Ratings and Reviews by Kinetic Mouse Car

Grocery shopping. Again.

You play as an unnamed protagonist who begrudgingly hauls herself into the local supermarket to complete the weekly errand of buying groceries. You only have $20 in your pocket, so budget wisely.

Gameplay involves going through the store and deciding which groceries to buy. It soon becomes clear that (Spoiler - click to show)buying groceries isn't important. Turns out this mundane errand is the protagonist's desperate grasp for any normalcy because, well... it's the apocalypse.

The strength of Errand Run is how the protagonist knows more about her situation than we do, leaving us in the dark until the end where it pulls a delightful bait-and-switch.

Now, we do know that something's going on. The lights are off, the AC doesn't work, and the store is understocked. But you can be fooled into thinking that the world is simply going through a rough patch. Local food shortages, overdemand of the power grid, etc.

With a sigh, you step through the automatic doors of the local supermarket. No blast of cool air whisks over to greet you; the AC's been acting up for months now.

Oh, no, no, no.

The game’s writing is frosting on the cake. Its cynical humor provides commentary about the task at hand without being too dire. The author builds on this visually through text effects and colours that convey (Spoiler - click to show)the protagonist’s wobbly mental state.

To conclude, Errand Run is a brief horror game about (Spoiler - click to show)crawling back to the familiar because the entire world has gone to pieces. It doesn’t go deep with its story, but it doesn't need to.

Where it doesn’t have depth, it sure has attitude.

Saltwrack follows a perilous expedition across an unforgiving arctic landscape. The story is bleak. The odds are grim. The characters search for secrets best left undisturbed.

Gameplay
Saltwrack describes itself as a “post-post-apocalyptic” story in a world that has been devastated by snowfalls of salt and an ice age. The land is now one vast deposit of salt, also known as a wrack. Human civilization resides in six cities, existing as points of light, huddled at the edges of this harsh wasteland.

You are an interpreter- a scientist. The Observational Society has agreed to fund your proposal: to journey to the center of a salty wrack to discover its secrets. No one has attempted such a journey.

But first you select two individuals to aid you on the expedition: a saltwalker and an oracle. Saltwalkers know the physical landscape through experience and excel at survival, while oracles have precognition and interpret dreams. There are two candidates for both categories, providing incentive for replays.

The entire expedition- traveling to the wrack’s center and returning to the city of Hearth- is expected to take 40 days. Player decisions center on navigating the land with the guidance provided by your travelling companions. The game keeps track of your progress at the top of the screen.

Day 1 | Miles travelled: 40 | Rations: Plentiful

You also collect specimens and samples as proof of your discoveries. And no save features, either. Death looms behind every action.

All sorts of unexpected things can happen.

What frustrates me about the gameplay is how your choices don’t always have as much influence as you would think.

For example, (Spoiler - click to show)the number of specimens I brought back to the Observational Society had no effect on whether they believed my account of the expedition. The protagonist takes notes automatically, but surely physical specimens are needed as proof, right? Turns out, you can skip every opportunity to collect samples, and the Society will still believe you.

There are also moments where the game overrides the impact of your previous choices in favor of a pre-determined outcome. Sometimes the (Spoiler - click to show)female saltwalker would leave even when I followed her advice and established a good rapport with her through conversation. It felt like the game simply wanted her to be taken out of the picture, rapport or no rapport.

Despite this occasional rigidness, the game still managed to surprise me. I didn't think it was possible, but I somehow managed to (Spoiler - click to show)make it to Hearth with the second oracle where we recovered in the hospital clinic together. Usually, the oracles either die or choose to stay in the wrack.

I enjoyed finding every salt-sign glyph encountered by the saltwalkers. I found glyphs for (Spoiler - click to show)Contamination, Trap, and Death.

Story
The game is somewhat reserved in the amount of backstory it provides, but from the looks of it, there is a dead city in the center of the wrack. This city was once a hot spot for technological advancement until something devastated the world. You intend to find its origin. Spoilers.

Fortunately, there are other endings that are slightly more optimistic.

Further impressions
The wrack is probably the coolest (I don’t mean that as a pun) piece of frozen wasteland I’ve encountered in interactive fiction.

It’s interesting how it (Spoiler - click to show)almost has its own consciousness, tied in with the local ecosystem and (I assume) independent from what we find in the facility. Exploring the wrack for too long can result in you becoming “wrack-touched,” where you gain oracle-like abilities that enhance how you perceive the world. Your body’s biology can even be altered.

The protagonist is surprised to see that the wrack is not devoid of life. Rather, unfamiliar organisms- extremophiles- have appeared, their biology allowing them to thrive in this cold wasteland. I love the concise yet vivid way the writing describes these creatures.

Hydras, polyps, a profusion of tiny invisible life.

This life, however, is absent in the city ruins. We learn, vaguely, that the (Spoiler - click to show)anomaly created in the facility would consume natural ecosystems and produce salt as a waste product. That’s probably the clearest answer we’ll get.

We tend to envision the future as being high-tech, but Saltwrack approaches this differently. It appears that the saltfall and ice age has knocked humanity backwards in technological advancement. Any tech we encounter feels rediscovered. While there is no mention of computers or radio communication, we wear clothing made of synthetic fibers and travel in an experimental machine powered by a motor engine.

