Beneath Floes

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Beneath Floes
by Bravemule; Pinnguaq profile

Horror, Folktale
2015

Web Site

(based on 12 ratings)
2 member reviews

About the Story

Qikiqtaaluk, 1962. The sun falls below the horizon and won't return for months. You wander the broken shoreline, wary of your mother's stories about the qalupalik. Fish woman, stealer of wayward children: she dwells beneath the ice.

Beneath Floes is a short, illustrated work of interactive fiction made with the Twine engine, playable in most web browsers. It is story-driven, centered around Inuit history and traditions. The game is a collaboration between Bravemule (Matul Remrit, The Domovoi) and the Nunavut-based game studio Pinnguaq (Singuistics, Qalupalik).

Game Details

Language: English, Inuktitut (en-US, iu)
Current Version: Unknown
License: Freeware
Development System: Twine
Forgiveness Rating: Merciful
IFID: Unknown
TUID: pu8btwofyvja347d

Editorial Reviews

Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling
It is both a story and a meditation on story-telling, one which starts by explaining to the reader how much is going to be under the reader�s control. Not a lot, as it turns out: you mostly get to change small details, details that explicitly don�t branch the plot, while the horrible core story is beyond the player�s capacity to change. But the effect is very different from, say, the also very linear interaction in My Father�s Long, Long Legs, or the fact-mingled-with-fiction of Coming Out Simulator 2014.
See the full review

Member Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Rating:

Number of Reviews: 2
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

., June 3, 2016

by XianXian

I liked Beneath the Floes more than the Domovoi. This one was a bit more interactive and less confusing as The Domovoi. I will admit that the narrative confused me on who was the Domovoi and I kind of felt like there were too many characters, only three, but enough for me to get confused with the plot I guess. Maybe I read it too fast? Hope that makes senses. It also has a wonderfully creepy atmosphere. Beneath the Floes also has better writing than The Domovoi, more clean cut, and the general atmosphere differs from the Domovoi. It's more filled out, not rushed, feels very complete. And the drawings are a beauty, the story is something I've heard of, while the Domovoi shared some similarities with folktales I'm familiar with. I really look forward to what Snow is going to make next. Although, I hope that his future Twine games has more interactivity, more choices to choose from. So far, the ones I've played only have two endings? And the changes in the story are kind of minimal, but the plot is enjoyable to read again and again.

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A haunting multimedia Twine about an inuit legend, July 21, 2016

by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This game uses many full-color illustrations and background music to tell the story of a young inuit child, her relationship with outsiders, and an inuit legend.

The music and sound effects are well-chosen to establish the atmosphere. The illustrations are nice, too, with a couple of cool tricks with them.

The pacing of the twine story was effective for me, with appropriate use of fade-ins and repeated links.

Overall, a nice short creepy story.

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Polls

The following polls include votes for Beneath Floes:

For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible stories of 2015 by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
This is for suggesting games released in 2015 which you think might be worth considering for Best Story in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination. The category will still be text-entry, and games not mentioned here will...

For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible multimedia uses of 2015 by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
This is for suggesting games released in 2015 which you think might be worth considering for Best Use of Multimedia in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination. The category will still be text-entry, and games not...

Diversity in IF by The Xenographer
Most English-language IF that's set in something resembling the real world seems to deal with vaguely WASP-y types in the US, the UK, Australia, or Canada. What are some works that explore different settings from these and/or characters...

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This is version 5 of this page, edited by Kevin Snow on 11 March 2018 at 8:23pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item