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Number of Ratings: 121
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Showing All | Show by Page - Max Fog, March 21, 2024
- Beable, February 29, 2024
- KathB (Toronto, Ontario), January 9, 2024
- wisprabbit (Sheffield, UK), September 19, 2023
Dostoevskian teenage passivity simulator?, August 9, 2023
Have always admired this coming of age IF for its cheeky and insightful depiction not just of passivity but nostalgia.
One aspect I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere: Unless I'm wrong, I believe the concept owes something to the Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground," another story told by a bitter and impractical man with issues relating to his peers. Years after playing Bond's game, I was reading "Notes" for the first time when something about a rant in it felt very familiar, and I realized I was thinking of the protagonist's speech in "Rameses" attacking "you 'people of action.'"
- Kastel, April 7, 2023
- EJ, November 15, 2022
- sw3dish, October 13, 2022
- obedia, October 9, 2022
SPAG
The writing is solid and has a lot of character -- in some places, possibly a wee bit too much character. Still, as in several other offerings this year, the style fit perfectly the mood and environs. It reads, to my mind, something like those TV shows where a character chooses to narrate the goings-on would were they in a written format, a trick that works with the right characters and situations... which this game has.
-- Tina Sikorski
>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction
Playing this character is an exercise in frustration. Every command you enter that might stand up to a bully, or leave a bad situation, or just let the PC take charge of his life in any way is wistfully brushed aside with a message like "Yeah, that'd be great, wouldn't it? But I'll never do it." Annoying, yes, but it's also the very soul of the character, and the very point of the game. In a sense, Rameses turns you into Alex's real self, struggling to get out and be heard, struggling to make a difference, only to be smacked down by fear, insecurity, and sometimes outright paranoia. In his climactic speech, the PC voices the exact torment that the player feels at every prompt -- it's an agonizing experience, and that's the point.
2 of
2 people found the following review helpful:
Teenage Social Anxiety: The Un-Interactive Fiction, February 13, 2022by Cody Gaisser (Florence, Alabama, United States of America, North America, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Known Universe, ???) Rameses is a semi-interactive short story about a shy, insecure teenage boarding school student with too much social anxiety to act on his impulses. Surrounded by jerks and pushovers (and certainly a bit of both himself), the protagonist struggles to navigate awkward situations like bullying and dates with girls.
The protagonist's social paralysis is represented through the "gameplay" decision to restrict the player's behavior at almost every turn. Almost nothing the player can do will affect the story in any meaningful way, and often the protagonist simply refuses to act at all. This is not a bug but a feature, however, as it perfectly expresses the way a surly teenager might shut down in complicated social situations where they feel powerless.
While Rameses may frustrate some players looking for either an adventure game (no puzzles here!) or a piece of interactive fiction with more emphasis on "interactivity," the story and mechanical conceit are strong enough to recommend anyway. It should strike a chord with anyone who has ever experienced being an insecure teenager surrounded by other insecure teenagers, which I'd guess is quite a lot of people.
- Malasana, August 18, 2021
- jusw85, March 16, 2021
- autumnc, September 12, 2020
- antperson, August 20, 2020
- William Chet (Michigan), July 19, 2020
- Zape, July 16, 2020
- Edo, May 19, 2020
- kierlani, May 4, 2020
- airylef, February 23, 2020
- Spike, August 28, 2019
- jjsonick, August 17, 2019
- DAB, May 14, 2019
- eccol, March 18, 2019
- elias67, March 12, 2019
- getlostdont, February 5, 2019
- SchnickelFritz (TX), December 26, 2018
- Bartlebooth, December 8, 2018
- DustyCypress (Hong Kong), May 19, 2018
- dgtziea, May 9, 2018
- enkaye (usa), October 5, 2017
- ja, bo ja, August 28, 2017
- Laney Berry, May 15, 2017
- Dhary, January 11, 2017
- ToALonelyPeace, April 1, 2016
- CMG (NYC), March 19, 2016
- E. W. B., February 23, 2016
3 of
3 people found the following review helpful:
A young man struggles with his identity and with self-loathing, February 3, 2016Rameses is like 'Ulysses' by Joyce; a well-known classic that is uncomfortable at times and neither of which I can really recommend as enjoyable.
Rameses is a young college student who is dealing with loneliness, loss, and ennui. The main idea of the game is that you cannot always, or even often, overcome your character's desires to accomplish your own.
The character is accurately portrayed a shallow young man of his age, leading to a lot of profanity but worse, to the player becoming a partner in small despicable acts. Not things like murder or assault, but petty and mean things that he feels are not his fault.
Within its sphere, the writing is good and the implementation is excellent. A mid length game.