Parallels to our world
As is often the case with my reviews, I like to take a detour to explore some broader concepts. Feel free to skip this part. I'll stick it under a spoiler tag to take up less space.

Visuals
Just a basic black screen with white text formatted neatly in the center. Links are underlined and stats are clearly listed at the top. Its lack of frills fits with the game’s grim, no-nonsense atmosphere.

Final thoughts
Saltwreck is an intriguingly desolate work of horror with vivid writing that conveys the bleak, salty expanse of the wrack and the expedition that attempts to cross it. There are a variety of events that can happen during the journey, encouraging many playthroughs.

Over time, the gameplay can start to feel inflexible, but the descriptiveness of the setting and its harsh realities make it difficult to turn away. I enjoyed it immensely.

(And if there’s spiky mold on your rations, don’t eat it.)

...early spring in the valley of glass, the first of the seven years you promised to the village blacksmith. Your breath clouds in the crisp morning air as you walk the North Road, your borrowed coat wrapped tight against the chill...

Gameplay in valley of glass is brief. You start on a road.

One thing is clear: you have journeyed a long way to where you are now. Traveling in different compass directions from this starting point allows you to sample some of the protagonist’s memories of their journey- but only briefly. Ultimately, the only place for us is south: to a village where we begin the seven years of working for the blacksmith.

It’s easy to overlook this fact, but the game is a snippet borrowed from the “Black Bull of Norroway,” a folk tale from Scotland. Feel free to look it up if you want the full story. (Yes, I crawled to Wikipedia). Here is what I gleaned about the backstory:

The protagonist is female. She is the youngest of three sisters (hinted by the boots’ description), all of which were sent out on a quest to learn about their futures. The fruits we have in our inventory were gifts from a friendly bull.

In the folk tale, she and the bull travel until they reach a place called the “valley of glass.” At one point the bull has business to attend to and gives the girl some instructions. While he was gone, she was not to move. At all. They would continue traveling upon his return. Unfortunately, she flubs these instructions (although it's hard to blame her).

And so, she finds herself stuck in the valley. She cannot escape- it's made of glass. Too slippery, apparently. All she can do is commit to serving a blacksmith in a nearby village for seven years. After seven years, the blacksmith gives her a pair of iron shoes that allow her to climb out of the valley. There’s more to the story, but I’ll stop there.

Having read all this, I found it easier to appreciate the game. It was kind of fun seeing what details in the game are taken from the folk tale. The protagonist’s reason for carrying non-edible fruit now makes sense.

If you’ve not read the folk tale, the game feels disjointed and directionless. It essentially boils down to (Spoiler - click to show)going south and going in (to a house). The end. No character interactions or explanation. You think that’s it? Reading the folk tale in advance provides needed clarity.

I understand that with this game, less is more. I like that it does not try to fit the entire folk tale into the game. But rather than providing a succinct, minimalist experience, it feels under implemented. The default parser response ("as good-looking as ever") for examining oneself also contributes to its sparseness. Guess-the-verb is also an issue when trying to (Spoiler - click to show)enter the blacksmith’s house.

The game needs further development before I can give it a higher rating, but it’s almost there. I encourage the author to deepen the interactivity available to the player and provide a bit more exposition on the protagonist. A post-comp release, maybe?

Ultimately, I like its atmosphere and concept.

You turn your back on the ridgeline, and return to the work ahead.

You've been informed about a photography contest.

A contest where participants explore abandoned buildings to photograph "something never meant to be seen." Sounds like your idea of fun. Following a map found on Reddit, you sneak into an abandoned underground train station in hopes of finding the perfect shot.

Gameplay
Gameplay involves exploring the station, including a non-moving train. The player is armed with a camera that can take 10 photos, all of which will be submitted to the contest and determine your score at the end of the game. You meet characters along the way and open doors that you’re not meant to open.

Implementation needs work, especially with guess-the-verb challenges that stand in the way of solving otherwise easy puzzles. This occurs primarily with using the key cards to unlock doors and combining the carabiner with the rope.

Overall, there are rough areas that could be smoothed out. For instance, the game never acknowledges the backpack it claims you have:

>take carabiner
Carabiners have many uses besides rock climbing. You toss it in your backpack.

>x backpack
You can't see any such thing.

It's also possible to pick up the vending machine.

You are carrying:
a vending machine (closed)

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the puzzles and the colour-coded tunnels. There are several get-past-the-locked-door puzzles, but they are fairly self-explanatory. I also like how there are two ways of (Spoiler - click to show)bypassing the door that leads to the green tunnel.

Story/Characters
I was initially frustrated by the characters because the game seems to shoehorn the player's actions with them. There's a lot of "maybe you should do such and such first before [your desired action]" which can strip the gameplay of its dimension.

>x key card
A small dark blue card, about the size of a credit card. It appears to be significantly worn from years of riding around in the officer's uniform.

>take it
You feel like you'd better ask about the card first. It's the polite thing to do.

Only for us to lull the officer to sleep so we can steal it. Not so polite, after all.

Plus, characters’ behavior did not seem entirely rational- suspiciously tailored to the player’s task. In fact, you can skip the Lily puzzle if you already know about (Spoiler - click to show)Barry. She has no other stake in the game.

