Reviews by Simon Deimel

This short project in Twine offers some thoughts on losing a loved one during the current crisis. The text is accompanied by graphics and sound effects. The ideas are considerately executed, but unfortunately there is no real interactivity to make it feel like an actual game. The project at hand only takes some minutes to finish, so is worth a try anyway.

This is a collection of articles on Wooley Swamp. I did not know the corresponding song when I started playing (or let's say reading), but checked the lyrics after clicking through and as far I can see, the main article summarizes the lyrical content of the song and there are some additional lines containing some creepypasta. So all we get is a number of text dumps that do not require any decisions. This kind of presentation is not very compelling -- it might have been a better idea to let the player be a part of the plot.
It is not the worst to read, but not recommendable for people who want a playing experience. There is no interactivity in selecting and reading some articles and most certainly not a game.

The Seers Catalogue is a Twine game of medium length with graphic elements and suitable sound effects. The game has a great atmosphere and the player is drawn into strange events. It starts with a weird magazine that you can actually browse in. There are articles and something is going to draw your attention: The request for an accomplice...

The interactive story is mostly linear. There are some choices every now and then, but I am not sure if they change much about the outcome of the story. The game is focused on the atmosphere.

There are minor flaws like the fact that some choices are not highlighted enough in the colour schemes, but this is something you can get over easily. Recommendable for everyone who likes a story with surreal elements.

What we have here is merely the introduction to an interactive science fiction story about a stranded space traveller, limited to some choices and some dead ends. At the time at which I am writing this review, the game (or rather introduction to a game) was posted one and a half years ago without being continued, so I may assume that the author has lost interest in this project, or there are other reasons for abandoning it. I do not mind unfinished games being online, but there should be more than some screens of text.
Nevertheless the beginning is really not that bad. The writing is decent and the way the choices are given reminds me of the old fighting fantasy game books that I loved a lot when I was younger. It is a pity that this game will probably remain unfinished. It is not a game in its current state.

I would probably classify this interactive story as a vignette as it is about one situation that you have to deal with -- the attack of a bear. The prose is sparse, there are some visual elements and not much else.
But still I found this little piece quite entertaining. Exploring the different branches was interesting enough to replay it a few times, and the choices branched off in amusing situations. Recommendable for everyone who can spare five minutes.

According to the description, this was made for a friend of the author.
The adult elements consist of a laptop described as displaying adult material, the existence of a dildo (which cannot be taken, and using it results in an error message) and references to playing with oneself. The implementions are shallow, typical examples:
>lie on bed
You can't lie on it.
>switch on TV
You can't turn it on.
There are sudden deaths when the house is left, resulting in falling out of a window or being hit by a meteor.
I could not find anything like a story. I originally wanted to state that the game has the quality of a SpeedIF entry, but due to the lack of story elements it is not more than a programming exercise.
It may be funny among friends, but not suitable for a general audience.

Blue men is a game about an office worker who discovers that not everything is as it seems. I am not an office worker, but I think I would have similar thoughts about it as the protagonist.

The story is very intriguing, the character descriptions leave no doubt about the protagonist's true feelings. He (we can postulate that the protagonist is male) is obviously on the edge -- there are repeated comments how annoying his co-workers and his boss are. The game can bee seen as a metaphor for the wish to break away from the daily grind. The players even have the choice whether they accept their fate of being trapped in their position as office workers.

I was not sure about the rating -- I wanted to give four stars, but finally gave three. The reason is that the game is quite difficult and mistakes can very easily take place, and then the player has to repeat the previous actions when he realizes that what he did was not the series of actions that will lead to the desired ending. So every player is advised to save the game position frequently and keep various save files to prevent trouble. About the endings: the author states in a postscript that there is no real winning ending -- the player has to decide if the reached ending is satisfactory or not, and that is true: When I reached the final ending (it announces that the player has reached the ending which is considered to be the best), I wondered if I would not have preferred something different. But the author offers some thoughts on it in the postscript, so we get an insight in what he was thinking.

The prose is great, even if it contains some profanity (I tend to dislike strong expressions in written texts). It was still acceptable.

I would rather not recommend this game to beginners; it is quite tough, the puzzles are above average and some things may appear confusing. I can heartily recommend it to advanced players though.

A very cute story about some kids going trick-or-treating on Halloween. A very short CYOA-game, one of the endings can be reached after a short time -- but there are different endings, so it even has replay value.
The game was written by a young Miss with some help of her father (also an IF author). It has to be mentioned that the storyline is pretty much her own creation. Of course it contains some fantastic moments, but that's fairly okay -- to be honest, I felt reminded of some R.L. Stine story, so nothing wrong with that.
I also liked the numeration of the pages -- it conveys the feeling of the old Fighting Fantasy books (in case anyone happens to remember those).
So cheers to Adelynn and her first work.

This project was an entry for the IF Art Show 2000. The works published in this context concentrate on observation without an apparent plot -- like watching a piece of art in a museum and experiencing its details.

THE VISITOR lets you visit an elderly woman in a nursing home, and you can have a conversation with her. (Spoiler - click to show)It is also useful to examine the room to find suitable conversation topics. The conversational system is basic, but adequate. According to the topics chosen and actions done, the player will influence his/her relationship to the elderly woman. The game presents the final result when it ends.

It is not a real art show, but moreover a character study. When I played it, I was eager to find out more about the woman and to attain a good relationship. In some way the story has a lot of heart.

It is recommendable for everyone who likes a short diversion; there could be more to it, but it surely meets the requirements of a short character portrait.

The author wrote a short story and tried to pack it into a game with a parser -- this medium is not suitable for the presentation.

Let's ignore the initial error message -- I wonder why it occurs anyway, there are hardly any implementations -- and take a look at the way this game is designed. The game consists of several rooms, mostly to be passed in a certain order, and the room descriptions consist of parts of the story -- so going to the next room is not different from turning the page of a book, and returning to a visited room is like reading the previous page: dialogues and initial observations are repeated. Actions apart from going to the next room are redundant. The game ends when the last room is reached.

It might work in a CYOA-format, although there is still the lack of interactivity. Even in a format with hyperlinks there would be hardly any choices. In the current version it is just a short story without any possibility of interaction worth mentioning.

So after all it is not a game, but a story. What about its contents? Well, that depends on personal tastes. I would not call it literate. It is pulp, throws in sexual elements. It is a question of taste how a player/reader receives such provocations. For me it has only trash value.

Not to lose respect for the author, the prose is acceptable. He surely had some work with it. It could be published in a forum for pulp short stories, without any doubt. But it cannot pass as interactive fiction in the current version.

Note: I removed my rating because I do not consider it fair to give a rating based on the use of the medium. There are more factors that should be equally regarded. My initial impression was just that this project is not working properly.