Reviews by Wei Yuan Lee

This was a fun game that got me out of my IF funk. The design was well done with the chapter and links, but the pictures were not full enough, so when I scrolled down I would find a huge black bar, but then my computer screen is freaking large, so that might not be the same for everyone. However, image wise, it served the story well. The passages and writing were also nicely placed in the middle, with adequate padding, making for an easy on the eyes read, except for some parts where there were picture backgrounds, the text were a bit hard to read since they had no shadows.

Story wise, it's kind of cliched, a bit over dramatic, but it was fun to read. I will admit that I got a little confused with the flashbacks but I partly blame that on myself. My mind wanders often when I read on my computer.

It's a mystery game about a man who loses his girlfriend suddenly, for no reason and doesn't understand why she hasn't returned. So he looks for clues, only to find the answers brought even more questions than before or they were completely defiant against his pleas.

The game is linear but the choices allow the player to interact with the story by choosing their own dialogue and it also has 2 or 3 "explore the room" scenes and journal entries that delve into the past of one of the characters. So there is plenty to look at, to skim through, that give off the rush and desperation to find a loved one.

Pros: nice interface
Cons: some bugs here and there, such as misspellings and picture backgrounds that aren't long enough and some might find the story kind of silly. And TW for mentions of abuses to one of the women in the game.

This is a short story, nostalgic, bittersweet, and burned at the edges with a war candle type of story. It's about a woman who falls in love with another woman, who's more powerful, in a historic Argentina that most people don't know about. It's also a family drama, the main character isolated and alone knowing she's kind of like the black sheep of the family being the only one who is unmarried. Now, I have read some South American literature that took place in Chile, but not much about Argentina. But I know what happened was very tragic and similar in the fact that it had to do with corrupt government and war (although i could be wrong on this.) And this story gives a slight glimpse. The story is beautifully written, if you take out the CSS, you would probably find it as novelette in one of those artsy small presses I love so much that sell translated Latinx literature.

Pros: beautiful CSS and writing.
Cons: mmm can't think of any except there was a bug towards the end of the game causing me to switch browsers. Which isn't that big of an issue because it's not unknown that Twine doesn't work in certain browsers.

A darkly atmospheric twine game about a cult. It's a short survival story about a person who tries to escape from the horrific disasters created by a vengeful god. I also think the character might have powers or had powers due to some sort of betrayal against god. I got something like an X-Men vibe, the cult thing in 1Q84, and something like The Giver? (What really bad comparisons.) But the prose of this game is quite lovely and the game is intimate despite its doomed ending. It holds onto you until the flames eat you.

Pros: original and dark game about a cult.
Cons: Mmm. None I can think of.

A short detective game with immaculate CSS, graphics, and a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. This is a surreal twine game about a psychic detective and a dead person tracking down their killer. Your choices determine whether this chase for the killer ends in failure or success. The writing is succinct for the genre and is a short length story. But there were also some concepts thrown in such as folklore, I believe its Icelandic or something from Alaska? And there were no explanations for these, it just felt thrown in. But overall the game is solid, just a tad rushed.

Pros: Clear, clean, impressive graphics and CSS along with atmospheric songs by Nine Inch Nails.
Cons: Rushed story.

A fantasy/thriller story about werewolves. The game has two screens, one side written in classical style and the other side written in a contemporary style. I believe even the font is different to accentuate the difference in time period and prose. I loved this, I'm not a person who reads werewolf stories, but this is actually a fairytale, the prose is vivid and there's a sense of fear as the characters search for this person or are running away from something. Although I will admit that due to the double screen aspect and the fact that I read this a few days ago, I'm a little confused about the plot, but I took this as sort of an epic poem. It really is a beauty.

Pros: beautiful, lurid prose. Fantasy genre.
Cons: Some might not like the double screen aspect.

A comfy, mountain climbing Twine game. I guess what you would call this is static fiction? It's a short story about a mother climbing a mountain to find a cure for her daughter's illness. You explore areas on her way to the top and visit a village. There isn't really much to say other than that it's a light-hearted short story. There is interactivity to the game, there are choices that may change some wordings or circumstances to the traveling, but I don't think there's any change to the ending. But overall, there is interactivity. However, I don't think there is more than one ending which is not unusual or bad for an IF game as there is a genre of visual novels, called Kinetic novels, which does much of the same.

Pros: A cozy short story with nice background pictures and clear CSS and prose.

Cons:mmm. I can't remember if there's any.

A short twiney jam game about motor cycle gangs. It has at least 3-4 endings. Due to the word limit of 300, it's a fast-paced,cutthroat action game. And it manages to pull it off nicely. These games usually fall flat to me. But this was a fun, high-speed choice scenario.