(Also: Rat Man was fun. 'RATTY' Ralph from Gerbil Riot of '67 came to mind when I saw him.)

Final thoughts
Clickbait has a strong overarching premise and builds on the appeal of sneaking into places we’re not supposed to be. The protagonist is clearly psyched to win the competition, and this enthusiasm is conveyed in the gameplay. That said, the quality is hindered by rough implementation, largely with guess-the-verb.

It’s not a seamless game, but the author seems to have put a lot of thought and care into its creation. It doesn’t take long play, and the twist at the end gives it greater depth than what appears on the surface.

As the title suggests, the game takes place at the Human Resources Administration (HRA) in New York City. You are an alien sent on a mission to sign up for SNAP, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as part of your studies on human culture. Disguised as a human, you hope to see how SNAP helps people dealing with food insecurity!

Or at least how it’s supposed to help people.

Gameplay
The game takes place in a waiting room where we follow instructions on applying for SNAP. There are no puzzles. As the player we primarily observe the bureaucracy involved as we navigate a kiosk, dismissive staff, paperwork, and a line of people.

Our protagonist has the ability to “freeze” their surroundings in a temporal bubble of green light, rendering everyone and everything frozen in time. This is done to take notes and make observations before returning to reality.

I want to give this game a higher rating. Its exploration into its subject matter is strong, but as a game it ends too abruptly. The turning point happens after we’ve submitted our paperwork.

Story
Rather than focusing on a plot, A Visit to the Human Resources Administration strives to highlight the bureaucratic inadequacies that hinder obtaining social services such as SNAP. And it does an effective job at this.

For example, if you choose “Sarah Traballano-Williams” as your human name, you discover that the kiosk does not have a key for the dash symbol. A staff member says it’s okay to omit it… only for this to clash with the application process several minutes later.

"Your name in the paperwork says Sarah TraballanoWilliams, one word, and your ID says Sarah Traballano DASH Williams. Your name needs to match."

One small snag that can setback your progress. And what about needing to show a photo ID to apply for a new photo ID because your old one got stolen? This is the reality people face in real life.

The game points out that humans’ need to eat does not get put on hold until you fill out paperwork (again), reenter your info online (hopefully you still have access to a computer and internet connection), and possibly wait three to five business days for such and such to be processed and approved.

And what happens if, “sorry, the system isn't working right now?”

When the system fails, struggling people have to contort themselves and navigate unnecessary obstacles to make up for this failure.

SNAP
What initially drew me to this game was its coverage on SNAP.

I have never experienced food insecurity. However, I became aware of SNAP when I participated in a volunteer/learning program that included the “SNAP Challenge.”

In this challenge, we went to different stores and filled a cart with what we would buy if we were on SNAP. We then compared the hypothetical groceries from each store to see how one’s choices were affected by pricing and item availability. A common question was "do I buy higher quantities of food with lower nutritional value, or do I buy less food- and therefore have less to eat- but with better nutrition?" How would this factor in if you had a family to feed? Or lived in a food desert?

It was eye-opening. And yet, I still have a lot to learn.

Now, I thought that the game would portray some of that. Instead, it’s merely on applying for SNAP. And that suits the game’s purposes just fine. Besides, we end up applying for Cash Assistance instead (since the system isn’t working right, we’re told). I’m just curious at what observations the protagonist would make if they had a chance to purchase food with their newly acquired benefits.

Further discussion
The author, a social worker, offers some powerful takeaways that are discussed at the end of the game. Studies can reduce vulnerable people (such as those dealing with food insecurity) into data points. This quantification distances research from the realities endured by its subjects, and we see fragments of this with the game’s protagonist.

In a way, there’s a systemic suspicion towards individuals who apply for help, a default assumption that you’re trying to exploit the system… until you jump through every hoop to demonstrate otherwise. People need to eat. You don’t need studies to prove that.

If food is central to human existence, why are the machines to get SNAP lacking basic functions such as a working text interface?

Questioning the legitimacy of programs (and committing to them) that help reach the objective of no one going hungry makes little sense.

Characters
Initially, I was expecting a story where an alien finds themselves on Earth and must receive benefits to survive. The game takes a different route by using an alien PC sent to Earth on a mission. They don’t actually experience food insecurity firsthand. I do think the investigative approach of the protagonist’s mission and their status as a being from another world allows us to examine SNAP and its infrastructure with a more neutral, straightforward manner. The player is made more aware of real-world issues.

However, the most compelling aspect of this game is how it considers the protagonist’s actions as being potentially problematic. They choose to participate in these missions because they want to "experience alien cultures directly." They are well-meaning and make the vital observation that for a system that is meant to help people, it is not designed with this objective in mind.

The game also name-drops some of the protagonist’s colleagues, but they have no greater effect on the story.

Visuals
Keeps it simple. It uses the default Twine appearance of a black background, white text, and blue links. Everything is easy to read and neatly spaced.

Final thoughts
I'm glad this game exists. It's an equal blend of light-heartedness and seriousness to convey important ideas about food insecurity and the bureaucracy that gets in the way of addressing it. Plus, the alien character adds flair.

