Ratings and Reviews by Felix Pleșoianu
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Twinkle, twinkle, little LED, April 2, 2017For some reason, Alice in Wonderland tends to inspire dark, gritty reinterpretations, like Tim Burton's film adaptation, or the acclaimed Alice is Dead series of room escape games. Perhaps it's what people read between the lines of the original -- and perhaps it's better that way, because straight adaptations have been historically just bizarre and/or bland.
Nootropic Wonderland is a linear (and seemingly unfinished) Twine that needs another round of proofreading, but these are minor quibbles. More importantly, it's a cyberpunk take on the story, which could be great if it was either less generic or else took itself less seriously. I'm afraid simply rehashing 35-year-old tropes doesn't quite cut it in 2017, especially when there's no substance to back them up. Why are people so afraid of the patrolling drones with their searchlights? Is police brutal? Is there supposed to be a curfew at night? Or maybe they're just a symbol of the uncaring rich people living atop those silvery spires while the street crumbles? At least a gang beating up on anyone passing by, human or android, could be explained as a show of force that announces bigger trouble -- as the ending, such as it is, in fact seems to suggest.
But that's very little to go by. The story needs to be seriously fleshed out, and could use a little interactivity as well. Even just being able to click on things and get progressively detailed descriptions before moving on would help a lot. Luckily it seems to be a work in progress, so that's not out of the question, hopefully. Until then, take with a grain of salt.
A harsh reality, April 19, 2016Personal games have become increasingly popular as of late, due to a couple of factors: one, the democratization of accessible authoring tools, and two -- an increasing awareness throughout society of the fact that issues like bullying and depression are real, serious and all too widespread. These are exactly the issues Click Faggot is dealing with, as a slice of life covering a few years of a young man's struggle. It can be painful to play through; these aren't fun things to read about. But I forced myself to finish (once), because these are things we have to face.
Technically, the game is fine -- a custom browser-based engine that works on a principle similar to Undum -- and the author makes good use of single continuation options for pacing. It doesn't have any frills, and doesn't need them. Just give this short game a try; there's little else to be said.
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