Ratings and Reviews by itschloe

Right off the bat, this game caught my eye with its title and interesting blurb- and as soon as I started the game, I was greeted with some of the best Twine text styling I've ever seen! WOW, this game does amazing things with its visual interface. This game gets points for STYLE because it has got style to spare! The multimedia backgrounds, the styling on text and online messages, and even the typography all form a strongly unified whole that must have taken a lot of hard work. I was really impressed by how seamless all of it looked, too- I never encountered any technical issues displaying these beautiful multimedia flourishes. The switching between light and dark backgrounds was a little difficult on the eyes- I recognize it's thematically important though.

Aside from how darn PRETTY this game is- let's talk about the content. This is a down to earth, sexually explicit coming-of-age story about a young British trans man (the same age as me, actually) as he comes to terms with his identity and relationships with others, including his experiences meeting a love interest at a kink club. I absolutely loved the realistic and thoughtful consideration of queer kink culture. Anyone who wants to step into the mindset of somebody with an interest in kink would really enjoy these portions of the game, and it helps that the description of the main love interest makes him sound super cute! This game really reminded me at times of talking to some of my own friends, since we're also mostly queer and share a lot of the interests, anxieties, etc as the characters in this game.

In addition, the narration is very perceptive and funny about the tiny everyday anxieties and awkward social interactions we all face- trying to suss out what Valentine means when he texts "yay!" was funny and relatable. The writer has a very good eye for the absurd- maybe this is strange to say, but I think they'd make a fantastic stand-up comedian!

However, it's not all just sexy fun and games for our hero- he's very socially withdrawn and doesn't really connect with his real-life friends, and instead he prefers to do most of his socializing online. Although a very realistic depiction of a certain type of queer experience (and I have absolutely met people just like this before... could even be me, if I were way more online), this element is where the game started to lose my interest, because most of the guy's online friends are ANNOYING JERKS. I understand that that's the whole point of a lot of those scenes, and they're absolutely realistic, but I really just didn't enjoy reading the circular, negative conversations about who slighted who, etc, etc, etc. I think I would have preferred a more exaggerated take on those online interactions, because I could easily go watch a bunch of people have the exact same fight on Discord right now if I wanted to- no need to play an IF game to get the same experience. Also, a pretty pivotal scene involves the characters arguing about a Youtube video I haven't seen (which the narration implies is a waste of time to watch, so I wasn't about to go watch it either) so it was hard to understand the conflict.

Not all of the internet stuff lost my interest. The person in the Discord server who just sends links to weird videos was a fantastic comic relief character and constantly made me laugh, and the scene where the main character keeps blurting out memes to express his attraction to a woman he meets is both hilarious, and a really thoughtful look at how online culture can mediate a lot of queer experiences. Overall, though, I thought some of those scenes dragged down a really compelling and emotional narrative.

Ultimately, I'm really glad I played it, but in the end there was just too much internet fighting and not enough latex in this game for me- and unless it's behind a branch I didn't see, I never encountered ANY leather (and no, the pleather jacket does not count!). I'm looking forward to exploring more works from the collective behind this game!

EDIT: I have been informed by the author that this game uses inkrunner, not Twine.

This is a very short, but clever little riff on an adventure Alice had in a forest where nothing has names. So, you need to figure out what the things you're interacting with are, and how to escape. It's a very clever idea that relies on the author withholding information. I did find the implementation a bit confusing as 'thing' only refers to the 'other thing', but once the answer 'clicks' it made me smile! I also appreciate the author implementing some of my favorite 'pointless' things to do in parser games, considering how short this game is. Try >SING!

I don't know what I expected.

This is a short, surreal fantasy piece that I really enjoyed after playing through it twice. I won't go into too much detail on the actual content as it's much better to be surprised, but I was struck by the tense and haunting prose, which is crafted really well at the level of the sentence and contributes to an unforgettable atmosphere. Some of the imagery- the black stalks, the sunbeams, the clockwork- really stuck with me in a way that keeps me wondering about this story hours after I 'completed' the game. I would definitely play any other game by MACHINES UNDERNEATH (although I don't think they've published any others) and if I found out that they had written a novel, I would buy it on the spot!

I did notice a handful of spelling and capitalization errors, which was a shame because the rest of the game was so well polished. I always feel that in very short games where each individual word carries so much weight, it's important to craft each of those words carefully. Even so, I think MACHINES UNDERNEATH did a really great job on this game and I'm going to be thinking about it for a while!

This is a very short conversational game in which you spend time with your best friend in her last moments before she melts into goo. The writing is sharp and nostalgic, and the friend is a well-realized character who I became attached to as I replayed the game over and over, trying out all the options. The custom web implementation is beautiful, and enhances the mood of the game a lot. The background dot pixel grid made me think of a grid of molecules lined up in order, in contrast to your friend's sickness.

Unfortunately, in the approximately fifteen minutes I spent playing Deliquescence, I encountered two different major glitches that blocked the game from continuing. For such a short game, it's no hassle to restart and just play options that don't lead to glitches, but I really wish my experience with this game had been less buggy.

I got pretty emotional playing this one because it made me think of a close friend of mine who died very suddenly a few years ago- I sent her some messages when I learned she was going to the hospital but by the time she got there she wasn't in a state to read them, and I often think about what I would've liked to have said if I had the chance. Instead our last conversation was about something totally mundane. In Deliquescence, the most mundane conversation options seem to comfort your friend the most. This game really encourages you to be a thoughtful friend and cherish every conversation.