Reviews by Kinetic Mouse Car

In the Deep is an entry for Seedcomp. It uses the seed called "Offshore Oil" that grabbed my attention because of its unique subject matter. You play as John Harper. He works as an independent contractor in the oil and gas industry and has extensive experience as a diver. But this next work assignment is going to test his limits.

Offshore oil rigs/platforms (same thing?) are peculiar things. How do you design something that sits at surface level where we all can see it, but can also reach down to the bottom of the ocean so it can dig deeper into the Earth's surface? And I mean deep. There’s a reason it’s sometimes called “deepwater drilling.”

The ones that boggle my mind are those huge Norwegian rigs. Rather than floating with machinery trailing down underneath, they are supported by concrete legs that extend all the way to the ocean floor. They look comical- unsettling even- out of water. I remember the first time seeing a picture of one after it was built, and a weird chill cut through my body just by staring at it. Huh. That's how I felt.

Of course, after they are slowly pulled into the ocean and sunk at their site, all you see is the top part sticking out of the water. I have to hand it to the engineers: they know how to make things happen. Bonus points for the fact that the legs are hollow with STAIRCASES that you can mosey on down like you were (almost) in a normal building.

My point: I was intrigued when I saw In the Deep. I thought it was a novel premise for an interactive fiction game, and one that tickled an odd curiosity I have about these human-made structures (challenge: try particle accelerators).

Gameplay
The game begins as you report to work at a harbour for transport. Two things catch your attention: a surprisingly high number of military personnel and an activist of unknown affiliation who cautions you about a cover-up for a failed sea monster experiment. He warns that you may be roped into the cover-up without being told the truth. Something about him gives you reservations… but you have a job to do. Soon after, you are transported to a ship called the Sea Eagle.

Most of the choices you make are structured around dives. I was a bit disappointed that the game does not take place on the oil rig, but oh well. Diving around it is good enough. And it is cool. The oil rig is called Rider Beta and was evacuated of its crew (if that’s the right term) due to an undisclosed incident. The diving team is tasked with doing maintenance at the drill site and to keep an eye out for a missing remotely operated vehicle (ROV). But the assignment takes a bizarre turn as the real purpose for the dive team slowly emerges.

A chunk of the gameplay is allocated to NPC interaction that occurs regularly. The two supporting characters are your pals Herzog and Frank, notably Herzog who right away corners you about a secret plan. Rumor has it that the oil rig was part of a bioweapon project during which a creature managed to escape. Such a creature could bring in big money, and Herzog says he has contacts who are interested in making a deal. Will you help him, or will you focus on the task at hand?

I wish the game slowed down a little and took the time to expand upon its setting associated to the seed chosen from the comp. However, the author does a nice job at conveying the dangers of saturation diving. It adds realism (although I am not saying that In the Deep is meant to be a realistic) and atmosphere without overloading the gameplay with technicalities. The author also describes the ocean depths in a convincing manner, that sense of isolation where you are dependent on potentially fragile pieces of technology.

Story/Characters
Basically, the gameplay revolves around whether you choose to help Herzog with his plan of selling the rumored mystery creature. If it exists, of course.

Now that the official part of the meeting is over, Herzog gives you an interested look.

As a result, Herzog serves as the “hook” (from a narrative standpoint, not a pun) for the story. He is also portrayed as the corrupt character. Resourceful, but ultimately driven by money. He does some unsavory things (Spoiler - click to show) (ex. sabotaging Frank’s gear), and while you have options about how much you get involved, you feel roped into siding with him if you want to fully investigate the story. In this sense, the story felt linear. You will reach the (Spoiler - click to show) big discovery at the end regardless of teaming up with Herzog, but you receive less context information than if you agree to his plan when he pitches it.

Turns out (Spoiler - click to show) the creature is real… long dead and scavenged by filter feeders. The author conveys an important truth: lifeforms unsuited to the ocean environment become food for the smallest of creatures. I’m not sure what the creature was engineered for (assuming that it was engineered to begin with, details are scarce), but it clearly did not stand a chance on the ocean floor. Furthermore, its corpse is contaminating the surrounding environment. Already, fish are dying. By the way, you are the only diver down here.

The gameplay comes down to three major choices:
(Spoiler - click to show)
Steal specimen to sell.
Give specimen to science.
Destroy specimen.

The first option is only available if you teamed up with Herzog since you need his contacts to make the sale. Also, you have the choice of going public with the story, but no one believes you. Even if you claim the carcass for your own. I guess the protagonist would have a better shot if the creature were living.

What frustrates me about the story is the loose ends. (Spoiler - click to show) What caused the oil rig to collapse that happens partway through the game? Who, specifically, was conducting these experiments? What was the purpose of the engineered creature that escaped? I have a few ideas, but ultimately the game skimps on details. Exploring this reveal a little more would do a lot in terms of player engagement.

The game is not incomplete, but the adventure feels like it is cut short.

Visuals
Only a slim rectangle of screen space is used for the text, which is a bit on the small size. It’s not too unreasonable in size but does make you go looking for a way to change it. Typically, the "control zoom" command does the trick, but for some reason the game was not responsive. Possibly an issue on my part, although the text size is generally smaller than with most choice-based games.

That aside, the backdrop is black with a blue border running along the sides of the text. Graphics are included. I especially liked the imagery on the menu page. A simple but effective look. The only other visuals are artwork for each of the endings (five endings total), which added nice flair.

Final thoughts
Playing In the Deep was a mixed bag of fun and unanswered questions. There is not a lot of depth (now, that’s a pun) with the story, and yet there is a mystery element that entices you into replaying. I think its depiction of the ocean from a diver’s perspective is the strongest point. If you like ocean settings, this game has great atmosphere.

There are a few bugs: (Spoiler - click to show) When Herzog asks if you love money, you can say yes or no. If you say yes, and then choose the option that says, "This sounds stupid," the game starts all over again. Also, there are two endings (Millionaire and Leave It To The Experts) under “Ending 04.” I assume that one of them is supposed to be “Ending 02” since we have ones for 01, 03, and 05.

Besides that, it is a decent game that inspires multiple playthroughs.

If you like the idea of diving where humans rarely/don’t usually go, consider Tangaroa Deep. It is a Twine game about operating a deep-sea submersible as you explore the ocean depths for science. Your only connection to humanity/surface is a colleague’s voice over radio. Like In the Deep it considers how one would be compelled to stray from a risky mission to pursue a rare find.

So warm. How lovely.

Welcome to your cabin.
Please, take a look around.

You find yourself in a cozy cabin surrounded by a winter wonderland. It belongs to you, and only you. It can be customized if you should wish. Just don’t mind me.

(wait a minute…)

Gameplay
Despite the surreal dreaminess that pervades the cabin, you can sense that someone is pulling the strings. And for good reason. I think the game's title gives it away, but I'll put it under spoiler tag anyway: (Spoiler - click to show) Your comfy cozy cabin is a simulation. None of it is real!

The gameplay follows an inconspicuous structure. There is a growing list of activities in the cabin for you to choose from. After three, you grow tired and fall asleep, unless you prolong your energy by drinking coffee (a clever little hack).

What would you like to do?

Drink something
Watch the fire
Read a book

Each time (or every other time) you wake up, a new activity is listed. Cozy activities. And. Activities that seem a little… out of context for this serene winter setting. For instance, the first new activity added to the list is "Watch the holoscreen." Huh. Seems a bit out of place. Things get weirder.

You also notice that the narrator has a habit of speaking directly to the protagonist. It is obvious that this entity controls the (Spoiler - click to show) simulation (again, I feel compelled to put that under spoilers), but the player feels powerless at interfering with the narrator’s soothing prattle. However, if there is a will there is a way. You have options.

Is possible to get under reality’s skin. The trigger to underscoring the (Spoiler - click to show) simulation is hard to find, and yet so cleverly hidden that I can hardly complain about its difficulty. I was too busy admiring this innovative way of using Twine’s visual features. Some players may find it too well-hidden, which is understandable, but it worked for me. Creativity like that pleases me in choice-based games.

I absolutely love the idea of a surreal game with unreliable layers of reality. That said, it could use a little more structure in its gameplay. There is no real sense of discovery where you are chugging along and stumble across something that tells you hm, this is different. A game that captures this subtly is The Twine Fishing Simulator. It strings you along but ultimately leaves it up to you when making the big discoveries. In COZY SIMULATION 2999, the narrator directly feeds the reveal to you. In fact, the narrator gives the impression of I’m totally not narrating the story! This is still effective, and even humorous, but much of the mystery is lost in the process.

So. How exciting can a winter wonderland be? Well, the story takes off when you fall asleep.

Story
When you fall asleep, the (Spoiler - click to show) simulation reveals its flimsiness. You have memories of (Spoiler - click to show) running through an industrial complex, being chased by unknown pursuers. Contrary to the safeness of your cabin, these dreams are a world of machinery, corridors, sharp edges, grime, and pain. The opposite of soft rugs and hot chocolate. The best part is when the game swaps out a new set of visuals that are FANTASTIC at conveying this change in tone. I’ll discuss that in the next section. FYI: (Spoiler - click to show) Memories can surface elsewhere in the game, but mostly through sleep sequences. That’s why it is important to explore every feature.

You want the truth? (Spoiler - click to show) After stubbornly refusing the help of the narrator, I realized that reality meant an industrial surgical ward operated by angels reminiscent of a Porpentine game. Turns out the angel- the narrator- attached to your body is the one pumping the simulation through your mind. And it means well, too. It was never, “ha-ha, you’re mine!” It wants to help you (sort of), but you can only live in a simulation for so long. Or maybe you can. The choice is yours.

I don’t know if I could go back to having pillow fights in the cabin while knowing that- I’ve spoiled too much. Please play the game for the full experience. There are three endings, and the author has kindly provided a built-in guide for reaching them. The author also says that neither are good or bad, but I suppose depends on your interpretation of quality of existence. Do you (Spoiler - click to show) want to know the truth and suffer or exist blissfully as external reality falls apart?

For those who have played the game: (Spoiler - click to show) What does everyone think? The narrator does not seem maliciously deceptive, only wanting to conceal the truth. Which I assume is that 2999 is a horrible year to live in. I thought the clementine description was an eerie indicator.

Sweet and juicy. A little remainder of what they once called summer.

Think about it.

There is some vagueness about being reborn. It’s something that appears in all three endings that I assume has to do with the shenanigans going on outside of the simulation. My guess is that the shenanigan in question is to integrate people into a hive mind as painfully and soothingly as possible. I suppose that is one way of being reborn.

Visuals
At first glance, even the game’s appearance oozes coziness.

