Reviews by anjchang

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View this member's reviews by tag: "Spring Thing 2021" IF Comp 2022
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Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's, by Geoffrey Golden

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
enjoyable premise and easy to play, November 19, 2022
by anjchang
Related reviews: IF Comp 2022

It brings back memories of going to chain restaurants and some of the people you might see. I thought it was well written and fun to play.

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Hand of God, by Dana Freitas

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Enjoyable, and I played through all the options., June 22, 2021
by anjchang
Related reviews: "Spring Thing 2021"

This game reminded me a lot of choose-your-own-adventures mixed with Office Space mixed with a Heinlein book. It was a fun play, even though there were some typos and small proof-editing things that could have improved the reading. It's ironic, because I also ended up using Google to look up some words I had seen before but never read anywhere (demiurge, monad, cast mares, aeon, gynoid) in this game (so I am happy to walk away with some new words).

The story revolves around a programmer working a corporate job who lives out an existence (what David Foster Wallace called the "grind of day-to-day living"). I could relate to the character's desire for adventure. I liked the overall theme and enjoyed the different characters that were introduced. I most enjoyed the different paths and was intrigued by exploring how the story would play out. Even after I got the optimal ending, I kept playing to explore every option. I used to do this with CYOA books when I was a kid. It left me satisfied learning about all the possibilities in this fictional universe that was created. I would recommend playing it just to get a sense of what it must be like for people with jobs who feel trapped in grueling jobs working for companies that are too demanding on their personal lives. I know it is a work-in-progress, so I recommend some more play testing from friends to edit the text-- or running the text through a spellchecker/proofreading tool grammarly.

Unlike some other IF experiences, I didn't quit in frustration. It was a pleasant escape. I'm glad I played it.

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