Pros: Short, nice viewable CSS.
Cons: Not much I can think of.

This is one of my fave Twine games, I was in love with the cycling links and convos and how each response gave a drastically different ending. It takes place in a post-apoc world where you and your husband are in a wagon deciding on what to do at this end of the world day.

The CSS is a cute lime green and has the sound of I think water in the background?

Pros: An enjoyable, short dialogue driven game.
Cons: I can't really think of any?

This is a short, post-apocalyptic Dynamic IF. You are escaping from an unknown force and you reminisce of those you are leaving behind. But someone is waiting for you at the end.

The game is short but felt quite long to me since this is dynamic fiction and the writer managed to write a full world in 23 passages. I liked how the CSS was the color of escaping dirt and dust, but the coloring was nice, tolerable, pleasing to the eye. It's a dark brown with an autumn orange text.

There were parts where you clicked links that led to other links and then somehow along the way you end up reading something you've already read. Which happens sometimes but there were times where I was actually lost. But I guess this may have been a puzzle mechanic? Which is common in IF, where you will go through a maze of links and choices to eventually find that ending and that's not actually a bad thing.

Pros: A fun Sci-Fi. I was slightly reminded of Marie Lu's Legend for some odd reason.
Cons: Some people might find the clicking in between the passages a little confusing.

Ruiness is a cosmic fantastical journey. You get to choose your character and explore different routes of a world that I sort of interpreted as desert like but also with really shiny temples and cities. The game kind of reminded me of all of my fave JRPGs, I can think of Phantasy Star and even the latest Xenoblade game.

There's also sort of an existential theme to it, at least this is how I interpret it from the ending I've gotten. Despite all the suffering you go through, in the end, hopefully, you will reach serenity.

She also makes this ingenious text map for you to travel to other places. The game overall has a very ambient feel to it despite some bleak existential feels.

It's freaking Porpentine just play it.

Pros: A RPG journey with nice graphics and innovative use of Twine.
Cons: I think one time I played this game and ran into a bug but that was a long time ago so I don't know if it's there anymore.

This is the first texture IF I've ever actually played till the end. It's a short, nostalgic and bittersweet game about a person packing up their bag and leaving their hometown for elsewhere. Perhaps permanently or temporarily. (isn't TinyUtopias about post-apocalpytic worlds?)

So you play these games by grabbing a word and placing it on the highlighted links to access more of the story, making it very interactive, almost like a point and click game, except it's all text. I'm not sure if CSS can be changed for texture yet since it's fairly new. But the highlighted words are red, indicating something may be sinister, or maybe that's just the default color. Texture naturally makes their games a warm color similar to old books and with this story theme, it makes for a sentimental vignette.

There were some grammar mistakes, I believe. But overall the game was fine and functional.

Pros: A nice interactive piece of exploring your house and bag, utilizing textures pick and drag actions.
Cons: Slight grammar mistakes or possibly glitches?

A sort of unnerving mini twine of a utopian slice-of-life theme. Maybe it was the eye or the act of observing someone's house from afar that felt so surreal? It was odd how relaxing it was but yet dark? You read the vignettes and slowly realize everything is falling apart as you venture around more and peek until eventually your vision is blacked out. It's some sort of metaphor about the shortness of life. But yet everything still feels oddly peaceful and curious even at the end.

pros: nicely drawn graphics and unique game play.
Cons: Some people might find the game play confusing.

The Writer Will Do Something is a satirical simulator about a Game Dev company struggling to get their next game out. The writer who managed to make some hit games has to write their newest one but apparently has hit a jam. So depending on your choices you may create another dud, another best seller, or something else. I've only played the game once, but those are the endings I assumed would happen. I think. I got the dud ending... Stories with themes such as this usually have endings of either success or failure.

I'm not the best audience for long twine games. So there's a chance I won't replay it. But I promise that overall, writing style wise, this will be amusing for those who are into Game Development.

The game is played in a itch.io browser, with a white background and black text. It doesn't really feel like a Twine game, except when it came to the choices of course, it almost feels like a Unity text game. But maybe it isn't.

Pros: A humorous game about Game Development, with sleek CSS.
Cons: Some may not get the humor of it or find it unrealistic.

This is one of the most influential twine games by the amazing Porpentine. It actually took me a while to play this game because it's quite long and I think the first time I played this I also, believe it or not, got lost somehow. It was one of the first twine games I've ever played but gave up several times because I always veered off somewhere else and accidently restarted it. But one night, I said to myself, "I've played all the other Porps, so I should finish Howling Dogs."