The tan text is set in an off-white cream text box with a thick tan border. The font is small and delicate, with light tan links. Graphics are included along the text to depict cozy cabin imagery that adds nice polish. Finally, all of this is set against a white backdrop of a snowy tree, blurred enough to minimize distractions while finalizing the appear of a winter landscape.

Imagine my surprise when that changed. (Spoiler - click to show) Once dream-mode kicks in, the entire background goes black with thick dark-grey rounded borders crammed against the edges of the screen. The text is white, and the links are red. If you seek out the truth, some extra background visuals are added. They make you wonder if maybe staying in that warm winter cabin would have been a better idea than look too closely.

This change in atmosphere was perfect. The use of visual elements to signal (Spoiler - click to show) shifts in reality is one of the strongest parts of the game. Visuals have a lot of potential in storytelling, and I am glad that the author tapped into that. Going from a tranquil cabin to a (Spoiler - click to show) dystopian nightmare moment was powerful. That surprise of the screen going (Spoiler - click to show) dark with anxious-looking white and red text replacing the cabin paradise just had the feeling of Whoa. I love that sort of thing in interactive fiction.

The game uses visual effects in other ways to mess with reality. When text tears through the (Spoiler - click to show) simulation, it is shown in different text that makes it clear that you are straying from the program. For instance, consider (Spoiler - click to show) watching the holoscreen.

The new mental rewiring manufactory has reached 300% efficiency levels, according to StrexCo's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2999 financial results—

No, wait. That's not supposed to happen.

Just ignore that. I'm sorry.

Right. Just ignore it.

The first sentence uses a darker, bold text that is a sharp contrast to the rest of the writing. It represents a break from the façade where fragments of the past creep in. Clearly the narrator did not want the protagonist to see this. Naturally, this only makes it more obvious that the narrator is covering up the truth. The bottom two sentences are the standard text associated with cozy cabin land.

Through visuals you can clearly see the tug of war between the (Spoiler - click to show) simulated reality of the cabin and the nightmarish reality of the “outside” world.

Final thoughts
COZY SIMULATION 2999 is a great blend of sci-fi + horror hidden behind a seemingly innocent slice-of-life premise. There is a bit of everything! While I wish we could explore the backstory a little more (what is going on in 2999?), it feels like a complete game with a strong atmosphere and lots to offer.

It is also a strong first interactive fiction game. I know the author expressed in the game that they were not particularly confident with it, but heck, I had fun! Part of it does appeal to my love of sci-fi surrealness, but it really does demonstrate creative thinking while integrating story, gameplay mechanics, and visual design to create a piece that leaves you wanting more. And I want more.

(Note for the author: There is one small bug with the (Spoiler - click to show) holoscreen and the artwork activities. If you watch the holoscreen enough times, you run out of prompts and only see “lovely colours.” Similarly, if you keep making artwork, the option to do so is eventually replaced by “I don't like your art anymore.” I thought this was hilarious. The problem is that these remain unchanging when you start a new game. You can never revisit the interesting holoscreen channels or the cool artwork that you can “create.”)

In prepare for return, you play as an AI stored in an underground facility with the task of making Earth habitable for humans. Following a series of disasters, Earth has become an apocalyptic world unsuitable for human life. Humans have left and will return once Earth is ready to receive them again.

Gameplay
The game begins with you powering on in the year 2851. The system that you are connected to is happy to answer some basic questions about yourself. You were constructed in the late 21st century by two corporations that have since ceased to exist since every human connected to them are either dead or left the planet long ago. It is time for you to carry out your purpose.

Your current hardware base is a Torsion Robotics AI Core, Model AI-05-3845-5000, housed in Room A48 of Reconstruction Facility 05, with six Intel W-39 Computing Clusters in rooms A49 and A50. More detailed information should be readily available to you through your operating system diagnostics.

Your job is to lead Reconstruction Facility 05 in rebuilding Earth, so it is not just habitable but also aesthetically pleasing for humanity. The gameplay is organized into “rounds” where you resolve alerts, modify objectives, and read status reports. After each task has been addressed, you enter sleep mode.

Editing Priorities:

• Prime: Prepare the planet for the Humans' return.
• Purification: Remove elements toxic to humans from the seas.
• Development: Contact any other remaining complexes.
• Biosphere: null
• Legacy: null

The first task is to choose objectives for several parameters, such as how to remove toxins from the environment or what to cultivate in the biosphere. The impact of your choices here is shown in the summary reports provided the next time you wake up. Initially, I thought this would be a simulation game. Not quite.

(Spoiler - click to show) The summary of each "round" is long with rambling paragraphs, though that may be intentional. I opened two windows to compare playthroughs and noticed that each summary was nearly identical to that from another playthrough. My choices appeared to be meaningless. Plus, Facility 05’s resources are being drained rapidly. Things fall apart. After a few rounds, the game ends when the facility runs out of juice and the AI falls asleep for the last time (I think).

Rather than a planet terraforming simulator, it seems that prepare for return instead strives to depict a noble goal with a (Spoiler - click to show) futile future. As advanced as Facility 05 is, there is a looming sense of never being able to reach the ultimate vision of bringing humanity home. The result is gameplay that focuses on ambience and subtle messaging rather than strategy.

Story
The story is a little reminiscent of the film WALL-E. Let the bots do the work so humans can return to a paradise. But unlike the film’s mobile robot protagonist, the AI in prepare for return is just that: an AI core stuck underground. It does not have the luxury of personally exploring the landscape and remnants of human-built structures. Instead, the facility’s drones carry out the exploration while a software program shares the occasional artifact on human history. None of it provides the AI with the depth needed to actually learn about humans. This proves to be a frustration that only compounds.

(The artifacts were interesting to read. They reminded me of decoding DNA files in The Archivist and the Revolution. Especially the Wikipedia citations.)

The trajectory is an unusual one. We typically perceive AI, robotics, and other technologies as constantly changing, upgrading, and finding new ways to defeat the elements. That is not the case here. You may be an advanced AI in a high-tech facility with a game plan, but the Earth is undergoing changes of its own. Changes that you cannot keep up with. Changes that interfere with your objectives. The result is (Spoiler - click to show) coming to terms with failure. As an AI, the only thing you can do is go back to sleep.

Characters
We’ve already been introduced to the protagonist, AI-05-3845-5000, but the character is best explored through the dream sequences. The AI dreams surreal dreams often underscored by human strife. Some are more exciting than others and typically make little sense. But this chaos is what makes it interesting. It gives you a sense of if an AI on a post-apocalyptic Earth were to dream, what would those dreams look like?

In my favorite dream, (Spoiler - click to show) a meeting is held in a cavern where a wise old master addresses a group of pupils. However, the NPCs are all arachnids or amphibians. At first glance, it seems rather comical if not for the underlying meaning about the protagonist and their functionality as an AI.

"Master," croaks the Bright Blue Leaping Toad, "the students are assembled."

In this dream, the protagonist sits among the students and tries to participate in the conversation. The students are given the opportunity to ask questions. Immediately, the students ask about being. But the master says that he is no philosopher, and that they should look for deeper answers elsewhere. Often, he brushes off the students’ questions.

The protagonist then inquiries about what it means to be lonely. The response is that loneliness is a human emotion and incompatible with an AI’s experience as a machine. Physical phenomena unique to one type of being is inaccessible to that of another. For instance, a human could not experience echolocation like a dolphin or whale would. At least, that is the argument.

"You," calls out Bright Blue Leaping Toad, "the living machine in the second row!"

But what about emotions, like loneliness? Surely pain can be felt by most creatures no matter how diverse. Oddly enough, the protagonist is called a “living machine.” If the protagonist is living, could they experience universal sensations? The protagonist tries to engage the NPCs with these ideas but is shrugged off and told that they are too different to understand.

This ultimately fuels the AI’s frustration at being unable to find ways to better understand humans while it works towards making Earth a place that humanity can call home. How do you make a home for a civilization you barely know? Once the facility is (Spoiler - click to show) no longer able to pursue objectives, its alerts are meaningless. The AI becomes someone who always hits the snooze button when their alarm goes off.

The facility’s (Spoiler - click to show) failure only alienates the AI from the planet on which it exists but is never a part of. There is no crushing disappointment about failing human masters. Only exhaustion and, at the end, indifference. Even if they could get out of bed, would they?

Final thoughts
The idea of terraforming planet Earth sounds so exciting, and while prepare for return takes an alternate route with that concept, it pulls off a compelling story from the perspective of someone who was simply (Spoiler - click to show) not given the resources needed to complete a monumental task. That someone is an AI left behind by humans with instructions to ultimately serve them.

I wish the game was a little more drawn out since there are only a few rounds. It would have been nice to have seen the balance between reasonable and more daunting challenges. Human culture, experiences, history, and mannerisms are all something in short supply for our AI protagonist. But the hard science of removing toxins from an environment seem a little more straightforward and in the reach of the facility’s scientific knowhow.

Nonetheless, prepare for return is an excellent choice if you are interested in post-apocalyptic existentialism, particularly one with a non-human perspective. It contemplates the lengths in which technology can go when saving humanity. Especially when humanity isn’t around.

...and found drama instead.

You are BG Jackson, a smuggler in search of valuables. Your next target is an exploration vessel called the Achilles that went missing months ago, and you finally managed to track it down. Signs indicate that it has been abandoned, but experience knows that it is never quite that simple.

Gameplay
Fall of the Achilles features a gameplay structure that I call “free range of movement.” The term is when a Twine game (or other choice-based format) mimics a parser by allowing the player to move throughout a map and interact with items within it at their leisure. In other words, freedom to navigate a space. This game is a perfect example.

It begins upon your arrival at the Achilles. You are in the Corvus, a personal ship run by an AI named Sahil. After docking the two vessels, you explore the abandoned ship while communicating with Sahil. He does everything from friendly reminders to disabling locked doors. The objective is to acquire the code to the massive warp engines aboard the Achilles. Apparently, the code is worth a lot.

The screen is organized so that a list of actions and a list of exits are always neatly displayed on the lower left which enhances the feeling of a parser. You are still clicking on links, but the links are organized to feel like an arsenal of commands that you would otherwise type into a parser game.

—— ACTIONS ——
Look at the bootprints.
Talk to Sahil.
Use your blaster.

——— EXITS ———
North is the Achilles' bridge.
South is your ship, the Corvus.

The room title is listed at the top of the screen while inventory items and health points are shown on the left-side panel. These features create a parser-like Twine game with notable user-friendliness.

Be prepared: There are moments where you must make a judgement call. For example, (Spoiler - click to show) whether to kill Trace so she never poses a threat, or to spare her with the possibility that she will provide help later. I feel that this weighing of the pros and cons is a defining feature of the gameplay.

