Reviews by Christina Nordlander

To start with: I am not going to review this as an Ectocomp game, because it is so well-constructed, in terms of both writing and gameplay, that there is no way I could have guessed that it was made in three hours. I am going to review it as if it were any other interactive fiction game.

Caelyn Sandel has a history of making Twine games with strong world modelling and well implemented puzzles, more like point-and-click adventures than CYOA stories. It Is Pitch Black falls into this category. The plot is simple, but engaging: you are a kid going into an abandoned hardware store for a bet, one of your friends accidentally locks you in, and you have to find a way to make the light last until help arrives. Because you're not alone.

The writing is excellent: clear, not fancy, transmitting both the setting and the PC's sensations perfectly and without melodramatic effects. The use of graphics (and lack thereof) adds to the ambience. The puzzles are solid; again, exactly what I expect from Sandel's work. It is not extremely difficult, but it took me a couple of tries to beat.

I have very little negative criticism. The world-building feels sketchy, including magic and monsters as well as a vague (but evocative) apocalypse some time before the start of the game, but as the outro text explains that the game is part of a larger setting created by the author, I presume that other works fill in the details. I could also quibble with the use of the Zorkian staple, the grue, in an otherwise serious and non-derivative story. Obviously, there is a reason for the monster being called a grue (and not, say, a gazzok): the game's main puzzle is finding light sources, the average IF player knows that grues are afraid of light, no further set-up is needed. It still brought me out of the game a little bit.

As horror games go, this isn't particularly horrific, but it is tense and atmospheric. Recommended if you want a decently challenging Twine game with a world model and puzzles.

(And no, I still don't know how Ms. Sandel makes games like this in three hours.)

The plot of Jetbike Gang fits easily within the 300-word limit of Twiny Jam. It is written entirely in punchy, evocative sentence fragments, a style that reminded me a bit of some scenes in Porpentine's games. This enables a storyline that doesn't feel the least bit cramped, with many possible endings. The whole story functions thanks to a perfect choice of words, and by working from cyberpunk and teen gang tropes to fill in the backgrounds. Graphically, there are few modifications to the standard Twine interface, but they add to the ambience.

There is not much of a strategic element; choices are often a coin-toss. This would be annoying in a longer story, but Jetbike Gang is short enough that replaying is worthwhile.

(Spoiler - click to show)I played it about five times until I got to a winning ending.

Well worth playing. One of the high-water marks of Twiny Jam.

TOMBs of Reschette is an approximation of an old-fashioned fantasy RPG, complete with combat, inventory and unconventional stats, in Twine. It feels very much akin to Goodness' previous RPG parody, TWEEZER: it's not a direct sequel, and does not necessarily take place in the same setting, but there are some references to the previous game, and the worldbuilding is a similar mixture of tongue-in-cheek cliché and wild originality.

In many ways, TOMBs of Reschette improves on its predecessor. The plot is more of a driving force, even if it is a bog-standard "explore the tombs and kill the final boss" (almost in so many words). The inventory adds to the retro RPG feel. Twine formatting flourishes feel less intrusive, and remain well handled (changes in the colour scheme contribute greatly to the ambience, for example). Puzzles play a large part and are nicely challenging. Combat is usually resolved in a single move and focus on a puzzle approach (choosing the right weapon) rather than repeated bashing: perhaps less reminiscent of roguelikes, but more appropriate for Twine. There is some very good descriptive writing. Despite the overt derivative nature of the game, a great deal of originality has gone into the monsters inhabiting the dungeon: you're not going to find your average run-of-the-mill skeletons or goblins here.

At the same time, I came away feeling vaguely unsatisfied. TWEEZER was a slight game, and some of its comedy was hit-and-miss, but by and large, I found it a joy to read. TOMBs, though it might be better written, never feels as funny. Some of its comedy relies on a close pastiche of 1980s computer game/gamebook writing, which is well done but not laugh-out-loud funny; some feels aimless; and a couple of stretches of the game hardly seem to be comedic at all (by which I don't mean that they're tragic or grim, simply that they don't aim for comedy). While there are some well-turned lines, the game is missing the main source of TWEEZER's comedy, the individualised narrative voice.

(Spoiler - click to show)As for one of the central conceits, "monsters are living beings who deserve to be left alone" is a subversion of "monsters should just be slaughtered for XP" that has been around long enough (the earliest occurrence I'm aware of is in the Sega game Soleil in 1994) that it's almost become a cliché of its own. This game doesn't take it very seriously; the happy endings where you spare the Wamwhateverit'scalled have an '80s after-school special earnestness to them. It's not badly handled, but neither is it a very interesting concept, in my opinion.

