Reviews by actually_incorrect

The Moon's Knight is a very short Twine game (under 500 words, as per the rules for the game jam in which it was made for). As such, it's a very quick experience, taking no more than 5 minutes to play through both of the two paths. I was impressed by how much it managed to do in those 500 words, but it did fall short for me personally -- it was less impactful than I would have hoped.

The prose is actually very interesting. I won't lie, when I booted up the game and read the first passage, I got tripped up on quite a bit of it. I'm one who very much dislikes ambiguity and confusion in prose -- leave that to poetry, is my view on it...

So when I read phrases like (Spoiler - click to show)"dark-crowned wilds" and "oceans traversed by starlight" and "breeze-born interlocutors" -- phrases which, in my view, had no literal meaning and rather were just kinda meant to invoke vibes -- I wasn't really digging it. I just prefer to always know what is literally happening in the story, rather than simply the emotions/moods the author is attempting to convey. However, as I read on, the prose did grow on me, and I realized that this author's version of "prose poetry" was actually a lot better done than some other things I've read recently. Quite frankly, this is what the whole Twine reads like (and probably is): prose poetry. Well, the author couldn't have picked a better Twine for prose poetry than a 500-word one. What can become grating through long exposure is often much more effective and enjoyable in short bites.

And once I got into it, I did find the prose itself enjoyable. I think the language is actually fresh enough and the author's command of imagery skillful enough that the whole comes together in a quite pleasing way. Even if I didn't actually literally know what was happening all of the time, the words coalesced together in my mind, becoming more than the sum of their parts. There was genuine emotion in the prose, and with a deft hand, it evoked those same emotions in me. The odd, serpentine sentence structures also had an impact: they got my mind to let go of my pre-conceived notions of what prose should like, and instead enjoy the words for what they were.

However, I really would have preferred to still know the literal meaning of what was happening -- and despite all the evocative imagery and sculptured sentences, I just wasn't sure what happened in this Twine. I know (Spoiler - click to show)there's a war between the Sun and the Moon, and I'm a knight for the Moon, and so I fight in a battle... but after that, it gets very, very hazy. (Spoiler - click to show) Was the only choice in the game a choice on whether to sabotage my own side, or not? Or was it more of a choice on whether to give up and let myself die because I didn't want to go on anymore? If I raised my shield, what was the Moon doing at the end, what did she mean she will uphold my promise herself? As in, like... she's going to sacrifice herself to win the war...? Or, uh... she's going to take my sword and use it to defeat the Sun herself? I honestly had no idea which of these options was the right one, or if any of them were.

Maybe it was just me (and my lack of experience reading and appreciating poetry), but I really could not understand what was happening or what the actual impact of my choices were. And so, it was difficult for me to connect emotionally to this game.

But I have to acknowledge that it must be really, really difficult to tell a full and complete story in only 500 words. And what did make it into these 500 words is well-done and enjoyable, if only for the sake of enjoying beautiful language alone. So maybe not my favorite, but I definitely think it's a worthwhile game to play if you like poetry or prose poetry at all.

P.S. My favorite line in the game: (Spoiler - click to show) "Dancing flames illume a lonely moon." Lovely little line, and well-chosen as the first link the player can click on.

take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die is a neat little game that I enjoyed, and one that I immediately started over again as soon as I finished it. (Partly because it was relatively short, and partly because it is a game that invites another replay once you reach the end.) It took about 15 minutes to play, and it is an entirely linear adventure -- the only interaction from the player is clicking a button to see the next line of text.

I think the graphics and aesthetics were super cool and very polished. They definitely added to the atmosphere -- and most importantly supported the "twisting" nature of this IF due to the implications of the graphics. The shadowy figure on the shore, the stark and sometimes unsettling fonts/text, all gave off this "evil, brooding villain" kind of vibe, which fits with (Spoiler - click to show)what the writing implies in the first quarter of the game. At the start, it is made to seem as if the narrator is some kind of stalker or jilted ex-lover... someone who was obsessed with Elizabeth and might have actually killed her out of jealousy or resentment. But that couldn't be further from the truth, and it was fun to discover that as I progressed through the game.

Part of the fun of this piece was the way it toyed with the player's expectations. What the story was -- what I thought had actually happened to the narrator and to Elizabeth -- kept changing and changing as the game progressed and as I got more information about the both of them. This is entirely intentional, and a neat way to keep the player engaged in what is essentially just a click-through game. The game we are actually playing is a game of our own expectations -- the game of figuring out what really happened to the characters.

I liked the prose, and found that it fit the vibe of the game: stark, sharp, desolate... and rather barebones at times, but in that good way where it's intentional and lets the emotions shine through rather than having the author show off with some fancy flourish of words.

Another part I really loved -- my favorite aspect of the game in fact -- are the themes it deals with, and one theme in specific that I really resonated with. And that theme was (Spoiler - click to show)a discomfort with the expectations of others -- and one line in the game suggests it's also gendered expectations specifically, which I really related to and appreciated the author's treatment of. I think it's pretty common to feel constrained by others and how they perceive you: what they expect of you and what they want from you -- and most importantly how you feel you don't match up... Or even worse, you do match up, but you don't want to, and you horrible about it. I appreciate Elizabeth because she's not necessarily a character who hated herself... (though you can view it this way, I think that's a valid interpretation.) But my view was more that she hated the person other people saw her as. And that's who she wanted to kill... this twisted version of herself that wasn't really her. She wanted to be "reborn" as the person she felt she was deep inside. Which I personally found very relatable and I loved the author's emotional, exploratory treatment of such a theme.

All in all, very nice experience that I enjoyed. Definitely a game I'm glad I played.