Ratings and Reviews by sillybugs10000

I was devastated when this game ended. Type Help had all the gears in my brain turning even when I wasn't playing - where was X when Y happened? What was X doing? When did XYZ happen?
Solving all of these little mysteries was incredibly satisfying, and putting together the bigger picture was as well.
My only real criticism is that the ending felt too fast and didn't satisfy any of the anticipation that had built up for me. I had solved the mystery, but the ending (Spoiler - click to show)just confirmed my conclusions, and not much more. The story was over, no new developments. It just left me feeling like I was missing something. (Spoiler - click to show)Like, what will happen now, as a result of my effort and my findings? What was the result of my work? (Spoiler - click to show)To reach the same point as my predecessor, and stop there? So, not a satisfying ending, for me at least. But outside of that, I had such a fulfilling experience playing this game and I heavily recommend it.

Several interactive fiction games have tried their hand at having a feline protagonist who observes the world around it but doesn't know what some things are, or what the names of some things are. Most have fallen short, due to inconsistency or too-confusing writing. This game pulls it off perfectly - the writing is consistent, characterizes the cat well, and is clear. At points where you can't immediately figure out what the cat is describing, piecing it together is quick and satisfying.

Meena is a satisfying twine-style game that you can tell has had a lot of work put into it. The writing, timing and humor are charming and guide you through an adventure in the desert as a little sand cat. It has a unique, polished UI that sets it apart from other twine games, and contributes to the atmosphere and experience of the game. It is a relatively short playthrough, but it is a memorable one, and stands out from many of the other short interactive fiction games I've played. I will probably return to Meena in the future, and will definitely be recommending it to my friends.

Entries to the jam this game was a part of, the Neo-Twiny Jam, were limited to a maximum of 500 words. This game was executed perfectly with those constraints.
Delightful, simple, very short playthrough. You can get all the endings in a few minutes, and I found doing so very enjoyable. I had my husband play to see what ending he would get as well. He doesn't play interactive fiction, but this one was very accessible for him and I could tell he was immediately charmed by the writing. I will be inviting other friends to try it as well. :)

Fun, short, accessible and charming little cat game. Interestingly, this game uses a real countdown timer, rather than based on turns. It's a simple game, but still has decent replay value. It is possible to do every possible action in the time given! The only downside of the real timer is that you don't always get to fully appreciate the writing the first time around, but the mechanic is well executed and it's not a hassle to do a slower playthrough to reread the writing.

To my great enjoyment I discovered that you can make your cat's name as long as you'd like, so I made mine several paragraphs long.

Fun, accessible, and satisfying little playthrough, with fun writing. Enjoyable and memorable!

Fun, unique, clever little game that somehow fails the Bechdel test.
I really love the writing.
Another reviewer said, "Nice for a quick dip, great for completionists."

Other than this review's title, I have a few main qualms with this game. Two are a bit nitpicky, and one is more substantial. This review is kind of unreadable without spoilers. If you're interested in whether you should play, the last paragraph is more oriented towards that.
I'll start with the biggest one: I'm a paranormal investigator, and I was called in to investigate this case. The game doesn't explain, to my memory, why I was chosen for the case, beyond my profession. When I saw the (Spoiler - click to show)wisps, I assumed I was called in because I knew how to (Spoiler - click to show)interview the dead. But then, I had to (Spoiler - click to show)visit the secret library to (Spoiler - click to show)learn how to perform a seance. To me, this feels like (Spoiler - click to show)if I played a game where I was a detective at a crime scene, but I had to find a book on a body in order to learn how to collect fingerprints. What am I doing at this crime scene if I don't know how to do that? Why am I learning things that should fall under my qualifications AT the scene of the crime?

Personally, I think the gameplay would make much more sense to me if I was, perhaps, a friend of the victims who they had told of their plans earlier in the night, coming to the manor to check on them after they didn't come home on time. Alternatively, I could have been a real police detective, the only one on the force with a vague understanding of the paranormal, and chosen for the case because of that. Then I could have interesting, detective-like interactions with bodies - There's blood all over the floor, but no footprints. Did whoever - or whatever - killed this kid even touch the ground? - instead of my character just observing that there's a dead body and observing little more than that.
Campbell frustrated me. There were a few things I could talk to her about, but telling her about major developments like finding a body, discovering the (Spoiler - click to show)sigil, or (Spoiler - click to show)learning about Arovus just earn the response that I need to "focus on the case." For me, this broke the immersion of trying to solve a case, because why is this police officer utterly uninterested in key details about a case she sent me in to solve?
I also was sad that I couldn't interact with many nouns given in descriptions. I know that this kind of thing must be tedious to program, but I like in other games where examining one thing gives me new things to examine. Observing the first body gave me blood to examine, but I couldn't examine his injuries, which feel relevant for someone trying to solve a case, but I also couldn't examine things that are less relevant, like his clothing. This is just something that makes a game feel more polished to me, and makes my experience feel fuller.

The puzzles felt very intuitive for me, with the exception of needing to (Spoiler - click to show)interview Thornfell. Overall, gameplay felt smooth and generally satisfying for me, although the (Spoiler - click to show)hidden library did feel clunky, along with my previous, more substantial issue with it. (Spoiler - click to show)It would have been cool if I could search the other library, and find nothing useful, which would maybe prompt me to search for a second, hidden library!

Overall, I feel like this game could have been a lot more meaningful and more memorable to me. The gameplay was smooth, the puzzles were intuitive, but none of it really felt meaningful, my player and the characters felt kind of hollow and more confusing than anything, and a space with as much potential to be interesting as a haunted manor only ever really felt meaningful in the puzzle spaces.
I would love to see this game get revamped or more fleshed out. I love short interactive fiction and I think this one has a lot of promise.

This is a work of art. It feels very polished to play, and the puzzles are intuitive and satisfying to solve. The polish and unique mechanics deliver the story in a deeply meaningful way. I've played a lot of interactive fiction but this is the one that prompted me to make an IFDB account, just so I could review it.