Ratings and Reviews by Cygnus

Another great one by Amanda Walker! Similar to Colourtura, it has really cool mechanics. Instead of interacting with objects, you get to emotion them. As with most Walker games, there’s a great hint system. Beautiful and lovely, heartbreaking and impactful.

This one was really hard to find a fault with. Like, at all. Amanda makes beautiful games, and this one has incredible mechanics, corresponding to emotions, which resonates with me a lot. Wracking my brain for anything I can fault here- oh. Not much extra content, I suppose.

But that’s just unfair to the entire game- it was a linear (ish) experience, a puzzle deduction game, and overall, amazing mechanics. I would definitely play again. I did cry.

You play as an unidentified person journeying with a man called Charles, in a nightmarish world of strange eclectic gods. A very linear game, with intended routes and such in order. I like that there’s hints, great system.

It's very Lovecraftian- got the normal things, cults, screaming eldritch demons, alchemy, so definitely fits there.

Overall, very short, but it’s fantastic. You can die, but it’s polite. Great introduction and commands. Could do with a little more context and variety, parsers are good. Another thing it could use is more worldbuilding. The atmosphere wasn’t tense at all (apart from That One Part), but still made sense.

Because of the length, I’ll be rating it a 3.5, because it’s… Y’know. It could’ve been expanded on, and for a hook, it’s not great. Writing ran a little weak at times, but still, pretty good!

Bronze is an interactive fiction following a similar story of beauty and the beast, but wildly different. With mechanics and fantastical backstory, this game is world-built in the best ways. It’s got an expansive yet still navigable structure, with in-built hints (that is quite literally the best thing an IF can have).

It’s almost romance, but also it’s fantasy and a story of revenge. There is no way to die, and there’s so much optional character backstory you can see. It’s a story full of magic. It is focused on one goal, with all the optional content limited to the main storyline, so there’s no real side-quests, only little bits of information you can look up which aren’t necessary.

It has multiple endings as well, and they’re all easily accessible. I’d definitely recommend this one for beginners.

(4.5/5)

Coloratura is honestly one of my favourite games to ever be made. It’s got an amazing mechanic- colouring people’s auras, with different meanings. It’s a beautiful message, and an amazing way of sensing things. You play as an alien traversing through a spaceship, trying to get back home.

It deals with topics of loneliness, participation, and emotional influences. It’s a unique way of seeing the world, and one that I can relate to in an esoteric and unexplainable way. This game is a combination of sci-fi, stealth and fantasy, as well as a tale of companionship and relations.

The only reason I rate this not a five out of five is because of the fact there’s no hint system, and trial and error can be the only thing you can do sometimes, with little to no warning at sudden ends which you didn’t realise would be happening.