As a social worker, the author brings valuable insight to this game, and I enjoyed their concise yet descriptive writing. They nailed the bathroom scene with its dwindling liquid hand soap and germy hand dryer.

I do wish the game was longer (or at least less linear) and allowed the player’s choices to have a larger impact on the story’s trajectory. That way, we have a chance to see the impact of our choices. And what’s up with (Spoiler - click to show)Skrzyyyyt? The protagonist doesn’t seem to like them.

Nonetheless, A Visit to the Human Resources Administration is well worth your time.

The Hobbit… and Total Recall. Combined. I wonder why the author picked these two works out of countless other options.

As the title suggests, Hobbiton Recall is a sci-fi/fantasy mashup featuring elements from both The Hobbit and Total Recall. It’s an ambitious work with a mix of strengths and flaws.

Also, I have been unable to finish it, so I’m going to wait on assigning it a rating.

We are David Crow. The game begins with David having a nightmare about being a hobbit on a quest in a place called Hobbiton. He wakes up. It’s time for work.

NOTE: The game flip-flops between Hobbiton and Hobbington. I’m not sure if this is a misspelling or if there are two separate places, so I’ll default to Hobbiton in this review.

Story
I’m going to break from my usual review structure and discuss the story first.

Story (as I understand it)
This is about the story I encountered up until I stopped playing.

The story kicks off at Fallows Toothpaste Industries where David works with his friend, Mike. Mike reveals that he spent the weekend in VR at a place called Rekall and recommends the experience to David. After a lengthy puzzle about (Spoiler - click to show)delivering a urine sample, we go to Rekall’s sleek facility and end up in a VR chair.

Thoughts on story
The Hobbit and Total Recall. Still grappling with that pairing…

Unlike Total Recall, I only have a faint understanding of The Hobbit (I’m a sci-fi fan). It seems that the plot follows that of Total Recall while the content (characters, locations, etc.) borrows from The Hobbit.

Despite my familiarity with Total Recall, I had to revisit it to refresh my memory before I could pinpoint how it’s featured in Hobbiton Recall. Some parts were obvious.

I was hoping for more sci-fi elements. The closest we get is when we visit Rekall’s shiny skyscraper for a VR experience. That, and a vaguely cyberpunk scene in a nightclub. Of course, I haven’t finished the game, though I have a feeling that it’s only going to be more hobbit stuff.

In other words, Hobbiton Recall captures the storyline of Total Recall but not its essence. Its focus on hobbits, elves, (Spoiler - click to show)Randalf, and a (Spoiler - click to show)toothpaste dragon only makes it more confusing.

Gameplay
Overview
Hobbiton Recall is made with Gruescipt, a system that has been described as a parser-choice hybrid or pseudo-parser. You don’t use a keyboard, only clicking, but the commands are ones that you would input in a parser game.

In this case, the player makes gameplay choices by clicking on pink tab-like buttons. The screen lists the characters, objects, and scenery that you can interact with. Beneath is a section for your inventory.

You're holding:
A can of Insect-Be-Gone (empty) [spray] [drop]

You're wearing:
clothes [remove]

Clicking on an item in the inventory lists the possible actions you can take with it, including combining it with another item in your possession.

There are some rough patches. (Spoiler - click to show)You can retrieve the plate of sausages from the table in Norbit’s cabin repeatedly even after you eat them. Similarly, if you remove the gold pen from Tom’s desk and then revisit the desk, the pen is teleported from your inventory and back into the desk. Chests, containers, and other structures are listed as being closed when the player had already opened them (and vice versa).

I don’t mean to be ungrateful or dismissive, but it frustrates me when authors half-commit to their hint guides, as is the case with Hobbiton Recall. To be clear, I don’t expect hints to necessarily cover every bit of content. I do expect them to at least aid you to finish the game in some form. Especially with a lengthy game like Hobbiton Recall.

Currently, the provided hints are merely for the first itty-bitty sliver of gameplay. It’s not like “once you get past the dog, you’re halfway there.” Oh no. You’re in for hours of gameplay with no guidance. It was almost as if the inclusion of a walkthrough on the game’s IFComp entry was meant more to dash my hopes of completing the game than guiding me. Plus, hints would be helpful because it’s possible to reach unwinnable states.

For example, I caused an unwinnable state because I failed to acquire an object before its location was made inaccessible. I neglected (Spoiler - click to show)to take the rizla paper at the tobacco store when the shopkeeper turned his back. When I set him up with the elf from the cattery, he leaves and closes the shop. As a result, I had no way of making the spliff to get the protestors to leave.

Fortunately, I saved regularly as I played. I knew (hopefully) what I missed and where to restore a previous save.

My experience
As I mentioned at the start of this review, I have been unable to finish the game. After 4+ hours, I figured, what the heck, time to proceed with the review.

In case anyone is curious, this is as far as I went with my quest:

I think I would be interested in revisiting, given enough directions.

Characters
David Crowe is a difficult protagonist to root for. It sucks that he gets (Spoiler - click to show)betrayed by his wife and friend, but he was a bit of a misogynistic jerk to begin with. He shows little compassion for his wife and mocks women in general.

You are in the shed. This is where Mavis comes to have a little cry when she's having one of her 'episodes'.

