Reviews by Vivienne Dunstan

There’s not very much I can say about this one. On plus it’s short (though that’s a downside too). And it’s better than Toiletworld. Sort of. But erm, yes. A quick game to try.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 16 Sep 2024.

This is a short but exasperating (in a good way!) Adventuron parser game. Where you’re driving in a British car, trying to exit right from a car park into busy traffic. As a fellow Brit who passed my driving test too many years ago, this is a scenario I can relate to oh too well. Even if I haven’t driven for many years for medical reasons (my license was eventually revoked on medical grounds). I can still remember the anguish of trying to drive right out of a car park into never-ending traffic. And still experience it today as a front seat passenger.

As you try over and over to get out of the car park into traffic the game repeatedly confounds you, racking up the tension and frustration. And the sense of constant near accidents. This writing is strong.

I especially liked the visual display at the top showing the road. Very Frogger like! But, like another reviewer, I wish this had updated to show the other traffic as you play the game. That would have been awesome, and enrich things so much.

The downside with the game for me is that I’m the type of player who can repeatedly type a single command over and over and over and over and … I have no quick limit on that one. And what was most rewarding about this game, as I found on replay, was trying other options. If you’re willing to blindly type the same command over and over, you don’t necessarily get the full sense of immersion that you might otherwise.

One option I really wanted to try was to hoot my car horn. And the game wouldn’t let me. This was the one case where I battled with the parser: HOOT HORN and SOUND HORN didn’t work, but HONK HORN did. Well it recognised it, but wouldn’t actually let me sound the horn. Which I really, really wanted to do. I was also a bit disappointed that when other drivers hooted their horn in game I didn’t hear them. I would have loved to have jumped out of my seat on hearing that!

So a good and atmospheric game, but I wish it had been a bit more fully developed. And suspect that my own way of playing was not the best for experiencing it to its full potential.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 21 Sep 2024.

This is the latest word based game from Andrew Schutlz. Back to parser this time, and a game mixing a gradually unfolding fantasy world with word based puzzling.

I enjoyed this more than any of his other word based games. Although the core mechanism is still manipulating words, it did feel as though there was a more substantial underlying story world to uncover. I was really intrigued by the fantasy setting that I was discovering, including its variety of NPCs.

In some cases I really struggled to find the next things to type. Maybe I missed a clue, or it was under clued, especially when I came back later to the same location. I also had a few cases where there seemed to be a bug. But otherwise it was a nice game, with a fairly open world, not too steam rollered, and combining a fun puzzle mechanic with a good plot.

I really liked the THINK command, which keeps track of some of the things you’ve found or need to do. Though sometimes it seemed to be missing some clues for me. Luckily there is a walkthrough provided, which I needed sometimes.

Word puzzles can be divisive, and too tricky often for some players - me included! But if you can get past the opening stages of this game I think it’s approachable, and apart from a few clueing issues in places surprisingly accessible.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 21 Sep 2024.

This is a curious mix of text and visuals, where a close family member has recently died. They were an artist, and you are choosing the 7 paintings of theirs that you want to keep. Each choice of a painting unlocks memories for you. And in the end you use elements from the chosen paintings to complete a visual art work by your relative, a process depicted using on screen changing visual representations of the final artwork.

It’s quite moving, and I replayed several times to make different choices. Because you only recall detailed memories after selecting a painting I initially found it a little difficult to know what to choose. Should I choose paintings that I like the sound of myself, or ones that appear to reflect specific feelings, or are painted in a particular style or theme? At this point paintings are only described in words, though you get a summary of the core features and emotions represented before you decide whether to keep a painting or leave it.

One thing I did regret is that after you’ve chosen a particular painting you can’t then change your mind and put it back. Sometimes I wished I could do that, but choices were final.

Each time you dig out another painting it can be new, or one you’ve already looked at. I sometimes pulled out the same painting again and again, even up to 4 times in one game, and on 3 successive occasions in another. I’m not sure that was intended. Maybe the randomisation is too unrestricted.

At the end of the game you get to see some visuals and can interact with them. But I also wished I could see the earlier paintings. I even adjusted my screen to see if I was missing them in my too small-scale/zoomed in default display settings. Nope, only get the nice visuals towards the end of the game.

Thinking about how the paintings and their elements are combined later in the game I wonder if the earlier portion might have done something like this too. Perhaps adjusting the memory recalls, depending on what combination of paintings you’ve chosen. I don’t think it was doing anything like that. But it might have been nice. Preferably with the option to backtrack and decide not to keep a painting after all.

Many different emotions and feelings are depicted by the individual paintings and the memories they evoke. The impression built up is of a multi-faceted individual, depicted with honesty, rather than overly eulogised.