In short, a well-written, well coded tribute/friendly send-up of old dungeon crawls, well worth a playthrough if you like puzzles, Twine with complex world modelling, or simply want to revel in a retro fantasy atmosphere for a while. However... oh, maybe TWEEZER just primed me to expect something other than what I've got. TOMBs, despite its parodic nature, isn't laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, and perhaps it isn't trying to be. That's okay. It's got other strengths.

In Capsule, you play a Sandman, the single person awake on board a gigantic ship freighting millions of cryogenically frozen people towards potential salvation on the other side of a black hole. Going about your routine one day, you notice an anomaly in one of the cryo-storage sectors.

It's not the world's most original plot, but I'm a sucker for abandoned spaceship horror (well, not abandoned in this case, but you know what I mean), and it's a powerful story, well told. The strengths of all of PaperBlurt's games that I've played are writing, coding and artwork, and this game is no exception. There are even extremely attractive animated graphics at crucial moments. Background colours are used as a simple but effective way to evoke a mood.

In terms of style, the writing may not be the best ever, but it has a vivid, slightly unpolished strength. Unfortunately, there are a couple of typoes, too. There are several moments that ring psychologically true: for example, the protagonist's musings on how the administration went about choosing porn for the ship's entertainment sector. There is a lot of good comedy, and the horror is almost always well-written with exactly the right amount of detail, rather than relying on schlocky effects.

PaperBlurt's trademark style swings strongly, and sometimes that results in a miss. For example, the description of the fate of your predecessor does come off as a bit too try-hard, going for either horror or dark comedy but only achieving cheesy. Similarly, the narrative voice doesn't veer away from all-too-human things like bodily functions; mostly this works, but a gratuitous bit of scatology in an otherwise effectively horrific scene brought me out of the moment. Style is ultimately a matter of taste; perhaps that scene works for other people, but it didn't for me.

My main problem was with the endgame. (Spoiler - click to show)While it doesn't come out of nowhere, it has no organic connection with the plot that has come before (the tribe of awakened passengers). Ending a piece of interactive media is hard; it may feel like more closure is expected from a game than from a piece of static media. The various endings of Capsule all have definite closure, but the story still ends up feeling slightly disjointed.

Also, I felt the game wasn't clear enough at one point: when the computer said that there was a 98% risk of fatal outcome on entering the Loop, I assumed that that referred to the ship as a whole, not to me personally, which predisposed me against the game more than a bit: I have nothing against unhappy endings, but I do have a problem with being given three choices of endings, only to find out that all resulted in a negative outcome. My assumption was wrong, but I still think the writing could have made this clearer.

Also, other reviewers (mostly for the sequel) have pointed out the lack of realism in having only a single caretaker on board the ship. I'd like to add that certainly, some future technology should be able to protect that caretaker from almost certain doom, too.

Again, the writing in some of the endings was a bit swing-and-a-miss, feeling more silly than anything else.

It feels like I've just been listing a bunch of problems with this game, and that is unfair. The writing is very good (bar one or two glitches). Technically, it's a masterpiece. The mood is abundant, and there is a sufficient amount of interactivity, even if it felt like most of the meaningful choices were clustered around the very end.

Recommended to everyone who enjoys dark, ambient spaceship thrillers.

On to Capsule II - The 11th Sandman.

David Griffith has adapted the 1987 graphic adventure game Shadowgate, by ICOM Simulations, Inc., for Inform. I have previously played the graphic game in its NES port. In this review, I will start with addressing this version as an adaptation, and then move on to the qualities of the game itself.

In Shadowgate, you are a warrior tasked with entering the eponymous castle and slay the evil Warlock Lord before he can summon the Behemoth, a huge monster of immense power. While the plot is slight, the game is large, with dozens of rooms and a wide range of items to collect. Puzzles are of the use-object-on-object variety. There is a time limit, in the form of the torch that provides you with light: as you progress through the castle, you find fresh torches.

The NES version of the game had good graphics: perhaps not by today's standards, but good enough to provide ambience, in addition to the clarity required to solve puzzles. Unfortunately, I don't think the writing in the IF adaptation is up to replacing them. It expands on the text in the original, giving the detail required to interact with the game world, but is mostly bare-bones and functional. The text has some old-school features that have moved out of fashion in parser games: for example, listing important items on a separate line. I also came across some cases where objects are listed twice, in the running description and on said new line. From a purely adaptational perspective, I felt that some of the flavour was missing: for example, I missed the grates in the Epor room, behind which the player could smell the stench of an animal and hear claws.

