Ratings and Reviews by streever

This is a CYOA take on the white-collar grind--think Office Space without the absurdist humor--which examines the tedium and pointlessness of modern office work.

There are many typographic errors and a few grammatical errors as well. This is a work that needed some proofreading and copy-editing, and could benefit from a quick clean-up on some of the most well-worn phrasing.

Visually the game is attractive, and the cyclical nature of it was interesting and communicated the tone effectively.

It reminded me of "My Name Is Tara Sue", a strong text game about white-collar misery which was recently released. If you enjoyed Workday Choices, I highly recommend My Name is Tara Sue.

This short narrative is not badly done; it is a successful exploration of culturally normative masculine gender identity.

This is essentially a twine or hypertext game, concerning a linear story line told from three different perspectives. The third perspective (that of the unicorn) is an "unlockable"--once you've played through as either of the two starting characters (father or son) you can play as the unicorn. Unfortunately, the Unicorn and the Father both present the same macho/bully/entitled male gender identity, so there wasn't as much variation here as there seemed.

The actual writing is fairly good, although the story could have benefited from better characterization. The father's final, binary, choice seems superfluous/gamest and not in keeping with the plot. I had no sense from reading his narrative that he'd be even possibly be willing to make the more noble of the two choices. In that moment, it was clear that I was the player and not the character, which was out of keeping with the experience so far. This game is very linear; you do not get to change the perspective or behavior of the character you are playing as.

Ultimately this game says something meaningful about gender identity, particularly as it applies to American masculine identity, but the message is hindered by the actual mechanics and style. The tone seems to suggest you can make meaningful decisions (and you do have one choice, at the end, depending on your character), but the choices do not seem particularly illuminating or realistic.

I think of the 3 narratives the son is the strongest. It features the feelings, emotions, and thoughts in a way that felt real. I found the character to be irritating and not particularly sympathetic, but still well-written. To be clear, I think the author succeeded at portraying an unlikable character in a sympathetic way, which is a success.

The story for the father was much harder to appreciate. The father is a parody of American fatherhood, and didn't feel real or even vaguely sympathetic. I suppose the final choice in his narrative could feel real, depending on how you viewed him or how realistic you believe the stereotype of American fatherhood is, but it felt empty and meaningless. Choice for the sake of choice.

The unicorn worked better as a portrayal of bullying male macho masculinity; there is no attempt at humanizing or making the unicorn sympathetic, so I didn't feel any disconnect with his actions and the narrative.

I think this is a good story, and the graphics are fun. I would suggest improving the father character, but on the whole, I thought this was a successful game.

I enjoyed this game, but found myself in unwinnable situations that weren't clued well, which was a bit frustrating. This game has several ways to make what appears to be unrecoverable mistakes, and doesn't give you a heads up, so you'll want to save the game often.

The writing is good, and the denouement was satisfyingly complex and difficult.

The puzzles are satisfying and require multiple steps, leading to very creative implementation.

This is an engaging and deep take on an incredibly divisive situation.

I don't think the game goes far enough in the warning; I think it should employ a trigger warning. I know people struggling with the exact situation depicted in this story, and I know some of them would feel an enormous set-back post-reading. If you think you may be in that camp, please read the following spoiler for the trigger warning. (Spoiler - click to show)This game revolves around a father who has sexually abused his daughter. Themes include sexual abuse, guilt, fault for sexual abuse, and a question of culpability.

Ultimately, where this story is successful is in the way it presents a bleak moral situation without moralizing or judgement. The player is completely free to arrive at the emotional resolution they are seeking. I appreciated that the game never sought to dictate how I should feel, but rather asked me at every step. This is an excellent mechanic for other games dealing with morality that want to go beyond the subtle.

I appreciated the nested easter eggs which gave greater context and clarity to the situation and revealed in small ways that something is wrong in the narrative.

The puzzle mechanics can be frustrating; the solutions make sense but could use subtle hinting. As it was, I had to refer to hints often for certain segments, and wasn't quite sure what my deadline was. Play this game, enjoy it, and don't feel bad when you check a hints file occasionally. The strength of the story and the solutions you do figure out will be rewarding enough.

For a game that impressively recreates the passage of time and days (you can even attend an evening mass one night at the Catholic church!), it didn't give me a real sense of timing. I wasn't sure how much time I had before the trial, or how to manage my time.

I had to get my complaints off my chest first, so I could tell you how I really feel, with any sense of frustration mollified. This game is incredible. The writing, the characters, and the world come to life as you read.

It was engrossing, and I appreciated the hard difficulty--it kept me hooked to the game for much longer than if the puzzles were more obvious. Yes, it could have benefited from some subtle cluing in parts, but on the whole this is a really strong game with an impressive implementation.

The plot is deep and layered. It was difficult to know where to go at times, but this wasn't a real concern, as it lead to further exploration, conversations, and experimentation in the world.

I don't know if Irene Callaci is a pseudonym, but was hoping to find much, much more by her. It is a shame that the author isn't more prolific, as she has managed to create such a compelling and real simulation of a city, rich in detail and story. I would love to see collaboration between her and some of the more technical programmers for future mysteries.