Puzzles
This game is full of puzzles but not quite a puzzle-fest. I never "needed" a walkthrough (I don't think there is one at this time), but there is enough in-game help to work around parts where I did get stuck. Sahil may not be a fancy AI, but he is quite helpful.

Generally, the puzzles are well-designed with a few exceptions. The puzzles for (Spoiler - click to show) filling the jug* in the mess hall and reaching the console in the warp drive were a bit tedious. You get injured at random and scurry back to the medical bay to heal yourself before trying again. The puzzle in the science lab was cool, though. The goal is to reach the end of the room while the space is influenced by deadly time warping properties. In truth, a mistake only gets you sent back to the front of the room where you started. A reasonably tame “red-light, green-light” game. The warp drive puzzle was a shadow to that.
*But the joke was on me instead: I could have just filled it in my own ship! I did not figure that out until the game lightly suggested that there was an alternate solution.

Also: There was one bug in the gameplay. (Spoiler - click to show) In one case, after I restarted the game, I was able to open the science lab door immediately after defeating Trace. It still had me punch in the password, which I remembered from the previous playthrough, but I don't think that was supposed to happen. I recall only having the password input box appear after you speak with Luisa. A similar thing happened again in another playthrough. Besides that, I did not run into any issues.

Story
About the drama… (Spoiler - click to show) There are two (human) survivors on the ship: Luisa Romero and Elias Zeres. They are on opposite sides of the big controversy that went down on the Achilles months prior. They also control the remaining ship systems. Since the protagonist insists on getting the warp drive code, you must choose to help either Luisa or Elias. Each character functions as a “quest” that shapes the gameplay which adds incentive for replays.

No matter how many questions you ask, there are unknowns about the story. The Achilles was an exploration ship where the crew members lived with their families. (Spoiler - click to show) Upon receiving a strange signal, the ship sent out a probe which came back carrying a strange sphere called the Crux. Everyone on the Achilles split into two factions and- as indicated by the carnage we find- waged war with each other. Embrace the Crux or reject it, those were the sides.

I’m not entirely sure of the dynamics between these two groups. Where did all the violence originate? Dead bodies are everywhere. Were people dragging each other to be thrown into the Crux? Who shot who? We see bodies of Star Patrol officers on the bridge who likely came to investigate. At least we know that they were shot by Trace after she was reprogrammed. The title is Fall of the Achilles. I want more info on the “fall” part. Plus, the ship’s name carries nice symbolism.

Everything accumulates to one key moment: (Spoiler - click to show) Deep in the storage bay, you see a weird probe carrying a sphere, from which voices- people- ask you to join them. There are people in there. Moving closer activates a hologram of someone kneeling before the device only to have their brain lasered in half.

I have to admit, the Crux is not doing a particularly good job at selling itself. Can you trust the voices?

Kneeling before a strange device surrounded by corpses sounds like the most obvious insta-death you-have-lost-in-the-worst-way-possible ending that you just have to be a sucker to fall for… but you'd be surprised……

Someone takes your hand.

......that's all I'm going to say.
(Except that I wish the game gave us long enough to hear what Sahil had to say. I really wanted to hear him finish his sentence. Shame he couldn't come with.)

If anyone is interested in further discussion, see the section after the end of this review.

Endings
Fall of the Achilles does not have endings in the form of "Ending 1," "Ending 2," etc. Rather they are general outcomes underscored with secondary events and objectives. These general outcomes are determined by (Spoiler - click to show) whether you sided with Luisa or Elias, of which there are variations. Secondary parts range from (Spoiler - click to show) your success in acquiring the warp drive codes to whether you depart alone. All of this creates additional incentive for multiple playthroughs, especially since it is enticing to mix and match different outcomes.

Now I don’t mean to be morbid, (Spoiler - click to show) but there is a technicality about the fate of Captain Yamashita that kept bothering me. Her body is in a medical capsule designed to heal the patient inside. By default, the end of the game says, “You failed to (mercifully) end Captain Yamashita's life.”

She’s already dead. The medical console reports that "The patient's prognosis is terminal. Brain functions have been inactive for 63 days and are unrecoverable." Sahil summarizes this as brain dead. And therefore, incompatible for the Crux. The capsule is trying to heal a corpse. Opening the capsule to reveal her body (it is not graphic, just sad) is the equivalent to giving her a merciful death, but that seems to have occurred before we even arrive on the ship. A little more explanation would add clarity to this scenario.

Writing
I want to quickly acknowledge the writing. Fall of the Achilles is not an eloquent masterpiece, but it has the occasional descriptiveness that enriches the gameplay. My favorite was when (Spoiler - click to show) you are searching the captain’s quarters for a DNA sample.

A quick search seems to turn up nothing—until you find an oiled wooden brush with large, thick tines like a comb’s. A long strand of black hair weaves through it like the solution to a maze.

It’s not, “oh, you found a brush with a strand of hair in it. DNA.” Instead, the captain’s quarters are personalized and goes the extra mile to make the action more meaningful.

Finally, the genre is science fiction, but there are horror elements that come to life partly thanks to the writing. Arguably, the biggest horror moment is (Spoiler - click to show) the cramped (at least in my mind, it is a cramped space) storage bay. It contains stacks of bodies and a weird object. Everything reeks of death. It's probably really hot in there, I imagine. See how easy it is to visualize this scene? "Stacks of bodies" may not impress you, but this scene was genuinely creepy. There's gore in this game, but mild gore that occasionally turns it up a notch for scenes like this. It always felt like there was thought put into it.

Characters
The game is not crawling with NPCs, but there are some interesting ones. Let’s explore a few.

Sahil
Sahil feels like a concrete NPC, although the game keeps his personality mostly neutral. What I love about his character is the convenience he provides for solving puzzles. Some form, a lot of function. He speaks up when something is worth noting and automatically incorporates bits of accumulated info from the gameplay into his explanations. It’s like having a polite notetaker following you around.

The AI’s assistance is streamlined and avoids feeling like, “talk to me for a hint!” I value games that use that approach, I really do, but I sometimes feel like the character is judging me a little when I ask for the answers. Sahil tells me what I need to know without making me feel lame. (But truthfully, I am thankful when authors incorporate in-game hint systems.)

Trace
Our first main obstacle in the gameplay is when we tangle with an android named Trace. She is referred to as the "universe's only sentient android.” That surprised me.

Sahil seems sentient. He may be a ship AI, but I feel like an AI could be dumped into an android body, or something to that extent. If the game's world possesses sentient AI technology, I'd think that sentient androids would be more common. I am drawing broad conclusions, but that leads to my next point: I wish there were a little more worldbuilding, particularly with the story’s technology.

I especially want to know more about Trace’s backstory as a sentient android. It is brief. (Spoiler - click to show) Trace was created by the “Sisters of Infinity,” a group of exiled scientists whom she refers to as her “mothers.” Cool! I’d love to explore that character feature. She is also a member of the *Interstellar Patrol with superhuman abilities for combat. We get a glimpse of that firsthand.

When you first try to access the main deck, Trace stands in your way in battle mode. There are two solutions. If you want to skip the frequency puzzle, you can just battle it out. However, the combat mechanics could be a little tighter. It follows a rock-paper-scissors style of combat where you choose between shooting, activating a force shield, or using a physical attack while managing health points. That was cool.

The issue was with trying to gain an advantage. She has more health points than you, although you have the option of sneaking off mid-combat to heal yourself in your ship before running back to resume the fight. That felt comical, and Trace was really testing my rock-paper-scissors abilities. Fight a few turns, run to the bridge, run to my ship, heal, run all the way back. She’s literally standing there saying, “do you want to resume this fight?” She can do this all day long. And she knows it.

I only did this approach to see what outcome it would lead to. I learned this: stick with the frequency puzzle. It'll take her out the same way. Then, you can decide whether to kill her. I don’t see a reason not to spare her, but you will have to see why. Even though the combat was not a highlight of this gameplay, it is always interesting to see how authors implement combat into the Twine format.

(*Just what is the extent of humanity’s space-faring capabilities and technological advances? For instance, the “Interstellar Patrol” implies that humanity has branched out of our solar system. When the game uses phrases akin to “bring the Crux back to human civilization,” I think of Earth. A few extra sentences for context would be welcome.)

Anyway, this section was longer than I planned.

Visuals
In a nutshell: Ergonomic, standard issue visuals that consist of a black background, white text, and blue links. But slightly different from the “default” Twine appearance of black background, white text, and blue links. I hope readers know which style I am talking about.

It is a super simple look that functions just fine. I want to make a special note about the text which is always well organized. That may seem like a trivial detail, but when text placement is a mess, that’s all you notice. Fortunately, that’s not an issue here. If anything, it sets a good example for text organization in Twine when you have a moderate word count.

The only flair is the helpful map on the panel at the left side of the screen. It’s a nice reference point.

Final thoughts
In conclusion, Fall of the Achilles is a potent sci-fi experience about a smuggler who found more than they bargained for. The trope of wandering a spaceship after it was purged of life from an incident is common but never one that grows old for me. I have a feeling that fans of the genre will feel the same way. It’s not perfect, but it is certainly a polished and high-quality piece worth playing multiple times.

I approach it partly as an example of the flexibility of Twine to create parser inspired gameplay even though it is ultimately a choice-based experience. If there are any readers skeptical about Twine’s potential with sci-fi adventures, consider Fall of the Achilles.

If you like the theme of exploring a lost and seemingly lifeless spaceship with a story wrapped around the ethics of mind-blowing technology in the hands of humanity, consider Reclamation. It's an Adventuron game where your task (as a corporate employee, not a smuggler) is to investigate a research vessel that went missing amid a vital experiment. You even get your own AI although he is definitely a different character from Sahil.

Discussion corner
(Spoiler - click to show) Time to bring out the big question: The game assumes that the death and violence aboard the Achilles will only spread if Luisa brings the Crux to humanity. Would that happen?

It's not the Crux itself that is dangerous (unless you kneel in front of it, of course). It just sits there. It's not a weapon. What caused all those deaths were the fighting between people about what to do with it. Ideally, if you had it in a nice little area in a garden where people could join if they wanted to or otherwise carry on with their day, things would be fine. But the likelihood of that occurring- if the ship is any indicator- would probably be miniscule. Plus, Luisa does not field this subject well.

Captain Tomomi Yamashita authorized Elias to be the acting captain if something were to happen to everyone in command. Her final instructions are for him to make sure that the Crux never reaches human civilization. Meanwhile, Luisa managed to weasel her way into becoming the acting captain instead, forcing Elias to camp out in the corner of the ship. She also (poorly) preprogrammed Trace against her will. It is kind of established that Luisa is the “villain” in the game. But does that sentiment apply to the Crux as well? Does it bias the player? There is no easy answer.