The greater wealth of commands possible in a parser game is rather underused. For example, one location is a cave containing a chasm, with the description "From the darkness below rise the screams of the undead", but typing LISTEN gives you the stock "You hear nothing unexpected." Likewise, SMELL, which could have been used to great effect in a crumbling castle full of bones and decaying items, only seems to be implemented once.

This makes it seem like the implementation is artless, but it's not. Griffith has made some subtle changes to make the game playable as text-only. For example, where the graphical original would hint at a hidden door with a faint outline on the wall, this adaptation may contain text such as "You feel a slight draft coming from the north." There are also cases where object descriptions provide hints that weren't in the original. Map layout has been streamlined to make compass direction navigation easier: where the original might have two doorways in the same wall, the adaptation might have one to the north and one to the west.

I also had serious problems with the way spells were implemented. When finding spells, you need to use a "gnusto" spell to commit them to your spellbook... except in some cases, you then also need to type "learn [SPELL NAME]" before you can cast the spell.

The game itself... is of its era. The plot is an excuse; deaths are plentiful (sometimes fair, often not); booby-trapped objects and exits are common; when violence is the answer, only one specific weapon will do. Readers may be relieved to hear that it does not contain a maze. Puzzles are often hard, and worse, unintuitive. For example: (Spoiler - click to show)in one specific place you need to light a rug on fire, uncovering a key. At this point, the player will have encountered half a dozen rugs, and while they can all be burnt, none of the others hide anything. Others are made more difficult by the parser. The one that gave me most trouble (even knowing what I needed to do): (Spoiler - click to show)PUT BURNING TORCH ON ICE, to thaw a frozen lake.

It is the fate of early examples of media that their virtues get repeated in work after work, while their flaws are left behind. I loved playing the NES Shadowgate at an age where you could justify spending months trying to crack an (unfair) puzzle. The ambience of magic and mystery is powerful, with a wealth of spells, prophecies and strange objects; the little hints of a wider world tug at the imagination; the original writing, while perhaps not high literature, is evocative; there are enough genuinely clever puzzles and hints to make me forgive the wall-banging ones. I want to thank Mr. Griffith for porting this game to a format where more people could experience it.

But today, when the original has been emulated and can be downloaded or played online, graphics and music included, I don't believe there is a place for it.

Hallowmoor stretches the capabilities of Twine to their limits, containing a complex world model, an inventory, a compass rose showing possible exits (though these can also be accessed by clicking keywords), an automap, and puzzles that are not necessarily easier just because you don't have to type in the solution.

The puzzles are the high point of the game: there were several times when I let out an impressed "really?" upon trying some combination and finding that it was indeed implemented. The central conceit for many of the puzzles may not be completely unique, but is rare in IF, and particularly unexpected in a choice-based game. (Spoiler - click to show)You need to switch between two host bodies with different abilities and weaknesses. However, their paths may not cross, or the unpossessed one will kill the possessed one on sight. There are of course also other puzzles, involving the use of inventory items. In some ways, it reminded me of the old graphical adventure Shadowgate.

So in terms of implementation and puzzle inventiveness: full marks. Unfortunately, the story and writing don't quite live up to the technical fireworks on display. While the plot is reasonably original (you are a ghost searching for the potion that will restore you to bodily life), the setting is extremely generic fantasy standard: armies of skeletons, witches with gnarled hands, dungeon cells. I admit to a soft spot for old-school fantasy settings in games, but I never warmed to this setting: some rooms did give a satisfyingly edgy feeling of infiltrating a dark castle full of enemies, but for the most part, the world felt gross and filthy rather than frightening.

As for the writing, it's perfectly fine and does a good job laying out the rooms without making them too overwhelming for puzzle-solving; however, no passages really stand out. It's serviceable, rather than exquisite. (Also, I caught an annoying misspelling: "ode de" should be "eau de".)

The Twine format is good, and the colour scheme fits well with the theme.

Deserves to become a classic.

Elsewhere is a Twiny Jam entry, i.e. 300 words or less, but the small scope means that it gets across a large amount of detail without feeling too thin. It treats its problem without sentimentality, by letting the player focus on the practical solutions; much like you'd do in the PC's situation, in fact. (I've never been in this situation, but I've been close enough that I can imagine it.)

I was particularly impressed with its use of real-time changing texts and states. That feature made it feel more like a visual medium (despite there being no images) than any other IF game I've played.

Other reviewers have already gone into detail about the novel controls, so I will pass on that part. However, even without the mechanical inventiveness, this would still be worth playing.

The world of Amaranth has a unique, dreamy ambience. Despite its small size, there is enough detail (for example, the books) that it doesn't feel sparse. The responses to entering the (unnecessary) compass directions are an excellent touch.

