Reviews by EJ

Flight is a game about leaving an abusive relationship with only one significant choice, which I thought was used well. The PC has been living in a foreign country with their abusive partner and is now trying to make a flight back to their home country, only to be beset along the way by various obstacles (some more self-inflicted than others).

It’s a very small slice of this character’s life and the toxic relationship they’re trying to escape, but as the description above may indicate, it avoids the common trap of over-genericizing to try to make things more relatable. It’s very strongly grounded in this specific character’s somewhat unusual experiences and in who they are as a person.

As the PC makes their way through the cavalcade of complications that attend international travel, the stark, simple prose efficiently conveys their bone-deep exhaustion. It’s not just that they’re coming off a restless night at a hostel (where they didn’t even get to use the shower!); the whole situation has been draining their energy for as long as it’s been going on. It’s the kind of exhaustion that makes it so much easier to keep doing what you’re doing than to make a change—underscored by the knowledge that if you don’t make the change you’re never going to feel any better.

Whether they do make that change is, of course, up to the player. I recommend taking the time to see both options.

Making dumplings is a sweet storylet-based game about cooking with your partner and connecting with your family’s culture (with which you as a queer person have a complicated relationship) with food, both things that are near and dear to my heart.

I don’t know how well it reads if you haven’t played any of the other Pageantverse games, but I’m very proud of Karen and Em for overcoming their hangups enough to move in together, even if Karen still isn’t sure if they’re actually in a relationship for real. Both the early-relationship awkwardness and the food are carefully observed with many endearing details, and even if the dumplings come out looking a little messy, I believe that they taste delicious.

(I have to say that I did not put in the frozen shrimp, not because of Em’s possible concerns about the environmental impact of aquaculture, but because the thought of putting in expired shrimp horrified me even if they’re frozen.)