Heck, he gets annoyed when his tired wife yawns. At least he’s not Gobbo.

> shoot gobbo
Without hesitation, you squeeze the trigger. Gobbo’s tiny body is ripped apart by a hail of bullets.

He slams into the rockface with a sickening *splut*, then slowly slides down, leaving a long, wet, red smear.

I don’t have time for Gobbo’s riddles. No one calls me a sexy hobbit.

Anyway, I have yet to see David undergo any character development, but he’s going to have to make major changes if he wants any fans from players. As for the NPCs, some are more memorable than others. None of them stand out as spectacular but they inject humor into the gameplay.

Also, I can’t believe the game allows you to (Spoiler - click to show)kill Norbit. What an awful thing to do. At least he doesn’t have to worry about his back anymore.

Visuals
Hobbiton Recall features art for most of its locations, and it’s all A.I.-generated. Overall, the graphics are serviceable but forgettable. They illustrate scenes in a generic way. I never felt that they pulled me into the story’s world although I don't think they detract from the game, either. The stylization reminds me of an Adventuron game.

The beginning of the game starts with an animated starfield which was cool.

Final thoughts
How do I feel about this game? Like skateboarding down a smooth road with potholes. It’s an enjoyable ride until you fall and scrape your knee and wonder if it’s worth continuing. And you’re likely to continue, but those potholes really put a dent in the experience.

Taking Total Recall and swapping out its characters and locations for magical alternatives does not work as well as the author may have hoped. At minimum, the delivery needs work.

And while the puzzles are decent, it becomes increasingly difficult to foresee when you might render the game unwinnable, taking away from the player’s enjoyment of the story. More thorough hints would be appreciated. That said, I liked the feeling of going down a rabbit hole and the notion of peeling back a protagonist’s reality only to realize it’s concealing the truth.

And I can’t deny the game’s wittiness. The literal red herring in the fridge was clever. I also found it somewhat amusing how examining the portable bathroom outside the hotel gives us three full paragraphs of description as if copied from a product manual.

…a self-contained, temporary sanitation unit typically found on construction sites and at outdoor events. Constructed from lightweight, durable polyethylene… etc.

The more you know.

To conclude, give Hobbiton Recall a try because it has its fun parts. But don’t feel too bad if you can’t finish it.

(edit: spoiler tag fix)

EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION: Use caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or responding.

Inspired by Tabitha’s recent poll, “Underrated (literally) games,” I’m taking a break from reviewing IFComp entries to share this game since I was already in the process of writing a review for it.

This is also an analysis-heavy review so get ready!

Tiny cafés are a staple in urban settings. They serve as meeting places, provide wi-fi, and of course, you can always get a bite to eat. And yet, they can feel soulless and devoid of life even if every table is occupied. People trudging along their daily shuffle without energy or passion or human connection.

Pauline Yael, our protagonist, dreams of starting an art café that will inject patrons with a zest for life and facilitate community through the arts, noticeboards, and of course, food.

3D-printed food.

Gameplay
The game begins by congratulating you on your purchase of a CookEasy 800 Pro™ which will surely make you a successful café owner.

[EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION] is linear and story driven. Gameplay is conducted by clicking on links in text boxes that pop-up in response to clicking on said links. There is only one puzzle (discussed further in the Story section) which involves (Spoiler - click to show)buying and combining the right combination of printer solution.

And if the game tells you to write something down, WRITE IT DOWN.

A big weakness is that the game does not allow you to save. Restarting and clicking dozens of links to reach the part that you want to revisit is tedious after one or two playthroughs. It detracts from the replay value and may discourage players from finding every ending.

Not being able to save is especially frustrating when it’s possible to put the game into an unwinnable state by losing the box with the link needed to progress the gameplay AND losing the box that came before it. Also, the main boxes on the center of the screen are immovable, which was a problem when a crucial box got stuck behind it.

One helpful alternative to a save function would be to make it so the player can play the game once and then unlock an option to skip ahead on their next playthrough, perhaps when Fyodorov- I’ll get to him in a minute- shows up. But going through the whole intro all over again gets tedious when you just want to get to the meat of the gameplay.

Story
Background
Pauline’s vision always seems to be right around the corner. Right now, she has a café, but surely it will soon become an art café, just as she envisioned. Then, one day, her machine ceases to work. A news article explains why:

Nibbl LLC Declares Bankruptcy, Ending Support for its Line of Popular Culinary 3D Printers

In other words, printer solutions and proprietary software for anyone with a CookEasy 800 Pro™ are no more. The machine is useless, a “mute obelisk.” Until Pauline’s tech-savvy nephew, Greg, comes to the rescue.

Greg introduces her to the world of biohacking and jailbreaking. Pauline is surprised to learn that not everyone has been using their food printers for food creation. Biohackers have tinkered with their CookEasy 800 Pro™ (now technically OpenCook 800) to use it in ways beyond what they were manufactured for.

…overworked mothers and motherly cafe managers were alike were having to figure out the nearest food-grade bioscaffold they could order from industrial lab supply catalogs to load through a funnel into the modified proprietary hoppers...

He shows her how to run her printer on an open protocol, allowing her to join a community of business-minded tech users that now download recipes from the internet (instead of only using company-approved ones) and experimenting with printer bioscaffold solutions to print even more possibilities.