The writing is very good - it falls into slight cliché once or twice, but it's clear and often very vivid. While I agree with other reviewers that the Red Prince does come off as a bit too passive, he is a memorable antagonist.

While the horror element is unlikely to keep you awake at night, the game does a good job at being eerie while staying away from cheap tricks: there is very little violence, little squickiness (apart from the undead guards), no unfair deaths. I enjoyed some of the dreamlike and unnerving images, such as (Spoiler - click to show)the horned skeleton at the shrine in the forest.

However, as the above paragraph shows, one could argue that the protagonist is a bit too safe in what should be a game about battling a powerful nemesis. The downside to the unique control system is a sense of alienation: we view this world top-down, like an intensely detailed model village. The PC can go pretty much anywhere: movement is carried out by the verb EXAMINE. At first, after the intro text's mention of dreams, I assumed that the game was meant to take place inside the PC's dreams, explaining the alien ambience that stems from the controls, but since you can go to sleep and dream in Amaranth (activating a clever, well-written hint system), that doesn't seem to be the case.

The puzzles are mostly simple and well-worn, in contrast with the innovations in other aspects. This isn't a problem for me (I'd rather play a game with conventional-but-logical puzzles than one that forces in the puzzles), but neither is it an advantage. However, one puzzle I did find original was (Spoiler - click to show)how you dispose of the Red Prince's body.

Castle of the Red Prince is a delicate, gem-like petit-four rather than a full meal. Highly recommended if you feel like playing a Gothic fantasy game that is a small time investment and unnerving rather than gruesome, as well as mechanically innovative.

In essence, Tweezer is a stripped-down fantasy parody RPG created in Twine. You are a tourist with a limited number of days to spend in the fantasy land of Tuisere. Every day or night, you can choose to either visit a shop in town or go adventuring, with different features showing up depending on whether it's night or day, as well as on the day of the week. The day/night mechanic and some of the areas reminded me a little of Castle of the Red Prince, but Tweezer, while it does have a few borderline horror elements, is 100% not serious.

A particularly entertaining feature is the fact that you have a guide, who provides the narration. That's a trick I have seen in the occasional parser game, but never in a Twine game before now. Tweezer is as much the story of the guide as of the PC, and the guide's narrative voice stands for some of the most hilarious lines.

Let's talk about the humour. It's all over the place, ranging from gratuitous swearing and insults to old pop-culture jokes to understated wit. The first time I played, I found it overly broad (visiting the hippie alchemist first). After a few playthroughs, I started to appreciate the variety. While fantasy parody in IF goes back to the 90s at least, this game does manage to infuse it with its own flavour. Whatever your tastes, it's likely that there will be something here to annoy you, and also something to make you at least chuckle.

While this game has an RPG format, with the possibility to buy weapons and items and engage in battle with various fantasy clichés, the actual challenge level isn't very high. Surviving your stay in Tuisere is not particularly hard. (If there is a more "winning" ending other than that, I have not yet found it.) Essentially, in my playthroughs, I noodled around, explored, and figured out which items to use on which challenges. I haven't found everything, though. Don't let the superficial silliness fool you: there is quite a lot to find here, and since every playthrough is quite short, you will need to replay it if you want to look for the things you missed. I still haven't (Spoiler - click to show)beaten the quicktime event, or figured out whether Queen Ghoulia actually appears in-game.

Some of my favourite parts were the losing endings. (Spoiler - click to show)The vampire ending, getting the Blood Sword, and the one where your guide has to register for unemployment come to mind. The black comedy of these misadventures is where the understated narrative voice shines.

As usual, PaperBlurt abuses the multimedia capabilities of Twine in various cool ways. Your mileage will possibly vary on how much use any of it is. I'm not sold on the automatically appearing and disappearing text: I can appreciate that it is more dynamic than pressing a "Continue" link, but there is always the risk of it being either too slow or too fast. (That said, most of the time, the speed seemed good to me.) However, other coding tricks were things I had never seen in Twine before, and they worked well, possibly because they only appeared in small amounts. The colours of the backgrounds are a good minimalist way to illustrate the settings.

Tweezer is a difficult game to rate: I enjoyed it, but I realise that other people have a lower tolerance for clichéd fantasy parodies or wacky humour, or will find the game element too basic. Well, what can I say? It has a dorky passive-aggressive guide, a B-movie mad scientist, and drug jokes. If that sounds like your bag, give it a shot.

The link to this game does not go anywhere. I have to assume that the author has not actually put the game online.

Also, the synopsis "this is just a test story filled with bad spelling" does not inspire me with confidence that this is something that needs to have a page on IFDb, at least not until it has been developed into something the author considers viable.