At the end there’s a moving credit, which suggests that this may have been a piece very close to the author’s heart. If so, thank you for sharing it with us.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 21 Sep 2024.

This is a Twine piece, where you are some form of entity who can inhabit other things. Through a series of transfers from one object to another, including people, you uncover mysteries and secrets going on in a medieval version of India.

There’s a very long linear opening with lots of non interactive text. But after that you have more choice about what to do, and in particular what creatures to inhabit. Though through the framework of a largely pre-set narrative. Conversations are often the main choice opportunities in the game.

There are a lot of typos. It needed much more proofreading. I also ran into a number of bugs, for example error messages that would pop up mid text, or blank interaction boxes with no content and nothing I could click on. There also seemed some rough notes that I think were maybe meant to have been finished off / rewritten?

The characters that you encounter are intriguing, though the game takes longer to play - for me anyway - than the estimated half hour time. I’m a very fast reader.

There are lots of fail points, but you can back track and make a different choice.

Until it just suddenly ended for me. And I didn’t know if I’d hit a bug, or something unfinished, or what. It felt like lots of unresolved story strands left hanging.

So an interesting concept, but needed smoothing, especially re bugs and typos. Because those could stop the game flow, and reduce the game’s impact. Maybe more development time and more playtesting would have really paid off here.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 22 Sep 2024.

This is a very strange parser game, with a bizarre almost scifi story. I’m still not entirely sure what was happening. I did understand the simple “get coffee!” goal at the start. Though I’m more of a freshly ground coffee person than the character in game who drinks Nespresso made from capsules.

On plus the world is intriguing, and odd, in a way that drags you in, almost in spite of yourself. It gets quite gruesome quite quickly though, and I think heftier content warnings would be appropriate in this case.

On downside it’s extremely under implemented. I had many “You can’t see any such thing” when I tried to interact with objects in the game descriptions. Coding more synonyms for objects would have helped a lot e.g. (Spoiler - click to show)“paper” for what must be referred to as “ticket”. And implementing more of the mentioned objects full stop would be good. It did feel frequently that I was fighting the parser and the game. Against that the text descriptions are perhaps overly long. Some judicious editing may have helped smooth things here.

I also found the clueing inadequate. I was doing without the walkthrough, until I got stuck, not realising that I needed to do something very extreme ((Spoiler - click to show)kill someone). Even when I read the walkthrough and saw that I needed to do that I wasn’t happy about that action. The content warnings - or lack of - hadn’t prepared me for this.

Another area of under implementation is in:

>examine me
As good-looking as ever.

Which without going into detailed spoilers is rather under selling things.

So a game with an interesting premise, and an intriguing world, but it needed much much more polishing. This is probably a case where more playtesting by others would have helped a lot. Because there’s a really nice core idea here. But the playing experience, at the moment, isn’t smooth enough.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 22 Sep 2024.

This is a tightly written crime mystery set in an Antarctic research station. Implemented in Twine, and running over a taut 10 days of investigation.

I liked an awful lot about this. The writing is strong, building a palpable increasing sense of tension as you play. The emotional stakes for solving the crime are high ((Spoiler - click to show)I had terrible fears from the start of the game). And the constantly advancing time, and the knowledge that you only have a tight time limit to work within, was gripping.

There are some neat tricks in the game interface. Just at the point where you start investigating, and the game says you’d better take notes, a notes section appears in the web interface, which updates as you find new information and clues. There is also a handy character list you can refer to.

I did find the running around from location to location a little exasperating. I’d often be looking for a given person, but unless they were in the obvious place I seemed to spend a lot of time going searching. Which, to be fair, maybe represents how it would feel on the spot in this setting. But was a bit frustrating for this player. Though on rechecking a save file I seem to have missed the location schedules for the characters, which are provided in game in (Spoiler - click to show)the notes section. How did I miss those previously?

There are resource management issues to contend with. You need to look after your welfare, but that uses up time and opportunities for further investigations. What to prioritise becomes quite a decision, and can influence later outcomes.

At the end of the ten days - if you last that long - you get a chance to accuse someone of being the murderer. I am moderately astonished that I got this right at first go. Though I had saved just before, so tried reloading after to see what happened if I chose someone else. Even if you accuse correctly, I think the nature of the ending will vary, depending on choices you made earlier. Which is nice.

But yes, a very good game. Highly recommended.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 25 Sep 2024.

That is a lot of capitalisation!

I run my Mac in dark mode. This is a very white screened game, with black text … more awake than I often like to be!

However that aside, this is an evocative short choice-based piece, where you are a ruler, looking after a fantasy kingdom, in the face of oncoming strife.

Initially it took me a while to adapt to the rather over-written text. So many “throng” references in the opening portions! But it does capture the feel of the piece, and helps you get into the mindset of the ruler you are playing.

