Ratings and Reviews by Sad and Wet Horse

As it is now, the game is near impossible to play without the walkthrough. With the walkthrough, it's almost fun to play. Without it, you need to have psychic abilities because the in-game text is sparse. Playing blind, you're just typing guesses into the void. If the implementation was better, if there had been more details about the setting, if there had been some way to gauge resources and keep up with the events of every turn, then this could have been a good game. Maybe even great.

You can log in to rate this review, mute this user, or add a comment.

High On Grief, by Norbez Jones (call me Bez; e/em/eir)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Grove of Bones, by Jacic

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Fascism - Off Topic, by eavesdropper

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Fable, by Sophia Zhao

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Escape the Pale, by Novy Pnin

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Errand Run, by Sophia Zhao

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Eight Last Signs in the Desert, by Lichene (Laughingpineapple & McKid)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Dead Sea, by Binggang Zhuo

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Crescent Sea Story, by Stewart C Baker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Conversation in a Dark Room, by Leigh

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

By All Reasonable Knowledge, by BMB Johnson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Breakup Game, by Trying Truly

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Backpackward, by Zach Dodson for Interactive Tragedy, Limited

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

3XXX: NAKED HUMAN BOMBS, by Kastel

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

*OVER*, by Audrey Larson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Who Whacked Jimmy Piñata?, by Damon L. Wakes

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Pharos Fidelis, by DemonApologist

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Promises of Mars, by George Larkwright

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Saltwrack, by Henry Kay Cecchini

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Wise-Woman's Dog, by Daniel M. Stelzer

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Cart, by Brett Witty

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

INPUT PROCESS, by chyrono (as HY)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

valley of glass, by Devan Wardrop-Saxton

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Espresso Moka, by Roberto Ceccarelli

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Golden Heist, by George Lockett and Rob Thorman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Trial, by B Minus Seven

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Trials and Tribulations of Edward Harcourt, by MelS and manonamora

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Heart of Battle, by Fay Ikin

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Solarium, by Anya Johanna DeNiro

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Suspended in the air so that all of your weight is concentrated on a single point halfway down your spine, by Charm Cochran

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

1 4 the $, by Charm Cochran

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Goldilocks Principle, by iris

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Hauntless, by Abby Blenk

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Retool Looter, by Charm Cochran

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Hell Ride, by Dana Montgomery

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Cut the Sky, by SV Linwood

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Canvas Keepsakes, by C.T. O'Mahony

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

As the Fire Dies, by Deborah Chantson and Alex Carey

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Wayfarers, by Gina Isabel Rodriguez

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Test Subject: Synaptix, by mkellygames

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Stowaway, by Nicholas Covington

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Starfish and Crystallisation, by Colin Justin Wan

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Sandman, by Bellamy Briks

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Radiance Inviolate, by DemonApologist

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, by David Dyte, Steve Bernard, Dan Shiovitz, Iain Merrick, Liza Daly, John Cater, Ola Sverre Bauge, J. Robinson Wheeler, Jon Blask, Dan Schmidt, Stephen Granade, Rob Noyes, and Emily Short

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Open Sorcery, by Abigail Corfman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Weight of a Soul, by Chin Kee Yong

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Strong world-building and interesting ideas bogged down by melodrama and cliché, February 27, 2025*

by Sad and Wet Horse

This game is set in a world where souls are tangible and alchemy is the prevailing science. That alone creates fascinating moral dilemmas, such as the storage and use of souls of the deceased for electrical power. That, plus the protagonist's unique position as a medical professional during a plague set the stage for a what should have been a compelling mystery.

The game is engaging enough when the setting and the technology is in the spotlight. There is a memorable autopsy sequence in the first act that delivers visceral descriptions of corpses ravaged by disease and the disease's effect on a soul. I was hooked— I assumed the game would lean into this grim, medically driven storytelling, especially given that the protagonist is a physician.

