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The Abyss

by dacharya64 profile

Surreal
2013

(based on 18 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

"The Abyss"--a surreal romp through the hills and valleys of the mind. Ever since you were young you've felt that you've been controlled, manipulated, forced into actions by some outside force, some being you can only describe as "it."

After a life of suffering and struggle, you're finally ready to face it through a gripping voyage of empathy, apathy, and a struggle to survive in the world of your mind.

I wanted to test the limits of interactive fiction as a storytelling medium. I wanted to allow this genre to open up different facets of the world and different facets of the player. Hopefully this story is not so different from the existence in which we all find ourselves.


Game Details


News

Download The Abyss on your Android device!

Check it out here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=inky.abyss&hl=en
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Member Reviews

5 star:
(5)
4 star:
(6)
3 star:
(3)
2 star:
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1 star:
(1)
Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 2
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Interesting mood piece--, October 22, 2013
by streever (America)

I'm not a huge fan of CYOA, so take my negative feelings with a grain of salt. My 2 stars doesn't reflect negatively on the technical implementation, and I think most of the writing was adequate, but the actual game elements were lacking.

I felt like there was a lot of text to wade through--it was mostly well-written, but just a lot, and I didn't feel like I had a good idea of what was going to influence what. Many times my actions produced the opposite outcome, and I didn't really see why, or how I could choose differently in the next situation.

My main problem with (many) CYOA games is I feel like the choice is meaningless, because I don't get enough data or feedback to make my choices intelligently. I felt that way with this game as well.

It has a good atmosphere, but the insistence on making the person playing the game the actual character (through the use of non-specific nouns and identifiers) hurt the immersion for me. The opening has several (potentially) strong scenes with "your parent"--not dad, father, mother, mom, etc, but "your parent", which killed any emotional impact it may have had for me.

I think it is better to be brave and risk not representing everyone by choosing a parent and making it a little more specific, when going for narrative immersion in emotional topics. I wasn't particularly interested in pursuing romance with the non-specific figure I met at a cafe.

I think if you like heavy text games and want to explore themes of alienation and loneliness this may be a good game for you, as it does do that. While I finished it (getting a bad ending), I wasn't interested in trying again to get another ending. The 2 stars reflects my subjective feeling about the style of the game--it is very well done for what it is.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A breathy, heartfelt longish twine game about inner demons, July 1, 2017
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This game reminds me a lot of creepypasta: intense writing with something of a neglect of proper writing techniques (such as grammar and some other things that careful testing could fix). However, it has an intensity of emotion that makes it more enjoyable than a polished, bloodless game.

You play someone who has a dark secret inside of them, which affects them throughout their life. Eventually, you must journey to your own psyche to confront this secret.

It's fairly long, with choices that felt mostly meaningful. It features combat. It has some profanity and violent sequences.

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The Abyss on IFDB

Recommended Lists

The Abyss appears in the following Recommended Lists:

The Best of the Best by bluevelvetwings
Whether because of amazing writing, immersive plot, unique atmosphere, or whatever else, these are the games I personally consider the best IF has to offer. ...

Polls

The following polls include votes for The Abyss:

Awesome Text Adventure Gaming wants to review your game by theqbasicwizard
I would love to review the game that you have created and review for an upcoming episode of Awesome Text Adventure Gaming.

Dreams That You Have To Escape From by Dachi Sirbiladze
Lets Say A Guy Who Started Sleeping On A Regular Night And Had A Dream That He Needed To Find A Way To Escape Whatever Is In His Way To End The Dream

For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible NPCs of 2013 by Sam Kabo Ashwell
This poll is a place to suggest non-player characters from games released in 2013, who you think might be worth considering for Best Individual NPC in the XYZZY Awards. Leave the name (or namelessness) of the NPC (or NPCs) in the comment...




This is version 7 of this page, edited by dacharya64 on 29 January 2019 at 1:32am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page