Prompted by the idealistic impressions at the start I was already questioning the narrator, even before the first main choices, none of which were ones I wanted to make, or thought might have good outcomes! Not least for the workers.

More ornate words appear. Is “postulates” even the right word in the context used? You definitely get the feeling of a ruler with an inflated sense of importance.

Then things really kick off. I was especially struck by the series of quick fire reports that appear on screen at one point. It reminded me of timed text in interactive fiction, but in an opposite way. The effect here was immediate, impactful and built tension, not slowing it as timed text often does for me. I could still click through in my own time, but the impression was almost of a series of slaps to the face of the ruler, as more and more things went wrong, in quick succession.

And throughout this there are still bad choices on offer. There is very much a sense of helplessness. Sadly the later portion of the game has an increasing number of typos, which I did find distracting. I don’t know if these sections were written late on, and not checked so much. But proofreading - especially by others - can be such a help, even in a choice piece.

Then things come to a climax, in a satisfyingly helpless way.

I liked a lot about this. The writing is strong and emotionally effective. The world building is imaginative. And the story moves relentlessly on. Just a shame about the typos.

Totally trivial and shameless point: though I should probably be thinking of Samuel Taylor Coleridge more, or at least the real life Shangdu, the game’s title couldn’t help reminding me of Olivia Newton-John’s Xanadu film which I watched fairly recently.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 15 Sep 2024.

This is a richly implemented parser game, full of NPCs and an incredible number of things to do. You play a valet, dealing with an eccentric employer, and have to contend with the drama that occurs during a fundraising party at his manor.

I just loved this, and laughed so much. It is extremely PG Wodehouse esque. As the valet so much was going on that I needed to deal with, and I was constantly struggling to keep up with everything and what to do next. But I was enchanted.

The game has a very limited parser. THINK to see what tasks you need to do (and yes, this list just grows so long), ATTEND TO X (or just ATTEND X) to attend to things, including picking them up and putting them down, and also helping people (including your employer) with problems and talking to them. And you can additionally use EXAMINE, as well as compass directions to move around.

It was chaos, and so much fun. I’m a very lax parser player in that I very rarely ever consciously map. But in this game that wasn’t a problem for me. I quickly learned where enough of the locations were, and could run around manically otherwise.

The need to run around was compounded by an incredibly tight inventory limit. Which initially I was exasperated by, as I’d constantly need to drop something I desperately needed to get something else I needed both hands for. But then I relaxed, dropped essential things in fairly repeatable places, and enjoyed the sheer bonkersness of it.

I think this game is tight for managing in a two hour play through. There are a phenomenal number of puzzles to solve, including ones that can only be solved after others. Apparently you can’t get into an unwinnable state. But there are an awful lot of things to do. Fortunately the THINK command helps keep you on track. And the author has kindly provided a walkthrough, which is helpful if you get stuck.

The NPCs are numerous, almost too numerous initially. But they settle into their roles, and are well differentiated character wise. They also take on different elements of the barmy plot. Having a large cast helps a lot with that.

The game also introduces a particular game mechanic which is just sheer genius. And I was pleased to see it gets heavily used in later portions of the game.

As for the ending, well I wasn’t surprised by one thing ((Spoiler - click to show)who the thief was). But I adored the absolute ending.

Thoroughly recommended, but expect to have some exasperation at least for a while as you grapple with the inventory limit. And ideally budget for more than two hours to play right through.

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 15 Sep 2024.

This is a short Twine piece where you have to figure out what’s going on. And the word “weird” in the genre is highly appropriate. Which drew me in. I like weird things!

On the downside the opening portion is very linear. Lots of clicking to move on to the next text, with no choices at all.

Also the visual emphasis using colour of every “you” in the screen text, e.g. “you” and in “yours” etc. starts to become exasperating after a while. And distracting from reading the text. Because the writing is pretty good, and atmospheric.

However after this opening portion the game opens up, with a world you can explore, and objects and creatures that you can interact with. And I was a lot happier as a player. With light puzzles, working towards an ultimate end point.

It is a very very odd gaming experience. In a good way though. Reminiscent of both Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and their stranger moments. But also of the Dreamlands stories of Lovecraft, and the strange creatures encountered there.

In some ways it feels like a Twine game that might more traditionally be done as a parser game. There are object manipulations and interactions with the physical world that feel more like the parser form than Twine based. However it does work, and this is what the author chose to use.

The ending felt a little anticlimactic, but I liked that it had space to tell its ending. I went back to replay making a few different choices, although the endings were largely similar.

I think I’d like to have had a bit more of the world and its inhabitants to explore. Because the writing was imaginative and strong. But I did enjoy what I played through.