Unfortunately, all these intriguing ideas are sidelined in favor of her romantic tension with one of the male characters. Outside of the opening sequence and the autopsies, her skills as both an alchemist and a doctor barely come into play. Instead, she is reduced to a lovestruck teenage girl who flits between agonizing over her crush and agonizing over the futility of her profession. The constant switching between childish infatuation and more serious themes can be jarring at times, and it was most noticeable when the one moment that could have understandably been treated with excessive sentimentality—(Spoiler - click to show)turning her father’s soul/animus into a battery to escape—is rushed through mechanically and matter-of-factly after several paragraphs of overly emotional brooding about her crush's actions.

As another reviewer put it, it relies too heavily on melodrama, not just in high-stakes moments but in nearly every conversation. Everyone is always trembling, hesitating, sighing, stuttering, or on the verge of tears. At times, it felt like reading self-indulgent AO3 fanfiction under the tags *Angst* and *Emotional Suffering* (and given the author's blurb, they probably are on AO3). A fun side quest: count how many times a character says, "I..." or "I–I..."—turn it into a drinking game if you feel like getting alcohol poisoning.

This game was entered into a comp, and according to comp guidelines, you must rate a game after two hours of playing. Had I played this in comp season I would have given this five stars. The first half is quite solid. Few interactive fiction games capture the feeling of navigating a busy city as well as this one does. The city is detailed and inhabited with background characters that feel alive. I actually preferred the initial exploration here over Anchorhead, one of the game's inspirations. But the second half falters, and the ending is outright disappointing. The intriguing world is forgotten as we spend more and more time inside the protagonist's head, and unfortunately her thoughts aren't nearly as interesting as the world she inhabits. The game ends without letting you piece together the mystery yourself; instead it relies on an exposition dump (Spoiler - click to show)(after the villain captures the player) of everything I had hoped to uncover organically while exploring the city. Both the protagonist and antagonist deliver overwrought monologues that read like bad anime dialogue. No matter which ending you choose, the final confrontation is essentially resolved with dialogue along the lines of: "Look at me… this isn’t you 🥺."

TLDR:

👍
- Atmospheric, well-written environments
- Fascinating worldbuilding and moral dilemmas
- Hauntingly vivid descriptions of disease and decay

👎
- Melodramatic, cliché-ridden character interactions especially with the love interests
- Painfully mid romance takes precedence over more interesting narrative elements
- The final act is underwhelming, relying on info-dumping and cringy dialogue

Here's a nicely written, spoiler-free passage that showcases what I like best about this game:

Between towering foundations, the rain lashes rusting hulks and flapping canvas shelters; it eats away at corpses piled in ankle-deep water. Where once there were buildings, posters, lamplights, the Bilious Canal has burst through the polder and swept them all away, carrying off the detritus of innumerable unknown lives.

That's some arresting imagery. Moments like these remind me why I was so drawn in at the start. Most of the environmental descriptions are so good that they highlight how cringy and uninspired the emotional prose is in comparison.

This is a game with brilliant ideas but without focus. I know this review makes me sound like I hate romance or emotional stories, but I actually love dating sims and otome games—it's just that this author is not as skilled at writing emotion as they are at describing the world. Compare this to games from someone like Amanda Walker, who often writes pensive and emotional IF, and this just feels amateur in comparison. This was an instance of something rare in IF (vivid environmental prose in a setting that feels busy and alive) getting set aside for something quite common—badly written romance. I've read better yearning fics on AO3. This was honestly my most disappointing IF experience so far, because the first half was so good it had me thinking it was going to be my new favorite game. It's worth playing, but you might struggle to finish if you can't stand the constant anime style mental monologuing in the later part of the game.

* This review was last edited on February 28, 2025

You can log in to rate this review, mute this user, or add a comment.

can you say my name again, by nadia nova

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

the sea god, by christine mi

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Off-Season at the Dream Factory, by B.J. Best (writing as “Carroll Lewis")

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds, by Abigail Corfman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Eidolon, by A.D. Jansen

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Deadline Enchanter, by Alan DeNiro

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One, by B.J. Best

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Rameses, by Stephen Bond

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

[PYG]MALION*, by C.J.

