experience.
A Grandmother's Retelling of Her Life Through Conflict, Resistance, and Family, July 6, 2022This game does many of the things that historical fiction does best. It humanizes the people involved in and affected by war in ways that dry articles and statistics simply cannot. Zhang Xiaoyun's childhood and young adulthood are followed through retellings to her great-granddaughter, and at the center of it all is a very meaningful, very human, love story.
A Few Observations:
• I loved choosing options to get additional information, especially the ones that take the player back to the modern-day conversation between (great-)grandmother and granddaughter. Many of these function purely as footnotes, but some also involve playful asides that inspire affection for the characters as well as being informative about the history and setting.
• I also enjoyed the little moment of mlm and wlw solidarity when (Spoiler - click to show) Zhiwen says, "Maybe we're not that different," and the protagonist feels a sense of safety around him (plus her looks of recognition when she sees Zhiwen's reaction at being reunited with the cadre with whom he was presumably romantically involved)
• During this playthrough, I didn't choose many options I anticipated as being more romantically bittersweet, but those few I did read through were poignant and beautifully written. I think I'll devote another playthrough to choosing more of those options in the future.
• A potential error: (Spoiler - click to show) If the protagonist attends a resistance meeting with Yan Yan, later, after the two escape and the authorities show up at their school, the text reads as if Yan Yan is the only one in danger of being found out, when in all likelyhood the protagonist would spare at least a passing thought for her own safety as well. (This may be a missed variable or coding error, and is really a very minor, nit-picky complaint in what is overall a wonderful gameplay experience.)
In closing, I also want to mention the small piece of meta-commentary the game engages in, about the nature and purpose of stories. At one choice, the protagonist says that stories are useful because they "help people understand other people and themselves." If that is the purpose of stories, this game fulfills that purpose very well.
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