With just a bit of guidance from Greg, Pauline is back in action. He does, however, warn her to avoid any recipe-related emails in her spam box. She agrees. Then one day, she gets an unexpected spam message from someone named Nikolai Fyodorov.

Spoilers!
The story centers around this email from Nikolai Fyodorov, (Spoiler - click to show)a digital ghost contacting Pauline via her printer's email.

As I mentioned earlier, there is only one puzzle. That puzzle is making sure you (Spoiler - click to show)follow his instructions to the letter. Your success in doing so determines the ending.

Because there is no way of saving the game, here’s a tip: If you want the best ending, make sure you (Spoiler - click to show)get the Medical Grade (MG) Stratasis, not the Food Grade (FG) Stratasis. It’s meant to trip the player up. Remember, we’re printing a human body here.

Endings
There are three endings. (Spoiler - click to show)Success, partial success, and failure.

After spoiling much of the story, I am hesitant to spoil the endings as well, so I won’t go into detail. I will say, I found the (Spoiler - click to show)partial success to be kind of dorky. The game's description describes itself as "creepycozy," and while I was hoping for more of the creepy side, it does lean closer towards cozy. That said, the (Spoiler - click to show)success ending was rather eerie.

Also, I wish the (Spoiler - click to show)success ending had more of an epilogue, though I cannot deny it ends on a suspenseful note, leaving it up to the player’s imagination on what will happen.

Characters
To supplement what I’ve already shared about the characters, I will use this section to provide further reflection.

Fyodorov
I understand that Nikolai Fyodorov’s character portrayal is abstract. We’re supposed to take it at face value and not chew the little details.

Pauline
Pauline is a single, 30-something woman from the UK who, like most of us, seeks to fulfill goals and navigate the mundanity of everyday living. And while one may not necessarily identify with her desire to open an art café, her frustrations about stagnating in life are relatable for many.

Throughout the game, she makes realizations about herself and the modern world. She realizes the exploitable nature of the advertising used to sell the CookEasy 800 Pro™ and how it targeted demographics, such as herself, by appealing to the consumer’s desire for convenience- a convenience that would enable one to devote their time and energy into pursing life passions. It sold a dream, not just a product.

In Pauline’s case, she wants to use her CookEasy 800 Pro™ to start an art café. A space to foster community and brighten people’s lives. However, the day-to-day logistics of running a café has made it difficult to honor the art part of “art café.”

And is it something she still wants?

…it didn’t fulfill the original fantasy that it was sold on. Her cafe didn’t feel more chic, or like the food was making customers that much more happy.

Her café hadn’t transformed people’s lives like she had hoped. Plus, 3D-printed food is, honestly, not that great. If you live off it, it tastes decent enough but fails to get anywhere close to handmade cooking performed by a human. This is yet another realization she makes.

Visuals
This game is made with Jupiter, a nifty choice-based system that uses pop-up boxes containing text to tell the story. It works perfectly here since the story spends a lot of time on emails and user interfaces, and the pop-up boxes reflect this. Some even have scroll bars.

It also experiments with different colours, fonts, text sizes, and even includes two photographs, one of which depicts a piece of 3D-printed meat. While it mostly uses a black background, there are moments where the background is a cool 3D grid pattern.

Final thoughts
If you’ve read through my review and made it this far, congratulations, I’m almost done.

[EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION] covers a range of themes familiar to today’s world including biohacking, generational differences in tech-savviness, the overlap of consumer and industrial sectors, and the use of exploitive advertising to sell a dream with the goal of getting people like Pauline to buy a product. It also delves into more abstract and philosophical themes related to (Spoiler - click to show)panpsychism and Fyodorov’s Common Task.

A World Not Unlike Our Own

Ultimately, it points out that Pauline’s world is a near-reflection of the one we currently live in. We may not have CookEasy 800 Pro™ on store shelves, but we can relate to the commoditization of the individual and a desire to find meaning in a dull, modern existence. If we came across (Spoiler - click to show)our own equivalent of Nikolai Fyodorov, would we jump at the opportunity?

I enjoyed this game for its build-up of suspense and the creative visuals used to tell the story. I even learned a bit of history in the process. If you are interested in science fiction that contemplates metaphysics, give [EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION] a try.

Grove of Bones begins with an intro in the form of a campfire story.

Years ago, the village was on the brink of death. No rain, no crops, no food, nothing. Then a man visits bringing saplings. He claims that the saplings will provide the village with everything it needs to flourish... as long as regular blood sacrifices are made. They are horrified. He knows he has them in a corner. If they turn down his offer, they won't last long.

He also knows how to stir the pot.

He tells them that guiltier the sacrifice, the better bounty the trees will provide. Suddenly, any moral qualms evaporate. Blood sacrifices aren't so bad if the person deserves it, right? And so, they agree. Sacrifices shall occur every blood moon. The saplings grew into trees located in an area they called the "Grove of Bones."

You play as one of the villagers listening to the story (btw, it’s also a blood moon).

The game lets the player choose their gender as well as whether they previously had a wife or husband. For some reason, your spouse was previously deemed a candidate for the grove. You still have your son, Treya.

