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About the StoryOh, my dear, they’ve destroyed you, haven’t they? They could never understand a being such as yourself. Game Details
Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: October 31, 2023 Current Version: 1 Development System: Twine Forgiveness Rating: Merciful IFID: FE65B27C-15C4-4FE5-8927-A9D60B21057F TUID: pi84mnxxshtf6ctd |
Awards
4th Place, La Petite Mort - English - ECTOCOMP 2023
1st Place, Most Replay Value; 9th Place, Best in Show - The IF Short Games Showcase 2023
Tags
Member Reviews
| Average Rating:  Number of Reviews: 3 Write a review |
A powerfully-written body creation simulator, November 24, 2023I like short, ritualistic Twine games like this. You progress, in any order, through five different sets of body parts, choosing how you will present yourself to the world.
The choices are both physically meaningful and symbolic. Tree arms, for instance, are bad for physical defense, but all growth through painful pruning.
The styling is nice, with a background that is both visually interesting but non-distracting, and good color choices.
Overall, I found the writing strong. I didn't feel a strong need to revisit it, but my personal experience was positive and I would happily recommend the game to others.
Beautiful, November 12, 2023Your Body a Temple takes a dark premise—your body has been destroyed, and you’re now choosing from a variety of “spare parts” that will form you a new one—and turns it into a fun, powerful game. You're presented with four options for each significant body part (face, torso, arms, legs, genitals), which range from a robot head to live branches, and seeing what the slate would be each time was a big part of the appeal. But what really makes the game excellent is the narrative voice. An unnamed person, referred to with she/her pronouns, is building this body for you, speaking to you as she works. She describes each potential option—its pros and cons, the ways it will affect your new life—in a caring, maybe slightly fussy, voice that’s rich with personality and sets a tone of lightness and kindness even as you can build yourself a face of nightmares and arms of live wires.
The intention of getting revenge on those who hurt you is mentioned, but it's left up to the player to decide what that will mean. There’s a human option for each body part, and the descriptions of those note that while they will offer connection with others, they also make you vulnerable. Monstrous/inhuman parts, on the other hand, will help you protect yourself and/or be a threat, at the cost of possibly driving others away. But embracing your humanity may be the best revenge after all: a “distressingly human” face “asserts personhood in the face of dehumanization. It declares agency in the face of destruction. This is a face that demands to be remembered. It is a face that haunts assailants' dreams.”
As has likely been evident from the get-go, this is a very trans story. Beyond just the conceit of choosing one’s own body, the genital options include a “masculinized orifice” and a “feminized appendage”, with no standard P or V in sight. And in a choice that feel adjacent in the way it inverts cultural beauty standards, the human option for the torso is “fat”, and its description pushes back against any negative connotations: “This is a torso built for intimacy. You will be good at cuddling, good at warming others.” In its queering of bodies and embrace of other-ness, even monstrousness, this game is quite beautiful.
Build-a-bear but make it monster, November 7, 2023A little bit Frankenstein, a little bit Build-a-bear, a little bit of making the body your own. It is both creepy and strangely soothing, ans you get to pick and choose how you want your body to look like. Kind of like any character creators, but a bit more spooky and personal.
Though the underline is fairly sad and a bit depressing, the responses of your choices are still quite playful and with lots of charm. It's pretty fun to reload the game and try a new body, getting as close as possible to becoming a specific kind of “monster”, or mix-and-matching the different parts given. The stats at the end sort of taunt you to min-max them, which is fun!
While part of me wishes it was longer (control yourself with this new body and interact with other people), it is also quite perfect the way it is now.
Your Body a Temple, or the Postmodern Prometheus on IFDB
Polls
The following polls include votes for Your Body a Temple, or the Postmodern Prometheus:Outstanding Game of the Year 2023 by MathBrush
This poll is part of the 2023 IFDB Awards. The rules for the competition can be found here, and a list of all categories can be found here. This award is for the best overall game of 2023. Voting is open to all IFDB members. Eligible...
Outstanding Twine Game of 2023 by MathBrush
This poll is part of the 2023 IFDB Awards. The rules for the competition can be found here, and a list of all categories can be found here. This award is for the best Twine game of 2023. Voting is open to all IFDB members. Eligible games...
Author's Choice for Best Game of 2023 by MathBrush
This poll is part of the 2023 IFDB Awards. The rules for the competition can be found here, and a list of all categories can be found here. This award is for the best overall game of 2023. Unlike all other polls in the IFDB Awards, this...
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