On a brief side note as I wrap this up: One of the voices coming from the Crux is Elias’ parents wanting you to tell Elias that they want him to join them. It’s painful. I really, really, really wish the player could do that. He probably would not agree, but that’s understandable. When you go back up through the morgue, Elias is waiting in the medical bay. I just wish there were a way of saying, “your parents asked for you, specifically,” and then leave it up to him. Oddly enough, if you join the Crux instead, you have no way of talking to Elias’ mother about him even though she is your tour guide for the rest of the game.

Thank you for reading!

Update
When I leave feedback in reviews, they are just meant to be a resource for the author(s). Hopefully a helpful one. That said, it’s always cool when someone applies it to their game. When this happens, I leave little "update" notes my review to acknowledge it. Cubes and Ladders is a little different. This is the first time where an author made substantial changes from my feedback that genuinely shift my entire rating.

Everything below the line at the end of this message is of an earlier version of the game where the gameplay had unevenness and small technicalities that made it a four-star experience. I am preserving it as a historical record of sorts because it shows the creative process that goes into game creation, which is one of coolest things about interactive fiction.

Here, the author made a great game, received feedback, and used the feedback to make an excellent game. That is something that deserves recognition, and I hope this is conveyed through this review. Changing a rating is not something I do on impulse or at a whim, but it’s earned its five stars.

In the old version of my review, I listed some weak points that are now resolved. You will not encounter them when you go to play the game. I also mentioned in the beginning that you will either like Cubes and Ladders or dislike it. The changes have made the gameplay more user-friendly. Players can enjoy the surrealness without wrestling with technicalities. Because of this, I feel that it will be more receptive to players and appeal to a wider audience.

Everything else that I discussed (gameplay, story, art, etc.) is the same. I still stand by that. Go read it right now if you want to know more. It is the same high-quality game except that the flaws mentioned in my review are now history.

Please play Cubes and Ladders if you are interested in surreal interactive fiction, a creative take on the office setting trope, or cool artwork.

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This is a game that you will either like or you won't. I liked it. Quite a bit, in fact, but I don’t expect the same for everyone.

In Cubes and Ladders, you play as Jordan Michael, a tech support employee. You work at Minimax, a company that used to be a rockstar... in the realm of selling copier machines and other office-based technology. Since then, Minimax has lost steam. To compensate, management switched its specialty to providing financial services. This has proven to be a mediocre band aid.

Now, Minimax has started another round of downsizing. Rumors of layoffs have begun to circulate amongst the few employees the company has left. You are one of them. (Reminder: You have a meeting with your boss at 9 AM.)

Gameplay
I have played a variety of takes on the office game genre, whether they are realistic slice-of-life stories or plotlines where the staff are supernatural creatures. But I cannot recall ever playing a surreal office game. This was not something I considered until I saw Cubes and Ladders.

In some ways, Cubes and Ladders is your typical office game (my boss wants to me to submit a report by noon) but it more ways, it is not. And if you are expecting a surreal trip down the rabbit hole, you will be disappointed. Instead, the game opts for a more subtle approach to the genre. And that’s just one reason I enjoy it.

The start of the game perfectly captures the essence of an office game: your boss is miffed at you, she wants a revised report turned in before noon (which means you have a time limit), there is a clock at the corner of the screen as a reminder, and there are some rumors about the company floating around the office. First time through, I thought this was going to be a game where you complete a series of tasks for your boss and/or upper management to earn their favor. Cubes and Ladders soon departs from that.

Your boss gives you an evaluation sheet explaining why your yearly report is so horrible. Immediately, the anxiety starts crawling in because she wants a revamped report in a few hours. Fortunately, the surreal office setting has some tricks up its sleeve. The answer is as simple as (Spoiler - click to show) making a copy of the report, but Minimax does not build bland office machines. Entering the storage closet opens a realm of worldbuilding as a plaque on the wall explains Minimax’s achievement of the Complexifier.

An old photocopier with a standard paper feeder and exit tray above and a maintenance compartment below.

The machine hums away oblivious to its obsolescence.

The Complexifier is currently switched on.

Apparently, the machine transforms the contents of the report itself, so it is more exciting, more informative, more… you know, content. Your boring report is now a Complex Report.

The report is overflowing with buzzwords, colorful graphs, and projections. It's a voluminous presentation explaining the year-end performance of Minimax Inc. It's substantially thicker than the original.

We now know that the game’s world is not bound by normal physics. Machines can alter the written word itself. It reminds me a little of the machines in Counterfeit Monkey (be sure to play that next) that change the spelling or meaning of your word to create a new product. It was here that I realized that Cubes and Ladders was not your typical “office game.”

I feel compelled to share this: Never have I encountered a cubicle maze that was kind of… nice to explore. In a calming and/or hypnotic way. It has atmosphere, a surreal dreaminess with an undertone of corporate monotony fizzling away in the background. Soon there will be nothing. It’s just you, wandering around a desert of workstations.

You're in a maze of empty cubicles. You could get lost in the sameness. The buzz and flicker of fluorescent lights surround you.

The writing conveys the mind-numbing monotony. But the artwork is what kicks in into a pleasing effect. The space becomes interesting. Combined, these formed a unique cubicle maze that I liked to get lost in.

Wait, there’s a cubicle maze? No, there’s no maze in this game. At first it seems like a vast, sprawling map, but it is considerably smaller after you take a few random laps. Nine locations in the maze, plus two storage closets. I made a map, but only because I felt like doing so. I didn’t need to. A far cry from the cubicle mega-maze in Above and Beyond!

Still, at the end of the day, a cubicle maze is still a cubicle maze.

The sticker features a cartoon lab rat holding the message: "Life is a maze we never escape."

So true. Including in this game.

Gameplay challenges: I came close to giving Cubes and Ladders five stars, but the implementation could use some more refinement.

For example, it does not take long to submit your snazzy new report to your boss, but when you do, she tells you to wait until 12:30 for the executive meeting to be over. This means having a few hours to fill where every turn takes up a minute. There are other tasks you can do until then, but one requires that you have the report, which is being used at the meeting. Therefore, you must wait until the meeting ends to make further progress.

The game does permit the “wait until [time]” function, but it needs to be more obvious that the feature is available. I only learned about it from the walkthrough. Technically, and I hope you only read this after you attempt a playthrough, (Spoiler - click to show) you can complete the entire game without ever giving your new report to your boss. As long as you win before noon.

The other little tidbit that kept bothering me had to do with (SPOILERS) (Spoiler - click to show) finding the research lab. You entice Ray with treats. When you give him the first treat (the melted Oreo), he tells you to keep up the good work and bring him more. It is established that the puzzle is to bring him a satisfactory quantity of snacks for him to help you. But if you give him the donut first, he allows you to access the lab and leaves without requiring another offering. Something about that seemed disjointed to me. It has the feeling of well what’s the point of having the Oreo to begin with? Trivial, but it stood out to me.

Also: The flashlight is trash. It's worse than the Anchorhead flashlight on day three. The laser pointer is far more reliable, although its lifespan too is limited.

Story
The story is partly hinged on the circulating-rumor-in-the office concept, but it goes in unexpected directions. Fact is, Minimax is on the decline. When you hand in your revised report to your boss, (Spoiler - click to show) she gives you a memo that confirms that Minimax is laying off the remaining cubicle workers, including you. Sure, you get a severance package, but is that what you really want?

You can choose to dig deeper. There has been a change in management. Max Prophet Sr. was the founder of Minimax and a master at creating office machine inventions until he died in a work-related accident (it truly was an accident; in case you were thinking otherwise). The business has been handed down to Max Prophet Jr. who does not even pretend to know what he is doing. He fully admits to being unable to match his father’s potential. If only a clever employee would get the ball rolling… Message: you can save Minimax. But you won’t accomplish it by sitting around your cubicle waiting for the workday to end.

I welcomed this opportunity to find more Minimax inventions! I think the winning ending could have been a little more drawn out to see the impact of your discovery, but that’s just wishful thinking. You become innovator of the year with an office, but I wonder how long that will last. All you did was combine preexisting tech to complete a machine. I just hope Jordan Michael has what it takes match the founder’s legacy. What the heck, it’s still a good ending.

There are some alternate, less ideal outcomes to this game. I have a bone to pick with the flexibility of one of them. (Spoiler - click to show) If you fail to turn in the report by noon, you lose your job. If you succeed with that task, you have until 5pm before the workday ends and the game calls it quits. If you fail to save the company before 5PM, this is what happens:

The good news is that you're free to find a better job away from the struggling Minimax Inc. But too bad you didn't get a positive recommendation from your boss.

This ending is called: *** Best of Luck in Your Fast Food Career ***

BUT YOU DID GET A RECOMMENDATION. After handing in your updated yearly report, you are told that you will get a “glowing letter of recommendation.” Plus, that little memo notice you receive says that Minimax will provide you with severance. This ending has no mention of either. I feel like there should be two separate endings. One where you fail on your final day and are sent packing (resulting in the fast-food ending), and one where you get your promised recommendation and crawl off to whatever job that recommendation takes you. Instead, the game crams them into one ending.

Characters
We do not know much about Jordan Michael aside from a few fun facts provided when you examine yourself, but that’s okay since the game is directed as you (the player) rather than the protagonist’s identity. I suppose the name could be either male or female, so I’m just going to say that the character is gender neutral.

The NPCs in Cubes and Ladders are like fixtures of Minimax itself, creating a fatigued, fleeting atmosphere that goes well with the story and setting. This bleeds into the gameplay, making character interactions more passive, perhaps even at the expense of puzzles.

For example, there is a guard in the cubicle maze who will prevent you from going south, making it seem like there is something important down there. *Turns out, (Spoiler - click to show) you can access the south location by taking a three-move detour. What do we find? More cubicles. He is not guarding anything at all. The puzzle is not important, only what it says about the character’s relationship with Minimax (although you can make him fall asleep if you want). With Minimax downsizing, there is no need for someone to guard an empty cubicle farm. His job is obsolete. And yet, he’s been an employee for almost two decades. There is a sense of clinging to this identity as long as possible.

*Correction: Following a game update, you (Spoiler - click to show) can no longer bypass the guard. The puzzle is now required!

We see this trend in every character. Ray too has been a long-term programmer and muses about the company’s heyday. He almost regards himself as a cynical relic of the company who, despite his contributions, is not exempt from the possibility of being laid off. Meanwhile, Rich is an experienced employee who is 110% a team player, loyal to Minimax, and proud of it. While he is less likely to be laid off thanks to his position in financial sales, there is still an underlying anxiety about being let go.

