Reviews by frolic
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A short piece of horror, April 7, 2020This game use silent and cycling links in relationship between a concise style (maybe too sometimes) to tell a basic horror story, (Spoiler - click to show)which two alternative endings (but the happy one allows you to replay the unhappy !). This is quite efficient, but maybe it would work better with more variations and clearer spatial organization (one passage summarizing the different ways to explore, for instance). However it remains an interesting game for horror fans.
A perfect puzzle, April 7, 2020This parser game is primarily a well-designed puzzle, which intrinsic upsides and downsides. The upsides : the gameplay is really easy to master, and the way to escape is a tricky one (hint : (Spoiler - click to show) to convert a east door in a west one, you must leave it on the garden wall and pick it up by the other side). The downsides : it's just a (good) game, which offers only the pleasure to map an unknown place (like one can do reading a CYOA book). For the curious (for instance these who wants to program in Inform) or the cheaters (but it only help them to map the place, nothing more), the author left the codesource on his website
A really impressive game, April 5, 2020Using simple tricks (a round for symbolizing a step, a bunch of pictures), Summit builds a fantasy world, which seems first a bit too various but becomes more and more consistent while the story walks. The simple desire to see the famous summit leads you to a true thinking on the meaning of your life or the value of your choices, but this thoughts are conveyed throught live feelings rather than arid speeches. So this is really the kind of game you wants to play again...
A brilliant SF game, April 5, 2020Porpentine quotes herself Harlan Ellison as a major influence, but it seems obvious that Alien and 2001 also play a role in her inspiration. She does more than mixing all these well-known stories in a whole game, she moves the cursor higher and higher, until it reaches its conceptual limit. The result is a perfect piece of techno-horror.
The game is now directly available on the author website.
An interesting game, April 5, 2020This short Twine game makes a clever use of the cycling links to show you how labels are troublesome in social life, but it doesn't go far enough to really touch you (maybe because each choice stay in a quite reasonable range). So it's just another slice of life, but an interesting one.
A perfect vessel, April 3, 2020Neon Haze had an easier gameplay than another games of Porpentine, but it is indubiously a Porpentine game : time and links between passages are well-managed (the running, for instance) ; each word matters and touches your heart (moreover, the graphic and sound design by Brenda Neotenomie are perfect).
In addition, Emily Short's review of this game is just here.
A dreamlike game ?, April 3, 2020"Beautiful Dreamer" is obviously inspired by the Sandman universe created by Neil Gaiman, where dreams are ruled by an immortal (Dream, renamed Lune by Woodson), and death by another one (Death, which look likes Cephiros). Thanks to subtle changes to this pattern (the moths, for instance), the game is nevertheless pleasant, in spite of too long passages.
A pleasant game, April 3, 2020This game is worthwhile for its ambiance and its device, a picture which evolves with the quest ; maybe the interaction with providers are a bit conventional, but the game is short enough to work nevertheless.
A masterpiece, April 1, 2020Porpentine uses the same device than in Howling Dogs : a place around all "events" (including wandering) take place, but she plays even more on time, forcing you for instance to sleep or meditate if you want to advance in the game. This apparent loss of time helps you to appreciate more the following events, until the freeing end, which the fantastic world finally appears like the shape taken by sorrow. Another brilliant Twine game (with a good sound design as well).
Already a classic, April 1, 2020Once you understand the way to "escape" (by eating, drinking and entering a virtual world) the room in which Porpentine locked you up, you experiment various lifes, which are maybe the same, as seen by a disturbed mind... A brilliant illustration of the Twine games potential.
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