Reviews by LoquySSS46

I thoroughly enjoyed; It was right up my alley with the likes of Zork. In contrast with its predecessor, however, narrative elements, aside from the obviously "plot-heavy" prologue, are even sprinkled here and there throughout your exploration of the site, itself pleasantly interlaced with decent atmospheric descriptions that sucks you in. The game also offers a great sense of purpose and has quite the enjoyable personality.
One thing I will lament is that, given the short nature of this game, I felt that the very abrupt ending leaves the player out to dry, with no satisfactory resolution and leaving several elements and objects unexplained. The latter rings particularly true in regard to the glowing sphere and the relic-glasses, which were not explained and hardly used, if at all. At once, there was an intriguing battle mechanic only used for a single short-lived occasion. Still fun, though, and deserves to be elaborated upon!

This game finally opened my eyes to what Twine IF is all about. Until now, I had mostly ignored anything not parser-based as it just didn't seem like my cup of tea or didn't feel as interactive as I would like. However, this game just stepped it up to a whole new level! It finds a way to make you thoroughly and wholeheartedly invested in the wellbeing of the community and its members. Indeed, as you get to know and befriend a few, you quickly get quite attached to them and yearn to learn more about their life stories, which are given out very naturally and charmingly whilst exploring different facets of identity and grief. YET, it's ALSO a friggin' cooking game, and it's a blast making up and planning out different meal combinations for each community supper and exploring all the small things to do. The game itself was somewhat easy and I only managed to finish the last side character's story line in the nick of time before the end of the game. It was just marvelous all throughout and made me stay up 'til almost 3am! Truly, the endearing way everything is presented makes you grow very fond of it all!

Very enjoyable! The way it tells the different family members' stories and how it lays out the structure of the family tree are really interesting! It really managed to make the characters actually feel human and bring you vivid and relatable images easily found in the real world! I have to admit that some of the writing was perhaps a touch too nebulous for it to really flow like it could of and I was left perplexed about what the situation actually was at a few instances, but nothing too severe, honestly.

The setting was well implemented and lively. Characters made sense and felt natural; I especially liked the fact that characters sometimes randomly tell you pointless information just to make conversation and make you feel like you are actually well acquainted with your colleagues where they are just able to talk to you like that. What was also really interesting was that they included a whole (though small) separate area to give hints when you type "HELP". I will have to emit a small caveat for this game, though: I found that the final puzzle (which was extremely big and very elaborate) was a bit too ambitious in its scale... Maybe I didn't take the time to slow things down, reflect, and write everything and all the clues down, but I do feel like it was too finicky to be considered a fair puzzle (I had to consult the walkthrough too often to my liking, it was frustrating). That said, it was a very rewarding one and I very much enjoyed the hints and foreshadowing proffered by the game!!

As you mourn the loss of a family member, you are left to collect a number of their art collection, as per their will. Left with this difficult and emotional choice, you will relive the spent with them, sharing their passion for painting, and figuring out what it means to you. What they meant to you.

The game touches on and explores, through the lens of art, very real and personally relevant subjects for me such as grief, specifically through the loss of a loved one, one's personal struggle with choosing a career in art or not, the meaning of memory (and the meaning of art in life), and much more. I also greatly appreciated the unique gameplay which was central in the concluding portion (when you paint the last canvas) when "combining" all seven paintings.

All that being said, I was still left frustrated by the fact that the memories conjured by each painting you selected were NOT tied to a specific painting... I felt that this undermined the significance of the paintings themselves. The memories still somewhat lined up with the paintings' descriptions, for the most part, but I really would have preferred if it had given a specific memory/meaning to each artwork. Regardless, I would recommend it!

Very esoteric (and sometimes flat out weird), but cleverly designed! I liked the way it played around with colours and pronouns to take on an enigmatic and slightly puzzling taint (pun intended). Its weirdness, in a way, reflected the strangeness surrounding humans' search for meaning and identity (in other words, this was absurd art well done), especially by sticking labels on everyone and everything. The world was small and the puzzles were somewhat straightforward but, interestingly enough, I wasn't left wanting more from them, nor from the (few) characters, map, etc. I tried comparing how this IF made me feel to one of similar calibre, *Focal Shift*, and concluded that this one feels like it ends on a significantly more satisfactory and final note.

This was rather pleasant and I suppose plucked on my heart strings, since camping is one my family's traditions of which I am particularly fond and nostalgic. As for the game itself, I find this was simplicity done the right way! The way the prologue (whilst waiting to leave work) is set up pays off really nicely into the simple yet curious choices you are asked to make regarding what things you will pack and what activities you will do. 🙂 The descriptions were short yet thoughtful, and it's just made me ache for nature once again, as I find myself getting lost in all this constant, droning technology!!