Naturally, your son also becomes the village’s latest pick for the blood sacrifice. Gameplay involves making decisions to protect Treya. The defining choice in the gameplay is whether (Spoiler - click to show)you take a bottle of salt or some flint and steel with you as you take your kid to the grove. Both serve the same function but unlock two different achievements.

The game ends with a brief epilogue, and you can restart the game halfway for replays. I found three endings. I am pleased to say (Spoiler - click to show)none of them involve Treya being harmed. Take that, trees.

Intentionally or not, Grove of Bones makes it easy to dislike the village. Or at least, the village leader.

The game strongly predisposes the player into siding with the protagonist over the village’s needs. Collectively, the villagers are depicted as cowardly, spiteful, uncaring, more than ready to point fingers and throw their neighbors under the bus. And perhaps that is the nature of their community.

An interesting point is also made: the villagers have become so reliant on the trees’ apples that they’ve neglected cultivating other food sources. The implication of (Spoiler - click to show)destroying the trees becomes much worse.

I think the game could have been stronger if it elaborated why the protagonist’s spouse was taken. The characters say they were “guilty” of something. Did they do something sketchy or were they picked because of something trivial? This is important because it (Spoiler - click to show)triggers a fight among the children, a fight that results in the village condemning Treya to the grove. Further context would have made the children’s fight more understandable.

To conclude, I was expecting a long ChoiceScript game with lots of text.

Not at all.

Grove of Bones is a smallish-sized game that keeps its word count down to what is necessary to the story without skimping on suspenseful content. The story is evenly paced, the implementation encourages multiple playthroughs, and its use of sun and moon imagery adds flair.

It’s a game that forces one to consider the needs of the group against the wants of the individual while cutting us considerable slack (Spoiler - click to show)if we choose to grab the kid, turn, and run.

Frankenstein is at it again… and you’re the severed hand of one of the victims he butchered to make his creation. It seems you have unfinished business.

First impressions
Tone-wise, I thought Frankenfingers would take one of two routes: Either being full of humor (after all, a sentient severed hand?) or a gross fest (again, sentient severed hand). Instead, it sets a blend of melancholy, desperation, optimism, and yearning. And the story is told through poetry!

You're a handsome left hand, seemingly male, from the wrist two bones protrude. Around the ring finger you see an impression, where once was a band but now nude.

Despite what the title and cover art suggests, it’s not exactly a gory game. In fact, (Spoiler - click to show)Igor’s death is the only explicit scene that stood out, and even that is surprisingly low-key. And unlike the hands in the cover art, the hand we play as still has skin. I think most players will feel comfortable with this game. The use of poetry probably also downplays the ick.

Gameplay
As I mentioned, we play as a severed hand. We crawl around Frankenstein’s house with a vague feeling that there is someone we need to return to. Someone outside the house.

The gameplay later clarifies that the overarching goal is to (Spoiler - click to show)recover your ring so your wife, Penelope, will recognize you. Otherwise, she will understandably flip out when she sees the severed human hand crawl through her house’s window.

Frankenfingers takes place on a moderate sized map consisting of Frankenstein’s house, its yard, and the nearby town. I enjoyed this layout and how each area is revealed in stages. (Spoiler - click to show)Initially, you are limited to the house. Then, you gain access to the outdoors when the front door gets destroyed. Once outside, you can explore the house’s property, but the town is only accessible once you have a horse.

Overall, a smooth way of introducing new areas to the player.

Puzzles
I liked the puzzles. They involve creative thinking without being too technical. Its puzzles are generally rooted in common sense. I did need the walkthrough for one of the earlier puzzles: (Spoiler - click to show)fixing the wire. The walkthrough helpfully clarified that I needed an object to connect the two wires together.

The horse-riding puzzle, unfortunately, was a pain.

The only other complaint I have is a possible unwinnable state. In my first playthrough I ran into a problem with the two lighters. They both died. It seems that I used up their juice by lighting them while exploring and/or fooling around which was unexpected. I had no way of seeing (Spoiler - click to show)what was inside the box buried in the graveyard. I restarted the game.

> light lighter
The lighter seems to be dead.

Perhaps that’s my own careless fault, not the game’s. Do not waste the lighters!

Story
Frankenfingers advertises itself as “A Gothic Tale of Love, Redemption, and Dismemberment,” and we get to see all three.

The dismemberment part takes place before the game begins, thankfully. Frankenstein and (Spoiler - click to show)Igor have been kidnapping villagers and using them as “donors” for experimentation, cutting up their bodies and burying any possessions to avoid suspicion. The creature in Frankenstein’s lab is made of body parts from these villagers, including that of the protagonist who was merely traveling home to his wife and daughter.

If love is what brought the severed hand to life, redemption is the part that drives the protagonist to (Spoiler - click to show)go home one last time.

Characters
Frankenfingers is proof that even a severed hand can be something players will want to root for. My feelings about being a severed hand were not of disgust. In fact, there was something oddly endearing about a hand wearing a purse to cart around useful items while exploring a gothic household.

The protagonist isn’t out for vengeance or violence. We don’t sense anger or hatred. Only longing for what’s important. Motivated by (Spoiler - click to show)Penelope’s handbag and the smell of her perfume, the protagonist embarks with quiet determination to reunite with her, no matter how brief that reunion may be.