I won't be saying anything much different from anyone else. But this game is quite bleak, but yet so tender to the touch, so freaking beautiful. The magical realist universes you transport into, so small but yet so well built, as you leave some sort of galactic prison. Like, other than novels, this is one of the most moving pieces of text I've read. I also give a star for that Kenzaburo Oe quote.

Pros: Thick and bleak Sci-Fi. Time Travel.
Cons: May be too long for some. It doesn't deter from the story in my opinion but people who aren't use to playing Twine games might find it tiresome?

A cute romance game about an android who falls in love with a human and goes through the greatest lengths to impress him. He gets his hair done, gets dressed up, practices humanoid culture, and pursues this boy. I think there may be more than one ending? I've only played this once but found it enjoyable. I'm a sucker for 8bit graphics and quirky, lonely robots that make me think of Wall-E. You also get to choose the background music, I think I chose a techno song. The game is well written and fits the cute theme.

Pros: upbeat theme, choice of background music, humor.
Cons: Music might be too repetitive for some depending on how slow of a reader you are, some people may not like the purple text. (I played this on my iPod)

Campus Row is a detective IF game that I found on the Yarn app. I don't know if it has ever been published before on the internet or if it was specially made for Yarn. The only way you can play this game is on iOS I believe, so I guess those of you who don't have iOS devices will miss out on this.

And that would be quite unfortunate. This was the detective game I've been looking for. So basically what happens is the daughter of a prestigious family is missing and you're the police captain, Ambrose, who gives commands to Detective Moore to solve the case. You feel like you're talking to Moore. Choices are given to perform certain actions for Moore to discover and observe the crime scene. You will also have to decide how to handle it, do you rummage through the stuff or wait for back up. You hear a bang, do you find the source and probably face danger or do you call backup? (This is the best way I can explain it eeep, I played this a long time ago.) And just like any other detective game, you will also ask the suspect questions. There will also be periods in the game where you have to wait for Moore to perform these actions, making the interactivity of this game in real time modes. There's even a point where you have to wait a whole day. So turn on your notifications and volume so you will know when Moore is done with chores.

The CSS of the game is literally the white paper background color of a book page. There's nothing fancy and all you need is your imagination. It's easy on the eyes.

Pros: An interesting mystery thriller with realistic interactivity.
Cons: it was too short, expected since it's a series, and some people might not like waiting.

I liked Beneath the Floes more than the Domovoi. This one was a bit more interactive and less confusing as The Domovoi. I will admit that the narrative confused me on who was the Domovoi and I kind of felt like there were too many characters, only three, but enough for me to get confused with the plot I guess. Maybe I read it too fast? Hope that makes senses. It also has a wonderfully creepy atmosphere. Beneath the Floes also has better writing than The Domovoi, more clean cut, and the general atmosphere differs from the Domovoi. It's more filled out, not rushed, feels very complete. And the drawings are a beauty, the story is something I've heard of, while the Domovoi shared some similarities with folktales I'm familiar with. I really look forward to what Snow is going to make next. Although, I hope that his future Twine games has more interactivity, more choices to choose from. So far, the ones I've played only have two endings? And the changes in the story are kind of minimal, but the plot is enjoyable to read again and again.

This is actually my second time playing this. I found it on itch.io and played through it to find out it was a demo. I thought that with the second play through, it would be complete since he added it on IFDB, but it's still not completed. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. So this is a post-apoc IF, written with novel-like prose, and the graphics are futuristic, cyber-punk. It's well designed so far, with an ambient drone. My only problem is, it's not completed, I actually really liked playing this the first time due to the suspense. I will admit the music should change once in awhile, but I will assume that will happen with an update. Looking forward to the full version.

This was a fun game but I remember myself either getting stuck in a loop or maybe just not figuring out how to get out of that loop.(I played this long ago.) But it's pretty fun for what it is. Based on my vague memory (I'm just cleaning through my wish list) this is a text game about a guy waking up in the middle of the night and you're supposed to click the links that will make him check out certain parts of the house and perform certain actions, like go to the bathroom. It does get a little suspenseful because you're clicking around doing these mundane things and waiting for something to happen.

It's the usual Porpentine but more on the cutesy side. Very shoujo manga-like.

This guy has the best story telling, it feels like I'm reading a children's book, but for my age group, I guess I can say. It reminds me of the tale of Anansi. I guess we all got stories about spiders. (It's a little bit more than spiders.) I also like how the macros are used to progress sentences, it just has a really nice touch, instead of using the replace macro.

A cute post-apoc twine about chilling out after the eye of the storm has struck. I really like the use of effects to make the text dynamic and the warm colors. I like little candies like this. (I sound like a dork.)

Excellent use of the timed macros. I believe those are the timed macros. The game reads like a riddle.

An innovative experiment with the twine engine. You can possibly make over fifty characters out of this game.