I liked this portrayal of the NPCs because it alienates the protagonist (you’ve only been there for a few months, newbie) who is the only one moving around in search of a solution to Minimax’s problems. When face-to-face with an NPC, you never feel like you are being heard, which is partly the point. Every turn count, NPCs will spew work related but meaningless fragments of corporate buzz words, idle workplace chat, and self-absorbed ramblings about reports, profits, and Minimax products.

The tradeoff of having detached NPCs is that interactivity is reduced. I do wish they could respond to more dialog prompts. My favorite leave-me-alone line was, "'Run along, kid. I'm busy losing money here.'"

Visuals
The writing is good, but not enough to stand on its own as a surreal game. The visuals bridge the gap to make the storytelling excellent. Every location has a visual that appears upon your entrance. A few appear to be heavily filtered photographs, but most are illustrations made with different mediums. My favorite ones were the office building at the start of the game and the drawing for the storage closet.

I loved the art, especially how it portrays the characters. People are silhouettes. You never quite see their faces, and if you do, it is a distorted appearance, often cast in shadows or strange angles. For example, when you first enter your cubicle for the 9AM meeting, you see your boss at your desk.

Your boss is sitting impatiently in your office chair.

The artwork shows her seated and facing away from you. Her outline is an angular haircut paired with a sharp business skirt and top. The shadows make it where you can’t quite tell where the chair and her body begin and ends. It is all melded into one figure. This visual left a strong impression on the character that the sentence could not convey on its own.

Final thoughts
The entire time I kept wondering when the ladders would come in because the “cube” part was covered by the cubicles, but the second half of the title must be a symbolic reference to the corporate ladder concept. Makes sense. But yes, Cubes and Ladders was a great experience.

I would recommend this anyone, not because I think that everyone will like it, but because it offers something new for the surreal genre and “office game” concept. Besides, the gameplay is light. I’m not trying to lure you into a puzzle-fest extravaganza. If anything, try it for the visuals. The surreal elements simply pulled me in. Artwork, setting, characters, Minimax gadgets, you name it.

I hope the author continues to produce work like this. It is a great piece of surreal interactive fiction.

I figured that Fervency would take inspiration from the black plague epidemic during the 14th century in Europe and neighboring areas. It was so devastating that the timespan was called the Black Death. Still exists, but that’s another discussion.

Malignant miasmas have been assaulting your village for almost two weeks now. Pestilent toxins, noxious fluids. Even as you hole yourself up in your own home, you barely dare to breathe, lest the plague is airborne.

The game starts with an intro, during which I made some snap judgements based on what I saw: miasmas/humours + villagers + the dead being carted away + plague + bloodletting = plague years in the Middle Ages. I was hoping for a grimmer and serious game in a loose historical context like that of Vespers and Pilgrimage. I can tell you now that Fervency departs from that.

For a game of this subject matter, it is surprisingly cheery. Has the doom but minimal gloom. Messy but not quite as much (sort of) as the cover art and description suggest. Personally, it did not resonate with me, but it is good that the author decided to take an alternate route with the plague story concept. In terms of quality, Fervency needs some work, though it has strong potential to engage target audiences.

The game, already
The premise is that a plague is ravaging your home village. This is the realm of bird shaped protective masks, shaky beliefs on the origin of disease, and bloodletting. Every medical expert has tried and failed to stop the growing death toll. Daily life is isolation and fear, and you are dying.

Then, from nowhere, a visitor.

A strange woman appears before your deathbed with the promise that she can cure you.

Behind the fog of your dried-out eyes and dried-out mind, she stands there, like the Grim Reaper, or perhaps the Angel of Death. You weren't aware that you had neglected to lock your door - or perhaps you hadn't. Reapers and angels can probably pass through doors with no trouble.

That’s a potent introduction and an intriguing development when you are dying from the plague. Even though it does not explicitly say that she is an angel or reaper, the supernatural- or at least otherworldly- associations are there. Separate from the reality of a dying mortal, especially since she succeeds where all mortals have failed when curing this disease. Meanwhile, I was still glued to my Black Death + Middle Ages impression.

Even though she leaves a note saying she wants to help* the village, I felt that her skill at curing the incurable would not go over well with the village because of how it was conducted. She sneaks in, tells you the game plan, knocks you out, and cures you with some unknown method. Her entrance as a vague embodiment of the Angel of Death still lingered too, adding to the sense that she may have an otherworldliness that would leave the village a little uneasy. *(Spoiler - click to show)No.

The next day, two groups of people have gathered in the village. Healthy-looking ones, and gaunt ones that have been miraculously cured. I was expecting the former to call witchcraft and shun and/or be wary of those revived by some stranger wielding unexplainable magic in the night. Quite the opposite. Instead, everyone was all, “hi how are you?” which set the game into perspective. The final wakeup call that said, “you’re not playing Vespers, so get over it.” But there is more in store when the intro ends.

Kicking off the main gameplay, there is now an understanding that the village population falls into two categories: villagers who never got sick and anemics. Anyone cured by the Physician is an anemic. It is unclear of whether this was a good thing. Upside is that you survived the plague. Downside is that your sense of thirst and appetite are heightened. The game has you choose your type of craving.

I'm famished. A large slab of meat would do me good.

My throat is parched. I'm so thirsty I'm about to swoon.

Hunger or thirst? This decision will sculpt parts of the gameplay later. The big event in the main gameplay is that two nobles in the area are throwing a lavish costume party, inviting a mix of guests.

Now, the villagers and anemics get along quite well. This slowly changes as the anemics realize that the finest food and wine does nothing to dent their appetite. Civilized behavior goes out the window. It is not until (Spoiler - click to show) everyone gets wasted that they stop and ask, “what exactly did the Physician do to us?” Until then, party time.

The gameplay is heavily based on character interactions, mostly dialog for the first part. It follows the structure of talk to Character A about a list of prompts, then talk to Character B about a list of prompts, and so forth. Most of the prompts are the same aside from a few unique to the character. Later, you can choose to dance or interact further with an NPC.

This is not necessarily a negative feature. It is a great choice for players interested in that intimate character one-on-one at a group setting dynamic. Not so much for me, or at least with the writing. I do appreciate how it is not required to go through every prompt or interact with every character, which adds flexibility for players.

On that note, prompts could stand to be refined. Some were just back and forth banter. Are you looking forward to dinner? I’m looking forward to dinner. Do you have cravings? Same here. I like your scent. I skipped past those parts. Consensus: We hunger. If anything, I think the dialog is meant to pave the way for some romance later.

Fervency is not a romance game, but the traits emerge as the party goes on. No means a dating simulator. Just ways of indulging with that casual ooh la la your-costume-is-delectable flirtatiousness at a decadent party without pressuring the player to commit to anything. Again, did not dazzle me personally, but I could see this being a smash hit with some players. Especially the achievements.

I must admit, Fervency does a nice job of conveying the realistic longevity of a polite, refined party when everyone is trying to manage their symptoms while smiling and engaging in idle chatter. Almost like in Finding Nemo where the sharks are having a civilized conversation until someone gets a bloody nose. It is a scenario where (Spoiler - click to show) if one person loses it, everyone loses it as well. Chow down, quench your thirst, it's all on the menu.

An all-you-can-eat menu. Sooner or later, it does gets repetitive. It starts as an interesting ecstasy-ridden snacking free-for-all that drones on as the writing loses its eloquence. It gets to the point where they are devouring each other and I’m skimming through the text looking for something new. It’s more interesting to eat/drink nothing, go home, pat yourself on the back for not caving into your cravings, fall asleep, return to the manor, and see the absolute chaos caused by the previous night’s activities.

This brings us the question: (Spoiler - click to show) Is this really what the Physician intended when she game to “cure” of the plague? First off, the mysteriousness of her character decreases when she (Spoiler - click to show) casually shows up at the party dressed as a swan. Nothing ever she was not a mortal, but she seems more like an average sack of skin, bones, and organs than when she saved you from the plague. And second, (Spoiler - click to show) yes, she did intend for this happen.

To avoid ruining the entire game, I won’t hash out the details behind her healing (or “healing,” depending on your perspective) abilities. All I will say is that it turns people into proto vampires (my words, not the game’s). I’m not against that, but it currently feels undeveloped. This is meant to be feedback, rather than ridicule.

Errors
There are some bugs that tripped up the gameplay.

Sometimes the game would keep loading (indicated by an animated status bar appeared at the lower right side of the screen flickering in a universal "loading" message) but would not go to the next scene. I could not do anything else to the game. I ended up refreshing the page and starting over. Oh: The save files would not work either.

Then there are pop-up messages that freeze the game. Messages like “startup line 2518: increasing indent not allowed, expected 0 was 1” or “startup line 125: Achievement fuhrrvent already defined on line 93” that would render the game unresponsive when you clicked on the blue “okay” button to close the box. Again, I had to restart.

I applaud the author for allowing the player to jump ahead in the game to different sections. At the start of the game you can opt for the full meal (starting right from the beginning), the actual feast (party begins), or dessert (things get heated), the last of which is broken into four paths for you to choose from. And no, I’m not being cute with the eating analogies. I took it right from the game.

Point is the game can be buggy, but the author makes a point of accommodating this with ease of accessibility.

Conclusion
I was not sure of how to rate this game. As I’ve said, it did not exactly reach my interests, but I am confident that it will attract an eager audience. Tightening up the writing and pacing would make a difference. Plus, some (just some) bugs are sprinkled about here and there.

However, the game begins with a disclaimer saying that it is still a work in progress. That had a large influence in my rating since I did not want to take everything at face value. I hope this review functions partly as feedback even if reviewing was the main objective of my lengthy (lengthy) discussion.

While some parts, such as the party dialog options, were lengthy and lackluster, they serve as a solid outline. I am glad to see simply that content is there. What matters is that there is structure. The concept is on paper, and that is the first step. In this regard, Fervency is far more than a “first draft.” It is developed but would go further if it were developed a little more.

If you liked Fervency, I highly recommend that you sample The Lady’s Book of Decency. It’s a Twine game about an upper-class girl (and recently turned werewolf) who must prepare to attend a fancy ball during a full moon. It has stats, including one for hunger which matches perfectly with Fervency.

In The Lookout, you play as a man named Adam Katz. Following a major personal tragedy, you have volunteered to staff a fire lookout tower called the North Butte Fire Lookout Tower, smack in the middle of nowhere without electricity or basic modern luxuries. Just enough to survive and do your job. Maybe this will give you a new outlook on life. Maybe.