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Best Man, by Stephen Bond

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Seedship, by John Ayliff

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Known Unknowns, by Brendan Patrick Hennessy

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

free bird., by Passerine

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Whom The Telling Changed, by Aaron A. Reed

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Almost Goodbye, by Aaron A Reed

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Blue Lacuna, by Aaron A. Reed

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

You Are Standing, by Aaron A. Reed

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Fish & Dagger, by grave snail games

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires, by Emery Joyce and N. Cormier

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Unit 322 (Disambiguation), by Jonny Muir

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Degeneracy, by Leonard Richardson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

One Week, by Papillon

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Past Present, by Jim Nelson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Suveh Nux, by David Fisher

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Arcane Intern (Unpaid), by Astrid Dalmady

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Whisperers, by Milo van Mesdag

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

All Hope Abandon, by Eric Eve

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

All the Colors of the Rainbow, by Milo van Mesdag

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Birdland, by Brendan Patrick Hennessy

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Grown-Up Detective Agency, by Brendan Patrick Hennessy

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

According to Cain, by Jim Nelson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Alabaster, by John Cater, Rob Dubbin, Eric Eve, Elizabeth Heller, Jayzee, Kazuki Mishima, Sarah Morayati, Mark Musante, Emily Short, Adam Thornton, Ziv Wities

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Nightfall, by Eric Eve

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Violet, by Jeremy Freese

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Square Circle, by Eric Eve

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Forevermore: A Game of Writing Horror, by Stewart C Baker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Harmonia, by Liza Daly

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST, by Stanwixbuster (as THE BODY & THE BLOOD)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Column, by Passerine

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

You promise, by Aster Fialla and Jake Gardner

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Sundown, by Charm Cochran

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Dark and Deep, by Amanda Walker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Imprimatura, by Elizabeth Ballou

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Bones of Rosalinda, by Agnieszka Trzaska

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

You, by Carter X Gwertzman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Death in Hyperspace, by Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J Kim, Sara Messenger, JingJing Xiao, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Metallic Red, by Riaz Moola

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Birding in Pope Lick Park, by Eric Lathrop

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Redjackets, by Anna C. Webster

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Welcome to the Universe, by Colton Olds

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Warm Reception, by Joshua Hetzel

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe, by Jim Nelson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Maze Gallery, by Cryptic Conservatory, Paxton et al.

Show other authors

Rachel Aubertin, Chrys Pine, Ed Lu, Toni Owen-Blue, Christi Kerr, Sean Song, Joshua Campbell, Dawn Sueoka, Randy Hayes, Allyson Gray, Shana E. Hadi, Dominique Nelson, Orane Defiolle, An Artist's Ode, Sisi Peng, Kazu Lupo, Robin Scott, Sarah Barker, Alex Parker, Mia Parker, J Isaac Gadient, Charm Cochran, Ghost Clown, and IFcoltransG and divineshadow777 and TavernKeep

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

KING OF XANADU, by MACHINES UNDERNEATH

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Forsaken Denizen, by C.E.J. Pacian

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Winter-Over, by Emery Joyce and N. Cormier

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Bat, by Chandler Groover

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Eikas, by Lauren O'Donoghue

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Uninteractive Fiction, by Damon L. Wakes (as Leah Thargic)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Incredible, September 26, 2024

by Sad and Wet Horse

The only interactive fiction to ever get an audible reaction out of me. 10/10, especially with sound on.

You can log in to rate this review, mute this user, or add a comment.

Verses, by Kit Riemer

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

You Can't Save Her, by Sarah Mak

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

First Contact, by dott. Piergiorgio

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

All Roads, by Jon Ingold

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Floatpoint, by Emily Short

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Syzygy, by HobbyLevelWorkingMother

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Basilica de Sangre, by Bitter Karella

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

machina caerulea, by manonamora

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Alias 'The Magpie', by J. J. Guest

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Killing Machine Loves Slime Prince, by C.E.J. Pacian

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Pytho's Mask, by Emily Short

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Bronze, by Emily Short

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Bring Me A Head!, by Chandler Groover

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Alltarach, by Katie Canning and Josef Olsson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Archivist and the Revolution, by Autumn Chen

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Cold Iron, by Andrew Plotkin (as Lyman Clive Charles)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Last Day of Summer, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Zozzled, by Steph Cherrywell

