Eidolon

by A.D. Jansen

Surreal
2014

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Number of Ratings: 32
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- Raven999, January 27, 2024

- Andrew Schultz (Chicago), September 7, 2023

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Mysterious and evocative Twine fiction/puzzle, December 28, 2021
by Wynter (London, UK)
Related reviews: Choice-based fiction, Twine puzzles

This is one of the most atmospheric and evocative Twine stories that I have read. The things you see and read on your mysterious journey seem full of meaning, yet I could not say what they mean exactly.

The strangeness and arbitrariness of some of the objects which you interact with allow for some workable puzzles, even in Twine: rather than logically figuring things out, as in a parser game, you need to visit various different locations several times and note when they change and where new links appear. Many of the passages and descriptions do nothing to move the plot onwards, but they serve to develop the atmosphere and act as red herrings as you try to find a way forward. The visuals were absolutely appropriate to the gloomy midnight setting - black background, white serif text with pale grey link text - but I found that I really needed to look closely in order to notice where the links were.

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- jjsonick, June 15, 2021

- Helena Vernon, April 9, 2018

- Squidi, December 4, 2017

- Wanderlust, August 3, 2017

- Audiart (Davis, CA), March 4, 2017

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
probably my favorite twine or even IF i've played, January 2, 2017

I've dabbled in a few dozen IF titles in the past few years, and since i played this one in early 2015, i still come back to it. I've recommended it to a lot of fiction, horror, or fantasy readers I know. The interesting mix of dread, amusement, fear, sadness, and surprise throughout really won me over and I still think about it a lot.

I agree with some other reviewers that it's length is such that a save function would be welcome, especially since it did get more challenging eventually. But there's no death or circumstance that demand a restart. But as a personal story with great imagery, some interesting puzzles, and a great and genuinely pretty bizarre tone I think it stands above a lot of IF games. Play it asap, with a lot of free time and a dark cool room.

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- hoopla, September 18, 2016

- Something Moving Under The Bed, August 17, 2016

- Horace Torys, July 27, 2016

- Joey Jones (UK), June 22, 2016

- Sobol (Russia), May 1, 2016

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Puzzles within dreams, March 31, 2016
by verityvirtue (London)

You can't sleep. It's like the insomnia your mother told you about: it's like a seed, and every night you can't sleep, it takes root and germinates... what then?

Eidolon is at first a kind of interactive dream sequence, but it quickly becomes something much weirder. The beginning sequences felt a lot like S Woodson's Beautiful Dreamer. The imagery and NPCs have the surreality of Alice in Wonderland, coloured by faerie folklore. Jansen's writing style favours the weird turn of phrase and evocative metaphors, which suited a story which may or may not exist in your own head.

The story is largely linear, but, unusually for a Twine game, involves some puzzles. These had consistent mechanisms and were meticulously done, with lots of moving parts. Because the story world relies on a bit of symbolism and not taking things too literally, I admit I had some difficulty but... this should not be a problem for most. (Disclaimer: I resorted to the walkthrough here.)

Eidolon is well-written, and much deeper than it first appears. If you like dreamlike stories set in a faerie world, of sorts, or subversions of fantasy quests, then you might like this.

(Originally posted on http://verityvirtue.wordpress.com)

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- E. W. B., March 2, 2016

- branewurms, December 20, 2015

- gaite, December 19, 2015

- liz73 (Cornwall, New York), August 12, 2015

- Khalisar (Italy), July 24, 2015

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Surprisingly large and non-linear for a twine game; vivid, haunting writing, May 1, 2015
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 2 hours

This is a very large Twine game that starts out mostly linear, branches a little, and then branches a lot. It includes a large area with a variety of rooms, including a clever means of transportation (Spoiler - click to show)the curious door/button combo. The genre is subtle horror/mystery, and the writing is evocative and sticks with you.

The lack of a save feature is annoying; as a casual gamer, I can't finish the game in one sitting, and it's difficult to juggle tabs to keep the game open throughout the day. This is one game I would like to finish.

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- Doug Orleans (Somerville, MA, USA), April 21, 2015

- CMG (NYC), April 5, 2015

- Ramona G, December 4, 2014

- NJ (Ontario), November 22, 2014


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