Believe it or not, this is one of the more suspensful and scary interactive fiction games I have played, making it a perfect entry for EctoComp. By "scary" I mean it gets your heart racing. Horror movie mode. It forces you to deal with the unknown. You slowly find yourself gingerly typing on the keyboard while second guessing whether you truly are prepared to (Spoiler - click to show) tackle the thing stalking your tower. Oh yes. In this game, you are prey. If that last part made you shiver, The Lookout may provide a thrilling experience for you. If not, play it anyway.

Gameplay
I’ll cut to the chase. The gameplay follows your daily upkeep schedule, but it becomes apparent that (Spoiler - click to show) some unknown creature is attacking the fire towers. Initially, we only get little tidbits of what is going on, but by day 3, things start to get extremely dire. Though the story takes place over five days, the gameplay is relatively short.

The gameplay’s map is restricted to the fire tower and nearby surrounding areas. I was partly hoping for more exploration of the landscape, but it does not take long before a (Spoiler - click to show) plot twist limits the player to the first five locations. The goal was probably to further the sense of isolation, of which it does an effective job. This is not a puzzle intensive game. In fact, there is only (Spoiler - click to show) one serious puzzle (making a weapon).

There is some unevenness. The gameplay is richly implemented- I liked the wildflower patch- in some areas, but sparsely in others which can detract from the atmosphere. One of the room locations is “Middle of Ladder” where you are climb up and but if you try “x ladder” you get: You can’t see any such thing. It breaks the moment. You are on the ladder! Or how you cannot examine the tower from the outside. There are also occasional spelling errors.

Story
What exactly makes this adventure so suspensful? It’s a survival story, sure, but the delivery is what gives it potency. I feel that The Lookout is a great example. Note: Part of the magic with suspense is that you have no idea of what will happen, so I encourage you to read the spoilers in this section AFTER you play the game for yourself.

Generally, it uses a familiar feature of horror storytelling: Subtle descriptive details and pacing that keep you second guessing. Half the time, it’s your brain telling the story.

But then you heard it again. A scraping sound.

It’s hard to match the potency of this phrase (shown above) in a review since I am discussing it out of context but understand that its placement was effective at making the player feel cornered. While I would not label this part as “scary,” it sure does a heck of a job at establishing atmosphere.

Horror is gradual and peels off in layers. This is where the suspense (and spoilers) manifests.

First, it starts with inherent vulnerability. You are a lone human in the middle of nowhere. Then, it emphasizes our dependency on single sources technology. The only means of communication is the close-circuit radio used to contact two other towers in the distance. But even then, at least you have a tower with some tech, right? Correct.

(Spoiler - click to show) Until Chester fails to restock your supply cache. Or later when the radio no longer picks up messages, taking the closest thing you have to a human interaction: another human’s voice. What footholds we had are gone. Layers. Peeling away. The game dangles suspenseful bits of information that forces the player to make assumptions, some of which are never fully explained.

On your catwalk stroll you see the familiar light from Mia's lookout, but you notice that there's no light coming from Chester's lookout tonight.

You have all these practical reasons why he failed to restock it. Ran out of time? Forget? Well, then why is his tower dark? This suggests he never made it back. Suddenly those practical reasons slide towards I wonder if that vanishing mangled deer corpse had anything to do with it....

One of the two scariest (= chill inducing) moments for me is when you are forced to talk to Mia via morse code by using a mirror to flash signals. The first thing she says is SOS. And then, ATTACKED. If you ask her about the attacker, the answer is UNKNOWN. Something about that really gave me the chills.

On one hand, you are not alone in the sense that your comrade is also being messed with by some unknown entity. On the other hand, you are being messed with by some unknown entity. The only thing we know about UNKNOWN is that it did a number on a deer corpse like no normal animal could. Morse code is great, but help is a world away.... You are dealing with this alone.

The other case that got me is when you are looking through the cracks between the window shutters and then:

Just as you are about to turn away, a dark figure moves directly in front of the window your face was pressed up against.

Yeesh. Imagine if that were you. Your face mere inches away from this creature scuttling around your tower. It sounds tame in this review, but in the game, you are camped in your tower waiting for night to fall. Stakes are a bit higher here. I really hope you played the game before reading this.

Oddly enough, the fight scene was a smidge underwhelming compared to the suspensful horror experienced up until that point, but I think that demonstrates the potency of its building atmosphere.

Either I’m a chicken, or the horror in this game has something going for it.

Characters
The entire experience revolves around Adam Katz’s trauma as revealed in nightmares. Six months ago, (Spoiler - click to show) he was in a car accident with his family and was the only survivor. His passion for writing has waned and being around other humans is just too painful. Powerlessness is a major theme. He feels powerless about the (Spoiler - click to show) semitruck that caused the accident and now he is powerless against (Spoiler - click to show) whatever unknown savage is trying to kill him. Or at least at first.

Fear of the unknown also is a factor. We definitely experience that part in the gameplay. The pinnacle is when Adam feels emboldened to (Spoiler - click to show) not succumb to the creature and to fend it off by any means necessary, especially since it seems to be taunting him by leaving the hiker’s mangled jacket on the ladder.

The game only calls the monster "The Demon." In fact, that's the name of the chapter at the end of day four. Perhaps I'm falling back on clichés, but it seems to embody the notion of "battling one’s own demons," but I argue that it has a point. The violent experience of being hunted by a mutant beast seems to adjust the protagonist’s relationship with his tragedy.

We don’t have the opportunity to see this effect in long run since the game ends when (Spoiler - click to show) a rescue helicopter lands nearby. There are some unanswered questions. Was Chester killed? How about the hiker? Yes, you find her mangled jacket with blood on it, but technically there is no body to confirm- it does it again. Makes you speculate. Hm…

I guess the takeaway message is that sometimes survival is enough.

Final thoughts
In a nutshell, The Lookout is a survival horror game that focuses on suspense and pacing. It puts story over puzzles while also providing opportunities to interact with your surroundings. If you are looking for more action you may find the game less exciting, but in terms of atmosphere it excels. Paired with the protagonist’s backstory it becomes a catharsis that makes it more interesting.

You wake up naked in a hotel room and have no memory of who you are.
…
I should provide some context first.

Lethe is an Ink game based on a 1986 parser game called Amnesia by Thomas M. Disch. I had never heard of it prior to playing Lethe. Perhaps it crossed my vision once or twice while skimming IFDB, but nothing I could remember (that’s absolutely not a joke. I’m just telling you how it is). Lethe has its own page on IFDB. If it were not for its description, or the credits in the game, I would not have made the connection.

I am going to cut this excessively long review into two large sections. The first is my review for Lethe. The second half is about how playing it introduced me to another side of interactive fiction. I’ll stick most of that part under a spoiler tag.

Part I: Game review
Lethe. The game made with Ink. That’s what this review is about. In fact, it is one of the most exciting Ink games I’ve played so far.

Lethe stays true its theme of amnesia. In fact, the title, though different, hints at the subject. It stems from a piece of Greek mythology about a river of the same name that, when drunk, causes forgetfulness. There is also a second clever meaning to the title that is revealed near the end of the game, but that would be a major spoiler. Just know that it’s worth a shot even if you are not a huge fan of the amnesia trope.

GAMEPLAY: As I said, you wake up naked in a hotel room with total amnesia. The game takes place in New York, and you play as a male protagonist. Your only real lead at the moment is to find any clues that will hint at your identity. Slowly this will expand into a broader story.

I feel that your first playthrough is by far the best one because you are just as clueless as the protagonist. Unless you’ve played Amnesia, I suppose. Oh well. Let’s just assume you were like me. Everything intrigues you and oozes potential.

Whose knocking at the door?

What’s in this closet?

Does this window open?

WHO AM I? (And why am I naked?)

Endless questions, but the game merely provides you with a list of things you can do. The player is left to launch themselves into the unknown to find the answers. Through trial and error, you can find the optimal route to move into new areas with more clues.

For me, the main event of your clueless first playthrough is the branching gameplay structure. I always like seeing that in choice-based games. In Lethe, it creates the perception of an expanding world that just grows. First time around, it feels huge. The novelty of it all contributes to the sense of scale as you leave the hotel to explore more locations. It takes the shape of a mystery game.

While Lethe does feel a bit smaller once you’ve played it, there is plenty of incentive for replays. It is a chance to experiment with different paths or switching up the order of tasks. Try making challenges. For instance, (Spoiler - click to show) play without ever getting arrested and/or killed.

Lethe is easy to play in sense that you are just clicking through links. But it is also designed well, too. Its strength is its mechanism for failure. Dead is NOT the end. It can if you want it to be, but there is no “messing” up in Lethe. The sequence also happens to be my favorite part. (Spoiler - click to show) You end up in a surreal and somewhat humorous afterlife.

You and a few thousand other naked anxious souls are standing on the bank of a misty black river, being stung by mosquitoes and bitten by large centipedes.

Charon, a character from Greek mythology who ferries deceased souls across rivers in the underworld, swings by to offer you a choice. You can stay in the afterlife or go back in time before your previous decision. Done. That’s it. Right back where you were. Even better, your environment adjusts to keep you from making the same error.

Your hotel room seems subtly different.

This was fantastic. It makes the gameplay more forgiving for when the player makes a mistake. You never need to restart. If anything, it also encourages dumb decisions such as leaving your hotel room naked, “just to see what happens.” Or (Spoiler - click to show) getting married.

STORY: Given what I’ve said, the last thing I want to do is tarnish your first playthrough with spoilers. It is better if you let the story unfold on its own. But if you insist, I will give you a rundown of what’s going on. I would consider these as mild/moderate spoilers since they can be discovered early on, I’d caution you against reading them at all until you play Lethe. (Spoiler - click to show)

Everyone at the hotel calls you John Cameron, but if you get arrested it is revealed that you are Xavier Hollings, a criminal who killed a guard and escaped a Texas prison. You go back to court and lose. Even Denise, your own wife (to which you ask yourself, “I had a wife?”), testifies against you. After you arrive at death row, she comes to visit merely to say how happy she is to be inheriting everything because apparently you are super wealthy. Hm.

As you eat your last meal, you have a moment of insight. Tidbits of info about Denise, prison, some guy named Zane, and a recalled soap product appear in your mind. Just enough to realize that you are innocent. Ultimately, the meaning is lost, and you are executed. Fortunately, this is not the end.

Once more, you are by the infernal river Styx. After a few years, Charon's boat emerges from the mist. He looks disappointed to see you.

Charon has got your back. He won’t think highly of you about it, of course.