- Aryore, December 13, 2015
- leanbh, July 30, 2015
- ibelongia, June 5, 2015
- Thrax, March 11, 2015
- hoopla, March 6, 2015
- Floating Info, December 19, 2014
- Sobol (Russia), September 12, 2014
- shornet (Bucharest), March 23, 2014
- Snave, March 7, 2014
- Cloud-Of-Judgement (Eastern Europe), December 13, 2013
- Simon Deimel (Germany), November 21, 2013
- WaitYAmIHere, November 21, 2013
- kala (Finland), September 24, 2013
- Adam Myers, September 19, 2013
- Artran (Taipei, Taiwan), August 24, 2013
- Indigo9182, August 14, 2013
- DJ (Olalla, Washington), May 9, 2013
- Ann R. J., April 28, 2013
- deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN), February 7, 2013
- Sdn (UK), January 4, 2013
- Perry Simm (Vienna, Austria), December 2, 2012
- bluevelvetwings, October 14, 2012
- E.K., October 12, 2012
- PNervous, September 21, 2012
- AADA7A, September 20, 2012
- Jordan Magnuson (Corvallis, Oregon), August 20, 2012
- Katrisa (Houston), July 19, 2012
- Jonathan Blask (Milwaukee, WI, USA), April 1, 2012
- Porpentine (Oakland, CA), March 12, 2012
- Destarex (Colorado), January 13, 2012
- AndyC (Japan), October 17, 2011
- Hulk Handsome (Carmen Sandiago), August 23, 2011
- Corwin71, July 10, 2011
- JohnW (Brno, Czech Republic), March 16, 2011
- dryman, February 4, 2011
- Walter Sandsquish, February 2, 2011
- snickerdoddle, January 28, 2011
- Ben Cressey (Seattle, WA), January 25, 2011
1 of
14 people found the following review helpful:
Not bad...but could have been more..., August 19, 2010I am a bit disappointed that this game didn't allow you to do more...I would have loved to have known what would have happened if the player was allowed to combat the bullys. A lot of insecurities going on that frustrated me.
- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), July 24, 2010
- Buffaloelvis, July 22, 2010
- Simon Christiansen (Denmark), July 8, 2010
- strikemeyer (Atlanta, Georgia), June 12, 2010
- Patrick M. McCormick (United States), May 10, 2010
- Ziixxxitria (California), April 4, 2010
- Sam Kabo Ashwell (Seattle), February 15, 2010
- Brian Conn (Eureka, California), February 10, 2010
- TempestDash (Cincinnati, Ohio), December 4, 2009
- Alessan, August 23, 2009
- GDL (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), July 2, 2009
- Vambuli, May 21, 2009
- Hipster Scumbag, May 4, 2009
- Otto (France), April 16, 2009
- Mark Jones (Los Angeles, California), March 31, 2009
- Jeremy Freese (Evanston, IL), February 21, 2009
- albtraum, February 8, 2009
- Cheryl L (Australia), January 9, 2009
- Robb Sherwin (Colorado), December 30, 2008
- Adam Biltcliffe (Cambridge, UK), December 28, 2008
- Linnau (Tel-Aviv, Israel), October 31, 2008
- Nathan (Utah), October 25, 2008
- madducks (Indianapolis, Indiana), September 5, 2008
- burtcolk, September 3, 2008
- helga (Australia), August 29, 2008
- thisisboots, August 15, 2008
- Beekeeper, July 28, 2008
- Anders Hellerup Madsen (Copenhagen, Denmark), July 21, 2008
- Clare Parker (Portland, OR), May 21, 2008
- Ghalev (Northern Appalachia, United States), May 2, 2008
21 of
22 people found the following review helpful:
A psychological study in constraint, April 28, 2008Rameses is a day in the life of a disaffected, alienated teenager at an Irish boarding school. Appropriately enough given its protagonist, it's a study in constraint. As you pass through a series of increasingly squirm-inducing scenes, you the player will try again and again to break Rameses out of the rut his life has become, only to have the game -- or, rather, Rameses himself -- refuse your requests with a variety of lame excuses. The game thus manages the neat trick of using its facade of interactivity to make its point -- said point being Rameses's refusal to recognize the control he has over his own life. The game is as railroaded as they come, but the mechanics serve the theme of the game.
None of which means this is a pleasant play. There are no happy endings here. Rameses is unlikable even to us who have privledged access to his real thoughts, and exasperating in that way that only a clinically depressed person can be. And yet, even as we want to slap him repeatedly, we also can perhaps begin to understand what it must be like to live in the prison he has made for himself. His one saving grace is that, unlike the bullies and fawners who surround him, he at least feels shame at his repeated moral failings.
I never want to play another game like this. Its central gimmick -- and I don't mean that word perjoratively -- will work exactly once. Here, though, it works brilliantly, even movingly.
- brattish (Canada), April 3, 2008
- OK Chickadee, February 26, 2008
- RichCheng (Warwickshire, UK), December 19, 2007
- Tyrog, December 14, 2007
- PSilk (London, UK), November 26, 2007
- VK, November 26, 2007
- anj tuesday, November 18, 2007
- AmberShards (The Gothic South), November 18, 2007
7 of
11 people found the following review helpful:
Well-executed, just not my thing, November 16, 2007This isn't really a game, and as the author says in the ABOUT, it isn't really a story either: "All I can call it is a Thing." There is very little interactivity; your agency basically consists of what order to look at things in, and your conversational choices make pretty much no difference to the story. There are reasons for this, particularly as regards the conversations, but I did find it a bit frustrating sometimes, as if I was being made to type meaningless strings of characters before being rewarded with the next section of story.
The writing and characterisation are both very good, and Rameses does seem to be very well-regarded, but it just didn't do it for me.
- Sami Preuninger (New York City), November 13, 2007
- protobob, November 8, 2007
- Nusco (Bologna, Italy), October 31, 2007
- Steve Evans (Hobart, Tasmania), October 28, 2007
- Emily Short, October 23, 2007
Baf's Guide
You're an unhappy teenager in an unpleasant Irish boarding school, remembering your happier younger days and putting up with the present as best you can. It's not very interactive, but it's an noninteractivity that serves the purposes of the story--the central character doesn't have the courage to speak honestly with others, so he hardly speaks at all, and the frustration the player feels mirrors the PC's frustrations. There are no puzzles, and the game essentially progresses whatever you do, but as a story and a characterization, it works extremely well.
-- Duncan Stevens
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