Reviews by Tabitha

From the get-go, this game was just plain fun. You wake up in the middle of the night in your newly-purchased house, a fixer-upper with "good bones", and you have to pee. But beware--it turns out the house has some surprises in store, and creatures ranging from apparitions to zombies are out to get you! With frequent, humorous asides (one of my favorites: "something like a leg or maybe an arm, with too many joints and fingers (like something out of AI-generated art)") and player-friendly design (after dying, you have the option to jump back to the choice that got you killed and try a different option), it was a delight to play.

Despite the frequent deaths, the game stays away from gore, which felt like an appropriate choice in a story meant to elicit more laughs than chills. Part of the fun in fact is collecting deaths; the game keeps a list of which premature endings you've reached, and once you've won, it lets you jump back to any checkpoint to find the ones you missed (in case, like me, you're compelled to learn exactly how each creature can do away with you in an alliterative manner. Yes, I may have perished once again, but this time it was because I was yeeted by a yeti!).

The game also has a very attractive presentation, including the color scheme, the font, and the skull emojis marking choices you've tried that have led to a death. A very polished and enjoyable game!

This is a horror game based on the common-to-real-life feeling "Why am I such a mess when everyone else has it together??" Which is really underscored by the chilling ending. (Spoiler - click to show)Learning that everyone else suffers the same thing as the PC, and yet they still have no sympathy and just expect the PC to handle it, was so reminiscent of when you tell someone about a struggle you're facing and their response essentially boils down to "Yeah, that's a problem for everyone, you're not special." There were a few aspects of the game that didn't work for me, but overall I found it a clever use of the Texture engine and an interesting, well-done game.

I played this because of Porpentine's recommendation in her 2012 interview with Emily Short. To quote her:

"Highnoon is a remake of a 42 year old BASIC game ported to Twine that I find fascinating–strategic and CYOA elements entwined in a squishy way, intfic bleeding out of the mechanical layer. It’s a Wild West duel that gives you almost as many ways to fail or reject the scenario as to play it. Give me interesting failure or give me death." (Twine version)

This sums up exactly the reason I enjoyed it--it was easy to win, but the failures were honestly more fun (and funny), and I was motivated to play again multiple times to try to discover more of them.

While there are a few typos and unimplemented nouns, I absolutely love short, tightly-focused games, and this is an excellent example. Deceptively simple, it has a creeping sense of dread that grows as you progress, culminating in a reveal that both surprised me and felt completely fitting. Definitely recommend if it at all intrigues you.

CWs: (Spoiler - click to show)Dead animals (described in detail), dead body (briefly described), blood, body horror