What I just told you is only the first layer to the story. No moment in the game beat the suspense and surprise of seeing this reveal for the first time. Woah. That was my reaction. The protagonist clearly has a lot going on. The bits of info from this fiasco only serve to direct the gameplay after (Spoiler - click to show) Charon zaps you back to existence. I’ll stop the spoilers there. I’ve already told you too much.

As for my general thoughts about the story, the narrative itself was not particularly moving. Certainty, creative. It’s just that I was not drawn in by the characters or their motives. The drama was more like watching a film rather than feeling like you are the protagonist of the story.

Also, the ultimate cause of the amnesia was a bit underwhelming. I’m sorry. But at least the sprinkling of clues throughout the gameplay is combined with a dramatic reveal near the end that makes up for the lackluster parts. I cannot express this enough: The witty writing and gameplay implementation is what makes Lethe work. Otherwise, I would not award it five stars.

I think a lot of people can appreciate the writing. A favorite of mine was, “So far you're scoring zero on the Know Thyself Questionnaire.” The (Spoiler - click to show) H&R 207-7655 pay phone reference was especially clever.

CRITIQUES: Lethe is excellent, but it is not flawless, either. I had two cases where the game reached a dead end where no links appeared on the screen. In other playthroughs they were not an issue. I do not know what caused the issues, only that I was experimenting with the gameplay at the time. Your chances of seeing this is low. Be assured, that once you’ve played the game, you can cruise through it quite quickly.

There are also some minor spelling mistakes, including with character names that can be noticeable. The longer changes of dialog occasionally abandon the use of quotation marks. Finally, location descriptions are shown at the top of the screen, whether it is “Hotel Room” or “Oblivion.” However, sometimes they fail to change with new locations.

PART II: Broader context (time to go on a tangent)
(Spoiler - click to show)
You can play Amnesia through a digital archive.

At least that is what it says on IFDB (that’s how unsophisticated I am). But the content written about Amnesia explained that playing it was more than just clunking yourself in front of a computer. The part of my title that says, “30+ year old parser game,” should give you a sense of where I am. As someone who rarely crawls off IFDB, a lot of this is new terrain.

Apparently, when the game was published, playing it required buying a physical copy (which is so alien to me) of the game. From my perspective, it sounds like an artifact. However, reviews expressed a different angle. People have shared fond memories of playing Amnesia. Or at least of trying play it. While I have not, it was cool learning about its origins. Hopefully I’m not awkwardly trampling over everything.

I did attempt another existing remake called Amnesia: Restored after playing Lethe. For the record, I accessed Amnesia: Restored through the entry for Amnesia on IFDB. I used the link to the game’s own website and went to the section called “PLAY GAME.” I have a reason for going on this tangent. Just hear me out.

I don’t want to dismiss the immense collaborative effort- as showcased on its website- that was put into Amnesia: Restored, but the gameplay was a rocky experience for me. It seems the objective was to replicate the parser of Amnesia into the gameplay. If that’s the case, the gameplay Amnesia must have been wild… and frustrating to play. That could also be my inexperience talking.

Thing is, you must know the specific command the game wants at a given moment, almost like I was having a conversation with someone via a script. If you use the right command, great. Otherwise, the game lets you fall on your face without any direction. It was incredibly difficult to know what command or action was required. Play it and see for yourself. (Aside from my whining, I really do think there are parts of the game that are not functioning as intended.)

This is where Lethe comes in. Turns out it can function as a rough “tutorial” (my words) for Amnesia: Restored because Lethe also stays faithful to original writing. Seriously, the choices you make in Lethe can be punched into the parser. Not precise word-by-word, but close enough. Suddenly, everything fell into place. The parser responded smoothly. I was making progress and keeping up with the metaphorical conversation. Even better, it gave me a chance to explore Amnesia: Restored and appreciate what it had to offer. And it offers a lot.

The makeshift Lethe tutorial will end once you leave the hotel because Amnesia: Restored recreates the complex city navigation puzzle in Amnesia while Lethe does not. A few city locations will still apply although Lethe cuts back on nearly all simulated New York content. To be honest, if I did not have Lethe as a reference, I would still be stumbling around in the hotel room. But I managed to get the hang of it enough to brave the city puzzle on my own.

I must hand it to Amnesia: Restored. It goes the extra mile in incorporating built-in guides and visual elements in the game’s interface that were based on original feelies and physical materials. I was really impressed by that. I did not continue playing after I passed out on the street from exhaustion and was carted away (and the save function failed on me), but I can tell you it is worth a look. While I preferred Lethe, I sincerely suggest trying Amnesia: Restored too.

There you have it. The extent of my encounters with Amnesia.

Concluding thoughts
I apologize that this review was so long.

Lethe is faithful to the Amnesia storyline, but its choice-based format still offers a different experience. It eliminates parser related technicalities such as guess-the-verb by replacing everything with links. It bypasses puzzles for (Spoiler - click to show) navigating the city streets and solving riddles at gunpoint.

The trade-off is a simplified version of a vibrant world. It can’t even touch the complexity in Amnesia. But I think it does a decent job in capturing the general concept. I would love to hear second opinions from anyone who has played both.

I completely recommend Lethe as a thrilling Ink game with lots of surprises. Even more so if you are curious about a parser classic (correct?) turned into a choice-based piece of interactive fiction.

Gone fishing… Yes. Gone fishing.

You find yourself standing before a serene lake with a fishing pole in your hand.

Gameplay
First things first, you are introduced to June, a friendly woman fishing. She can give you help or chat, but your main activity here is to fish and catch all six species.

The fishing mechanics are a creative one. The word "nibble..." flashes onscreen, and at one point quickly changes into a link that says "BITE," before changing back. If you clicked on the link in time, you reel in your fish. To keep it, you answer three multiple choice questions (with two possible answers each). The catch (!!) is that you have five seconds to solve each one. If you fail to answer or get one incorrect, the fish escapes and you try again.

At first you think, "this is fun, but will I seriously be doing this for the entire game?" (Answer: no) Then you see that each area has its own fishing challenge. That’s right, there is more than one area. Then you realize that (Spoiler - click to show) it is about more than just fishing. Simulator? More like (Spoiler - click to show) simulation. Which does not take long to figure out.

The fish you catch may come with a surprise. Sometimes your fishing gear catches an (Spoiler - click to show) audio log that provide a glimpse into the NPCs’ identities while raising doubts about how real your surroundings are. I have a bit of a request: (Spoiler - click to show) How many audio tapes has anyone found? They were fun to discover and enhanced the story. I found three at the lake, one at the ocean, and none at the third location. I would love to find more.

Zooming out, the overarching goal is to (Spoiler - click to show) acquire three fish spines that you receive as rewards from an NPC in each area, the lake being the first. The lake and the ocean seem harmless enough, but once you make it to the location after that, you will have an entirely different view of the game than the one you had when you first started playing. Which is perfect.

Gameplay challenges
I found two broken links and an error that halted the gameplay, perhaps even making it unwinnable in the sense where you are stuck in an obvious loop. It is otherwise a Merciful/Polite game through and through. Here it is:
(Spoiler - click to show)
I got the dreaded “Double-click this passage to edit it,” message after pressuring June about her means of transportation to the lake. The other instance was during the battle scene with Horace. I don’t know what I did, but the game suddenly said, "Horace Breem of the Black Water attacks for 150 damage!" But there was no link on the screen to move forward. It was a dead end.

The error occurred with June. It had to do with catching all six types of fish at the lake and then talking to June about moving to the next area. She lets you choose between leaving right away or staying at the lake a little longer. When I choose the former, I would be sent back to the location menu page where the ocean would be unlocked.

"You can now progress to the next area."
1. I'm ready.
2. I'd like to stay here longer.

However, when I chose to stay and then later asked to leave (see below), I would be sent back to the location menu, but the ocean location would NOT be unlocked. Maybe someone can find a way around it, but I was stuck.

"You've still caught all six species! Feel free to leave here anytime."
1. Move onto the next location.
2. Goodbye.

But if you are mindful about these parts, you’ll be fine.

Generally, it is not always possible to access the link that opens your saves. In the first two encounters I could not access my saves. Refreshing the page would not bring it back to the menu so I had to close out the window, access the game again on IFDB and then go to my saves when the menu appeared. Not too much of a hassle, but still a hassle when it came to hiccups.

Really, you’ll be fine.

Story
The Twine Fishing Simulator has prominent surreal elements in the story and how it is told. It is a fairly linear game. You can hop between the (Spoiler - click to show) lake and the ocean areas, but when you (Spoiler - click to show) reach the third location, there’s no going back. We already know that (Spoiler - click to show) we are trapped in a simulation of fishing minigames. That’s the story in a nutshell. It’s partly told by seeding out-of-place indicators that provide insights about “what’s really going on.” That’s what I want to focus on. Spoilers ahead. (Spoiler - click to show)

In the third location (called "???") the surroundings are less cohesive, almost… like a half-baked simulation. The fact that you had to punch in an administrative code before proceeding was a major indicator. It’s also the only area that allows you to explore the terrain a little more.

I thought it was cool how you end up on this chill half-formed island with some knight in armor catching fish and meanwhile you can just wander down an overgrown beach path to a dingy shack with a computer in it. And that computer is your portal to answers. This scene captures a certain kind of atmosphere that I love in interactive fiction games. Often in games about simulations, but not exclusively. How do I describe it…?

It’s that idea of finding a small but insistent clue that whispers none of this is real, as you stand there waist deep in the gameplay. Or in this case, since we know this is a simulation, it would be not everything is as it seems. That, too, is obvious, I know, but that moment of realization comes off smoothly in The Twine Fishing Simulator. I had the exact same zing feeling when I saw this:

And what's this? Something else is caught in your line. It appears to be an audio log.

You’re hanging out with June at the lake and catch an audio log that reveals more about her- and the place- than we learn through casual inconspicuous conversation. The wording and placement in the gameplay are excellent.

Anyway, the player has a lot of questions about what’s going on, the extent of which is hard to gauge. Fact is, Alireza and the audio logs can only tell you so much. Just how deep does this go? You need answers. This computer had the answers.

But not as many answers as I was hoping for. I'm going to be diving into the deep end with spoilers.

The computer contains data entries from 2011 and 2037. The ones from 2011 mention craters, meteors, and scrap metal falling from the sky, but then the September 29th entry says that nothing was falling from the sky, that it was just it… rain? I’m not sure of what to make of that. Jackie does get a mention. The logs are written by someone named “-J,” which I assume is June. The only takeaway is that Jackie found a metal substance that causes dreams.

