Ratings and Reviews by Xavid

I found the beginning, figuring out the way the game works, very frustrating. It's very unclear what parts of the initial setup are clues and what aren't, and the many user interface options make it really unclear what text is important and what is meaningless flavor. This contributed to making the intentionally-underspecified rules for the puzzle frustrating. Even how the game indicates which tasks are completed and which are not was not initially clear to me.

Honestly, it feels like a clever puzzle bolted onto a parser interface that doesn't fit it well. I feel like a non-parser interface could present the relevant information about remaining goals in a clearer, simpler way without presenting so many interface options and without losing anything.

That said, the puzzle system is unique and was fun once I figured out the rules and I did enjoy the game quite a bit.

I found the writing and the world created here to be unique and very intriguing. There's a lot of uncertainty here: what's really happening, how characters relate, what the consequences are of your actions, some of what's really going on with your character. This works well both for the uncertainty of a teenager whose life is about to completely change and for the surreal, uncanny environment. All in all, while it's not as game-y as some, it's a well-done literary/existential twine game.

This is definitely more art than game, but I find it a very interesting use of the Twine medium and the way the title, premise, and text you don't have time to read combine makes for an impactful and evocative feel. Plus, it's so short, might as well play it a few times. ^_^

I had a lot of fun with this game. The topic-linking mechanic did a great job of having the gameplay feel like being a tv-show detective, rather than someone who happens to solve a case by solving text-adventure puzzles. It gave the game a unique feel that I highly enjoyed, and the characters and descriptions definitely contributed to that feel. All in all, it felt very well-polished.

In the end, it seemed like this game had cool mechanics but wasn't necessarily maximally suited for a parser game. (Spoiler - click to show)In the present, really all you did was decide who to talk to, which topic to bring up, or what to link. The flashbacks were mostly fake interactivity and while it was cool to see the same places from different perspectives, it got old to repeat the unchanged parts of a flashback. I would've enjoyed a few more layers with less-obvious linkages. Also, I was disappointed that the color-based perspective didn't really end up being relevant to anything.

That said, I enjoyed this game and its link mechanic a lot, and look forward to future games by this author.