Ratings and Reviews by streever

I initially found the language a little challenging; this game takes place with a separation of player and character that confused me slightly. I think it ultimately works, but it wasn't easy at first to identify my actions with the character.

I really liked the atmosphere, style, typography, and design of this piece; I enjoyed following through it. I enjoyed making decisions as I played. Perhaps it's a bit of a (very minor) spoiler, but I'm not sure how I felt about the lack of consequence to my choices. Is it a meta-commentary on Interactive Fiction? Part of the decision-making process for many players is about establishing their identity and playing with hypothetical scenarios that let you project a possibly idealized self-identity. I didn't bury the apple core because I would do that in real life; I also didn't do it to 'win' the game or 'follow the good path'. I did it because I like to think that I would do it, and I liked that the game let me express that level of conscientiousness and thoughtfulness.

I don't know how I feel about the ending, and I don't know if I enjoyed the experience when I got to the end; the game features a lot of repetition, and nothing I did made any change to the outcome. I think I'm OK with that, but it did detract from my enjoyment of the game. I think it was brave of the author to play with the expectations of players, which makes me think it's worth trying, even if it fails ultimately; it's hard to deliberately end a game in a way that may be dissatisfying to the player, and I think that was the decision made here. That, combined with the styling, atmosphere, and sense of mystery, make this a worthy play.

This is a nice little puzzle game, with a great hint system and several endings; I found the finale exceptionally frustrating, however, as even after using the otherwise excellent built-in hint system, I simply didn't know what to do.

The 5 minute timer is a great gimmick that adds to the sense of urgency. Some of the puzzles are examples of 'game logic'; that fiddly, highly specialized language of IF puzzles. Luckily the hint system is quite good.

That didn't help me with the finale, however; I have no idea what verb to use, and even the verbs used in the hints don't get the job done. If you don't guess right, you end up fighting the clock as you try to guess the proper verb, even with the right items & the right idea.

It's short on character (we mostly know about our character through her anger at her ex boyfriend, who sounds like a real jerk), but that's pretty par for the course on a tiny puzzle game like this.

This is a well-polished story that lets you experience being in a really tough situation.

If you've ever had a friend who had a problem you couldn't fix, you've probably experienced something similar to this, and the story--an autobiographical one--is definitely something that will tug your heart strings.

It's short and reads fast; the flow and rhythm of the words moves quickly. It feels strange to say I enjoyed this; it's an intimate view into a very private exchange, and a very sad one at that, but the actual mechanics of the story and interaction and use of medium were perfect for this type of story.

Instead of making me type "N" "Talk to x", the story is a linear one with limited player agency, meaning I could largely press 'space' to advance and 1 or 2 to choose a response. The limitations on player agency and ending outcomes functions as a meta-commentary on life, listening, and relationships.

Playing the game multiple times reveals how little you can change, and makes you question approaching it as a game at all; which made me simultaneously question how we communicate with one another. While we may have our own goals in mind for each conversation, we run the risk of ignoring the agency, feelings, and goals of the people we interact with.

This game raises the question of who we're really helping when we try to help our friends, and it does it so skillfully that I couldn't help but replay my own difficult conversations, running through them and trying to imagine different outcomes.

This is a game of questions without answers; like the Socratic method or a rorschach test, you'll be asking & answering the questions yourself without any real arbitration or feedback.

Eventually, Time does something I found novel and interesting; this was the big reveal, the a-ha moment, and if it had stopped shortly after this I'd rate this 3 or even 4 stars. The problem I had was after being forced to stare at a screen with nothing happening, for an amount of time I had picked, and then being asked to be honest about my patience and my feelings, the game took a weird digression into questions about feelings, reality, and even ghosts.

I thought this second branch detracted from and took away from the real success of the game in making me challenge my own assumptions about myself and my ability to wait/be patient.

I don't know that I recommend this game; I'm not sure that it's entertaining, at least not for a broad audience, but I do think it deserves recognition for it's ability to challenge and subvert the players sense of self.

Homecoming is one of those short, smart little works of Interactive Fiction that doesn't feel complicated, but is incredibly novel and entertaining.

The novelty in this case rests almost entirely in the writing; VanEseltine creates a memorable and relatable character out of a near-minimalist work of Interactive Fiction. The game can be played to a satisfying end with a few directions typed into the parser, or you can meander and wander a bit. Either way, you'll discover a surprisingly deep game behind the simple mechanics.

The level of skill and craft on display here is subtle; the expertise and practice that went into it makes the final display feel effortless and easy.

There are a number of possible endings, and variations within those endings; this is a game you're going to want to play multiple times.

This short work by Veeder is well-written and interesting.

An unnamed protagonist is mildly obsessed with a distant tower; at points, I thought of Kafka's The Castle, with its themes of alienation and futility. While this touches on similar themes, it's a very different story.

It's melancholy, lonely, and occasionally mixes pronouns; if it wasn't for the protagonists lack of relationships and connections, I'd think that the occasional odd message referencing the wrong person was an error. In the context of the narrative, however, it feels intentional; the protagonist, you, doesn't really connect with these people or achieve any closeness to them.

As the classic unexplored 'you' of interactive fiction, you have one goal; ascending the old gothic tower.

The journey is well-described, and the narrative voice is as strong and original as any other work by Veeder.

I've only played once; I feel like I missed sections or areas, and am going to play again, but I suspect my ending will be the same. This isn't a game that holds your hand or forces you to explore every paragraph of text; it's a brief and rewarding exploration, that lets you pass up points of interest and explore at your own pace.