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Chlorophyll, by Steph Cherrywell

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Ballroom, by Liza Daly

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Lime Ergot, by Caleb Wilson (as Rust Blight)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Toby's Nose, by Chandler Groover

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

When the Land Goes Under the Water, by Bruno Dias (as Nikephoros De Kloet)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Walker & Silhouette, by C.E.J. Pacian

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Dead Like Ants, by C.E.J. Pacian

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Minor Arcana, by Jack Sanderson Thwaite

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Down, the Serpent and the Sun, by Chandler Groover

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Dr Ludwig and the Devil, by SV Linwood

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

After the Accident, by Amanda Walker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Of Their Shadows Deep, by Amanda Walker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed, by Amanda Walker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Kuolema, by Ben Jackson

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Spectators, by Amanda Walker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Fairest, by Amanda Walker

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Cannery Vale, by Hanon Ondricek (as Keanhid Connor)

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Murder in Fairyland, by Abigail Corfman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Noblesse Oblige, by Harris Powell-Smith

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Crème de la Crème, by Harris Powell-Smith

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Treatise on Heartly Manners, by Enterpride

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Crimson Rose & White Lily, by manonamora

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Stay?, by E. Jade Lomax

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

First Draft of the Revolution, by Emily Short, Liza Daly and inkle

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Ataraxia, by Lauren O'Donoghue

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Night Guard / Morning Star, by Astrid Dalmady

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Turandot, by Victor Gijsbers

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Cactus Blue Motel, by Astrid Dalmady

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Grimnoir, by ProP

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Midnight. Swordfight., by Chandler Groover

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Superluminal Vagrant Twin, by C.E.J. Pacian

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Absence of Miriam Lane, by Abigail Corfman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

A Long Way to the Nearest Star, by SV Linwood

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Heartwarming friendship with a memorable NPC, April 27, 2023

by Sad and Wet Horse

Appears like a typical "outsmart the rogue AI" story in the beginning - and will continue to be that type of story if you let it - but if you look beyond the surface and get to know the game's posited "villain," you'll discover that they're more complicated than they seem. The game might hint that the objective is to escape the AI, Solis, but if you give them grace and encounter the poignant moments where you discuss freedom and will and being human, you might find yourself hoping to escape with Solis instead. Thankfully there are multiple endings to accomodate for which objective you want to pursue. Play as you like, but personally, I would choose to fly off into the sunset with one of the most memorable IF NPCs in recent years.

You can log in to rate this review, mute this user, or add a comment.

Accelerate, by The TAV Institute

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Excalibur, by J. J. Guest, G. C. Baccaris, and Duncan Bowsman

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

The Master of the Land, by Pseudavid

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Something is always happening somewhere, April 28, 2022

by Sad and Wet Horse

Truly feels like being at a festival - the overheard gossip, the dancing with strangers, the drama and fights you might witness, and the social anxiety that bubbles through once the conversation goes silent - with the added tension of hints of "something big" brewing in the background.

As you explore the map and make your choices, the festival progresses. The people you talk to do not stay in one place, and you may miss some events that occur elsewhere on the estate. Rarely do you get a repeated entry when re-entering an area. No click is ever boring, even when you're not even trying to solve the mystery, because there is always someone to talk to, something to witness - and if there is nothing big happening where you are, then it is happening somewhere else.

You can log in to rate this review, mute this user, or add a comment.

Tavern Crawler, by Josh Labelle

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Sacrilege, by Cara Ellison

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Memorable quick read. Frank lines, abrupt endings , September 14, 2021*

by Sad and Wet Horse

Easy to read poetry written like an actual drunk woman making stupid decisions. Must play all love interests and get all endings to be fully appreciated, though only two are what I would consider "required" choices - the two choices that are summed up frankly and succinctly by these lines from the end:

you are built
to only hurt and be hurt

* This review was last edited on January 18, 2025

You can log in to rate this review, mute this user, or add a comment.

Stone Harbor, by Liza Daly

Sad and Wet Horse's Rating:

Showing All | Show by Page