Ratings and Reviews by Bosch
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Fantastic, classic Lovecraftian horror, September 18, 2022A superbly spooky game with (aside from some trickiness near the end) puzzles that generally feel fair and logical. There's a lot of enjoyable prose and a superbly well-executed use of old-school occult cosmic horror.
I have waited forever for a game like this, May 9, 2019While I agree with the bulk of the reviews already singing (see what I did there?) the praises of this game, I still feel compelled to add further acclaim for the great attention to the parser. I found run-ins with default "don't know that verb" error messages to be surprisingly uncommon. This game does a great job of telling what is essentially a horror story from a non-horror perspective, making a somewhat "The Thing"-esque alien antagonist relatable and sympathetic. If you, like me, have ever wanted to play some sort of pacifist psychic ooze from the depths of the ocean - well, I'm surprised there was more than one person who wanted that, but you should absolutely play this. (Spoiler - click to show)That the author of the game even intuited that you might want to reclaim the lost little piece of your body in the science lab, and lets you do so, was, despite being a tiny touch, a moment that won my admiration.
Superb and haunting, May 9, 2019The first thing I have to praise is the sound design. Obvious thought and effort went into it, and it pays off beautifully, mixed and balanced to produce a living, dynamic soundscape that practically adds graphics to the text-only adventure. The Twine engine is effectively used to present a few small, simple puzzles that make things a bit more engaging and interactive than some other games made in this engine, though fairly little actual thought is required. The narration is punchy and effective, using short, minimalist prose to tremendous effect. Although the story ends without a great deal definitively "answered", it goes far enough to tell a distinct tale with enough context to get its point across. A few death scenarios feature, with some narration accompanying them that makes them worth seeing anyway, and an autosave system of some sort ensures the setbacks and frustration are nonexistent. A great little bit of strange, Cronenbergian rural horror.
Intense surreal horror, May 8, 2019You can probably infer from the tags that this is not quite what it appears to be. What results is a David Cronenberg-esque bit of the bizarre with well-composed, clear, descriptive writing that explains enough to paint the scene but conceals enough to maintain an atmosphere. I rather like the touch of the final results screen to give you a clearer idea of what to aim for on replays. Though it's not as massively weird as the likes of "Mastaba Snoopy", it's similar in topic, with a sort of thin pop-culture veneer draped over a nightmarish world. In the end, depending on what you learn, the surrealty does tone down a bit as the setting crystalizes into something half-sensical, if still quite a sharp left turn from being arguably based on Star Wars.
(Spoiler - click to show)It's hard for me to say no to a game that includes the phrase "You fight the instinct to impregnate Han Solo."
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