I highly enjoyed it and enthusiastically recommend it.

Bibliophile is a long, ambitious game, full of characters, locations, and lots of walking. The premise is a familiar one for readers of interactive fiction; a Lovecraftian horror is being summoned to Earth, and you are the only one who can stop it. The game genuinely shines in a few places, but could use some extra polish and love in many others.

You will need to manually walk through many locations that don’t feel necessary and which serve purely as window dressing. Error messages suggest that certain locations will later be relevant, but they remain unavailable for the entire game. As the game progressed and I realized just how linear it was, I felt frustrated by the arbitrary local flavor, which made me walk extensively around the map. A game this linear would really benefit from using a simple go-to mechanism.

In such a large setting, I’d typically expect to spend time exploring and uncovering various nooks and crannies, but that was missing here.

Compass directions to your destination were good and helpful; however, they also contributed to the overall sense of linear gameplay without player agency. At times, this felt like a series of RPG fetch quests. Clear directions lead me to my goals, which really just required showing up, and didn’t require much creativity.

The tone of the writing is humorous and used to good effect to establish incidental characters. However, it felt too glib at times, and lacked characterization. One of the principal characters, an elderly librarian, tells me to go into a basement and find something because ‘I’m too old to go all down there and rummage. But you’re into that shit,[...]’

Young, hip, and slightly snarky; it felt more like the omniscient narrator than a member of the world around me, and when I get down to the basement, the description text tells me no one has been down here in sometime but the librarian.

Proper names are sometimes are only mentioned once in introductory text, and you have to scroll back to read them again; the opening of the game has you visited by special agents who are checking to see if you have a specific book, but they only refer to it by a pronoun after their initial greeting. If you don’t remember the actual name, you can’t look up the book in your electronic catalog. If you can’t scroll up to re-read it, you’ll need to start a second run of the game & get the name.

Experiences like this made the game feel a bit on-rails, which clashed with the realistic locations and open areas that I was enjoying exploring. In general, the descriptive writing was strong, and made objects feel real; there were nice touches, like the dinosaur sticker adorning my laptop. These little bits gave my character a concrete identity outside of the parser response to actions, and gave me a quick sense of who I am and what I’m about.

I don’t mean to bash this game. In the end, I enjoyed it, and thought it was impressively ambitious. I’ve played a few other games by Tenner, and think that this shows progression from earlier attempts, but coming slightly short of the initial promise and suggestion of a larger, more open game experience.

I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys this type of theme, and just be aware that the game is a bit crueler than the rating may suggest; I suspect it is a bug, but there are a few places and areas that make the game impossible to finish with no acknowledgement by the game.

If you’re worried about falling into this, read the following very minor spoiler.
(Spoiler - click to show)Pick up the letter opener in the Librarian’s townhouse when you see it.

I've omitted my rating. While the current experience is a 2 star in my book (enjoyable thematic game with some serious bugs/poor implementations), it's not a bad game, and I don't want to hurt the average rating. I suspect people who enjoy mysterious Lovecraftian games will appreciate this game regardless of the quibbles I've listed above.

If the game is updated, I'll play it again, & revise my star rating.

This is a fun little piece, with an attractive design and layout, meant to be played multiple times before you can reach 'the good' ending.

It's not difficult; actions are well-clued, and although you'll die several times learning the parameters of the Cave, the deaths are funny and enjoyable.

I really liked the attention to layout and design; this is an easy-to-read Twine.

I had a lot of fun reading this and highly recommend it; the poetry is awful in an endearing way, and packs this short adventure with whimsy and joy.

While on a routine mission, a small crew discovers an unknown alien presence, and accidentally brings it on board the Speedwell. The premise of this long, branching CYOA is a much-loved staple of the sci-fi horror genre, reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Aliens. Despite the use of a standard convention of sci-fi, this piece is both original and creative.

The game starts with a choice between two protagonists, both women, with their own personalities, backgrounds, and identities. All of the characters feel unique and interesting, transcending their archetypes and having complex relationships with the protagonist and the rest of the crew.

The quality of the writing shows throughout the story, in descriptions, dialogue, and pacing. This is a well-written piece.

This work is fairly long, and could take between 20 minutes and an hour on your first play-through. You'll want to play it again; some choices close off other parts of the narrative, and you won't have a complete picture of many of the characters if you don't repeat your game and try different options.

There are many endings possible, and though I've only experienced a few of them, I suspect that there is no clear-cut 'happy ending'; while there isn't a 'perfect score ride into the sunset ending', there are certainly different happy epilogues where your protagonist salvages her future and has a satisfying life post-tragedy. Perhaps more enjoyable is the chance to learn more about the crewmates and the protagonist, instead of worrying about optimal choices and keeping a spread-sheet of outcomes.

Some parts of the plot are pre-determined, but they set the overall tone of the story, and the work would suffer if they could be avoided. Despite these pre-determined outcomes, my decisions felt natural, organic, and true to the character I was playing; at no time did I feel like I was a passive observer, no matter how little control my protagonist had over the events around her.

Presentationally the game shines as well; using an evocative typeface, a great cover illustration, and a well-designed layout, it's a joy to read and interact with.

All in all, this is a highly recommended Twine story which should provide a lot of replay value.

As a footnote, I'll mention that this is one of the few commercial modern interactive fiction projects I've seen, and it's built in Twine no less. I was impressed by this attempt at selling a game written in Twine, and happily paid above the minimum price listed. I think this is an exciting experiment, and hope it proceeds well.