Solitary Stars

arcane cache
The game is set in an shadowy post-war country reigned with an iron hand by a small elite – the protagonist, once member of a sect, is invited by an old, rather unpleasant acquaintance, and lured in by the promise of meeting the never fully overcome love interest of their youth.
[...]
neither does the dynamic story make the game and its message arbitrary at all, as this piece doesn't ask "What would you do?" but rather, in a most honest way, "What does matter?", nor do the melancholic and dark tones that are present ever shift into nihilism
[...]
The game has a rather large scope, and you should expect to play around an hour for a single play-through. The writing is superb, and utilizes the hypertext technique in an all natural, coherent way. Solitary Stars is clearly an attempt to use video games as a medium for serious narrative art [...] and it's very successful at doing so.
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Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 1 Write a review

Solitary Stars is a hyperlink exploration game written in Inform, set in an alternative earth, in a capital of an unnamed country after a succession of Wars (potentially WWII?). You receive a letter from a former mentor, inviting you to see his incredibly discovery that will change the world. The letter, and travelling back to the capital that shaped the trajectory of your life, forces you to reminisce on the past, bringing up difficult and painful memories.

Through its extensive and flowery prose, the game describes quite the dark setting. Between the memories of a distant past, filled with conflicts, a rise of an authoritarian power, and your own personal struggles (choice-dependent), you find during the little walk around the Observatory a somewhat dystopian society. The city is filled with scars from the war, with buildings left in shambles, flyers mandating orders from the populace or face the consequences, militia roaming the streets. But also consequences of the wars, with immigrants fleeing further conflicts flooding the region, past acquaintances avoiding you, etc...

The outlook of life and society through this lens is both depressing and melancholic (enhanced by the choice of background), with bitterness towards the old mentor, as he has thrived while you (and the rest of the Group) clearly have not. And the revelation of his discovery does not bring solace to the MC - aside, maybe from spending time with an old friend.

I think I found the exploration of the city/neighbourhood with the reflection of the past from the MC more interesting than this final revelation. Seeing how the city changed since the last time the MC walked its streets, as well as how little it did in other regards, is a familiar feeling - like going back home or to a place you spent an important part of your life.

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