And surprising empathy is extended towards (Spoiler - click to show)Frankenstein’s monster who is merely referred to as “the creature.” He sees us and understands how we feel. We feel for him too.

Final thoughts
Frankenfingers is not the first interactive fiction game I’ve played that features a body part as a protagonist, but it certainly stands out and has left a lasting impression with its overlapping of gothic horror and love. I was not expecting the depth of emotion found in the final scene.

I’m giving it four stars because of the horse puzzle. It could use further refinement, or at least have the walkthrough further explain how the reigns work. Other than that, I am pleased with my experience. If you want a horror game with humanizing qualities, play Frankenfingers.

Backpackward is a portal fantasy that sees a slacker, low-motivation protagonist in the modern world finding an alternate world where he might actually make a name for himself.

Gameplay
In Backpackward, we play as a guy named Bert. The game begins right as we get fired from Jack of All Fruits, a ridiculous smoothie bar that requires employees to wear jester costumes and treat customers like royalty.

After a few more misadventures we reach home, only to be locked out by Bert’s mom. The solution? Sleep in the cellar of the house next door. It belonged to a neighbor named Jan, but she had recently moved out and sold the house, thankfully. You enter the cellar…

A vast rolling green expanse unfurls before you. There’s a PEASANT HUT just between you and the SHEEP BARN you’ve stepped out of. And the near horizon, framed in majestic sunlight, is a medieval CASTLE.

…only to find yourself in a fantasy land reminiscent of the Middle Ages. That’s right, Jan’s cellar contains a portal. And the key to this portal? Your crusty trusty JanSport backpack.

Puzzles
Each scene is interspaced with inventory management segments where you decide what to put in your backpack. This is done visually. The player drags icons of items into a backpack that has a grid layout. The layout requires the player to rotate and shuffle items around to make them fit, and some items will inevitably have to be left behind. You must decide what will give you the best advantage in the portal world.

The inventory limits add replay value because it’s fun to experiment to see what benefits come with each item you pack. Now, a lot of it is superficial in that it doesn’t transform the narrative. For example, (Spoiler - click to show)if you hide as Tech Bro leaves the mall, the sounds of your costume spook his dogs. Left the costume behind? You sneeze, scaring the dogs. No matter what, something will scare the dogs. The fun is finding the different ways of reaching the same outcome.

Or consider what you bring to the medieval world. Packing the (Spoiler - click to show)suckers allows you to make the three babies stop crying. It has no other impact on the gameplay, but I enjoyed seeing how the simplest of items have their own applications. (Make sure you pack the Cheetos for the final fight.)

I will say, the game underestimates the number of items you can put into a backpack when you really want to. If only it were a 1998 Urban Adventurer Streetwarrior TRIPLE-REINFORCED Lifestyle Management System by Jansport*.

*Cragne Manor reference.

Story/Characters
Bert has issues with anger. Gameplay choices are largely based on whether to act on this anger or to suppress it.

You breeze past NED. He is so startled at your sudden show of politeness, a Cheeto falls out of his open mouth.

However, we never get to dive deeper into Bert’s anger issues. So far, they merely set the gameplay’s tone. Being fired from Jack of All Fruits certainly didn’t help.

The portal is significant for Bert because unlike the real world on the other side of the portal, the people here regard him with awe because they believe he’s a wizard. We learn that the (Spoiler - click to show)land is ruled over by a womanizing King. The villagers would like to get rid of him but lack the confidence and resources to take on the King and his forces.

In other words, this is a chance for Bert to be the hero. For once. Plus, (Spoiler - click to show)Cicilia seems interested in him. We see him at his best here: resourceful and quick-thinking. It’s a nice change of pace after seeing him fumble his relationships and employment status.

On top of that, I liked the writing. It is loaded with cynicism and conveys the protagonist’s apathy and agitation. The NPCs (Ned with his Excel spreadsheets, Goth Girrrl, the Cheeto-eating cat) are entertaining and feed into Bert’s cynical narrative.

Endings
Or more like (Spoiler - click to show)ending. Just one. Spoilers, obviously.

Visuals
Overall, the game is well-organized and easy to read. Black screen with white/yellow text and yellow links. Dialogue is evenly centered in the middle of the screen and character names are clearly shown in BOLD. Small details like these provide a smoother experience.

As I said before, the Backpackward uses visual icons for packing your backpack. And they are polished. I was not expecting such a feature when I first started. Hovering over items provides more information, and the backpack’s grid lights up in either green or red as you try to fit everything inside. It really elevated the quality of the game and gives a great impression.

Final thoughts
Backpackward has a snarky attitude with sharply written characters that left me wanting more. Bert is entertaining even as a static character, and I like how the portal gives him the opportunity to make something of himself. Even if he doesn’t know what that would be. It’s also worth multiple playthroughs thanks to its inventory management system.

I want to give the game a higher rating, but the loose ends dented the experience. I think the game also shoehorns the player a bit too much in the gameplay, such as (Spoiler - click to show)forcing you to visit the gun store before the fireworks stand. That said, while I was disappointed to see the game end so abruptly, I look forward to any future installments.