The entries from 2037 discuss a simulation. My mind wanders back to something Alireza said. He explains that the simulation is decaying but has gained sentience. For whatever reason, the simulation simply generates "fishing minigames.” An AI, maybe? We hear mention of an AI in the computer log for June 17th, 2037: Partial construction of the Simulator AI has begun. Estimated trial date: somewhere in the next few months.

Why was a simulator built in 2037? Why do to the logs only have the years 2011 and 2037? If the simulation has started to deteriorate, does that mean something went wrong? Was Earth undergoing some disaster with falling meteors (or other objects) leaving craters? This is my point: I only have more questions.

I figured the ending would clarify some of these questions, but not really. It was clever, though. After you eat the three fish spines you unlock the ending (the final location) where you wake up in a metal chair in a room. Reveals like this are awesome. One wall reveals a large empty glass aquarium. The game suggests that its emptiness is your fault. You then fall back to an unconscious dream state.

Next thing you know, you are standing by a gorgeous lake with a fishing rod. Though you may be living in a simulation, you decide that it is a better means of existence than whatever is going on outside. This was an excellent surreal moment. However, I still had tons of unanswered questions from the computer. And questions about the ending. Is the whole empty aquarium scene a message about overfishing or humanity ravaging the aquatic ecosystem? Or am I overthinking it?

All I want is just a few more tidbits to fill in the gaps. That’s all. Ultimately, finding the (Spoiler - click to show) computer was still my favorite part, especially since it adds a layer of sci-fi into the surreal mix.

Characters
I’m going to ask straight out: (Spoiler - click to show) Who is Volunteer One? Is it Jackie? The player? Probably not the player due to the timeframe. Or maybe it is the player since June is clearly expecting you and mentions a newcomer in one of the audio logs you find at the lake. All I know is that I have a feeling that something happened to Jackie.

This is just a section where I am going to share some ramblings about the characters. You can skip this part.
(Spoiler - click to show)
Somehow, Alireza, June, and Horace ended up in the simulation. My guess (I’ll be making a lot of guesses) is that something happened to Jackie which meant he failed to make it into the simulation. June and Jackie definitely knew each other. Interrogating the NPCs will do little since the simulation saps people of memories. Most assume the simulation is a dream, like June. This means the player must dig for answers.

Of the three NPCs we meet, only Alireza has a faint idea of what’s going on, and there’s a reason. At least two years prior, he was once an administrator for the simulation. We know this from an audio log. It explains that a volunteer entered the simulation for an hour-long excursion but had gone missing, prompting Alireza to complain to management. He also mentions that his career is over. I wonder, did it end because of the missing volunteer, or because he spoke out? My guess is that he was thrown into the simulation in response, but it’s a wild, wild guess.

I really liked the subtle foreshadowing/story building that occurs when you pester Alireza for “fun facts,” which only become meaningful once you’ve played the game and know what to look for. He foreshadows Harold by saying, “'One time this dude in a full suit of armor came through here. I taught him how to fish, he was really nice.'" You find yourself agreeing and thinking, yep, I know who you’re talking about.

The one that really caught my attention is when he says, “'My mom was a scientist up in orbit. Studying those meteors.'" That connects back to the mentions of meteors in the computer logs. There is some truth them… this kind clue dropping is the stuff I play for. It does not answer my (excessive) questions, but it does add context that only encourages the player to look deeper for things they missed.

Where does this leave us? I take it something happens in the gap between 2011 and 2037 that was the catalyst for creating the simulation. A corporate theme has surfaced once or twice but only vaguely. Whoever ran the show was rushing since volunteers were being processed while it still had rough areas. Another wild guess: The computer logs mention a metal material that puts you in a dream state coma for the simulation. Isn’t the chair you wake up in at the end made of metal? Perhaps made of the special metal to put the user into the simulation? That’s all I have.

Comment if you want you share your own speculations for the story.

Visuals
The game’s visuals stay basic without abandoning stylization. Black backdrop. Text is white with blue links and is placed in a teal bordered box. Beneath it is a shot of the game's cover art. It uses a pixelated font that can be changed in the settings. That is always appreciated. It’s a good look for the game.

Final thoughts
The Twine Fishing Simulator is a clever and unique piece of surreal interactive fiction. I enjoyed it and would recommend it for surreal fans. Or lovers of fishing minigames.

There are some bug issues that dull the polish, but the gameplay is generally smooth sailing. I do feel like it leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions, particularly with linking character dialog to other story related discoveries in the gameplay. Some subjects were mentioned once and forgotten. I would have loved to see a little more cohesion there.

Regardless, the story shows creativity and thoughtfulness that leaves a lasting impression. The author has a skill at leading the player down an unexpected story trajectory. You thought you were going to be playing a realistic resource management fishing game. Well, think twice. It plays with reality and combines it with interesting characters. By the time I reached the ending sequence, I really felt like the PC.

When I first saw Rougi, I thought it was commercial. It is not. But it is a demo.

In Rougi, the Paris Opéra Ballet is getting ready to put on Les Souliers Rouges, a controversial ballet thought to be cursed. And maybe there’s something to it. So far, it has been a string of accidents and delays. That is why you, a mere patron of the arts, have been tasked to find the truth behind the curse.

Actually, I think Les Souliers Rouges ( The Red Shoes) is an actual story with many adaptations in film, music, and other forms. Rougi happens to depict it as a ballet, which I believe has been done as well. But the version in Rougi is especially unique. The storyline is different than what I have seen (on the internet, that is), and I am curious to see its trajectory here.

Gameplay
The game begins with a brief intro before the PC enters the picture. We are merely the passive observer of a reception after a performance of Coppélia where ballerinas and crew members are mingling with the audience in the gallery. Two ballerinas, Élodie Sirand and Laure Bloch, are especially at the center of attention, each with their own crowd of admirers.

Élodie is the seasoned professional. The only danseuse étoile (lead ballerina, or prima ballerina) in Paris. Laure is the new, innocent talent who basks in the praise while Élodie watches her warily. At one point, Antoine de Forbin, a long-devoted patron of considerable power, informs Élodie that he must break off his relationship with her. She leaves. Angry. A young man chases after her. The scene ends.

It’s a pretty good intro. One that leaves you with questions. Both ballerinas are cast in Les Souliers Rouges, BTW. More on that later.

Rougi officially kicks off with some character creation where you decide on your name, pronouns, and social class. There are three social class (working class, bourgeois, and aristocracy) options that mildly influence the writing and character dialog. They also determine how you gain access to the Paris Opéra Ballet.

You’d never imagined you’d be able to enter the Palais, let alone stand in the secret wings behind its glittering halls.

You always begin with a letter invitation. For the bourgeois choice, you used your connections to weasel your way into an invitation, for the aristocracy option, you were simply invited. And if you choose the working class, you were tasked with making a delivery. Playing as different roles is fun and adds replay value.

Regardless of which social standing you choose to play in, your mission will be the same. At one point, you will meet the Director of the Opéra Ballet. He is strongly against Les Souliers Rouges but could not override the decision-making of other influential figures at the Opéra Ballet. He is a superstitious man, or at least when Les Souliers Rouges is involved. He will hardly visit the site while the ballet is in production. But he does so he could speak to you. He wants you to roll up your sleeves and investigate this “curse” before it causes (more) harm.

At heart, this is a mystery game, and there is a strong investigative feel in the gameplay. On the left side of the screen is a menu containing an inventory and a notebook section for clues. Some clues are added automatically, others only if you deem them relevant. It’s an organized system that is easy to use. The gameplay does use a higher word count, so it is helpful to have something that keeps track of vital details. The demo ends before we can make any real breakthroughs, but we still learn some neat things.

Issues
There are some dents in the polish. The only real bug hiccup that I encountered was with the achievements. When you unlock one, a message appears at the top of the screen before it is added in the achievements section. Often the game would say I earned one, but it would never be added to the list. The only achievement (besides the first two that are there following character creation) that managed to show up in the achievements section was:

(Spoiler - click to show) “Your Crown is Falling, Queen: Win Élodie's respect through an unexpected trial.”

None of the others appeared. I was hoping to see what they were. I must admit, I thought I would have to work harder to win Élodie’s respect, but no complaints.

Another error is how whenever you add something to your notebook, this happens: “There is a scrap of red satin near your foot. You surreptitiously pocket it.” If you repeatedly add a clue to the notebook, there will be no duplicate of the clue. But the PC will still pick up pieces of red satin to add in the inventory. They just keep piling up. Every time. Infinite scraps. I think that's an error. Either that or people keep leaving pieces of red satin everywhere.

Oh, and Laure is never added to the “Persons of interest” section. That’s about it.

Story
For context, the story takes place during the Belle Époque, a period spanning from 1871-1914 in France and the European region. In the developer’s notes, the date was said to be 1895 but I’m not sure if that directly applies to the game. Either way, it’s nice that the game gives us a historical context.

In Rougi, a character named Maestro Camille Fauré (or just Camille) wrote Les Souliers Rouges. It is about a young village girl named Clara who receives red slippers that are secretly cursed by the King of Darkness who wants to claim her, etc. Its original premiere is shrouded in controversy. Spoilers ahead.

(Spoiler - click to show) Before opening night, the lead dancer casted as Clara died. Her body was found mangled by the roadside with large amounts of blood on the red ballet shoes in her bag. The production was cancelled. Years later, it was attempted again, but its production was riddled with disasters and thus scraped.

Now, for some insane reason, Camille wants to give this another shot and managed to twist the arm of those needed to permit (not that they agree) such a show. Les Souliers Rouges will be attempted one more time despite everyone's fear of its mere name. Even the Director is convinced it is cursed. He almost has a heart attack upon seeing Laure in her red dance shoes.

That’s all I know about the story through this demo. The author has a blog devoted to the development which is definitely worth a look.

I can tell you that the writing is decadent and descriptive. One of the best parts. It also theatrically captures the drama as it unfolds.

Dancers crowd around the fallen ballerina, outstretched hands fluttering from her to their mouths in the most elegant show of alarm you’ve ever seen.

We can visualize the elegant architecture and lavishly attired guests, but also “staff-only” areas that are less glamorous and maybe… not haunted. Probably not haunted. That’s the perk of the Director giving you the green light for investigating a cursed ballet production. It carries the awe of stepping from the streets into a performing arts establishment of great renown, setting a strong atmosphere.

Characters
There are plenty of interesting characters who are eventually logged as entries in your notebook. But so far, the dynamics between Élodie and Laure takes center stage. A rivalry is apparent. Élodie is the best of the best, Laure is new, one of the best, and somehow manages to be the Opéra Ballet Director’s favorite. Besides, they have completely different personas.

Laure is the bright-eyed, up-and-coming new talent. She is clearly dazzled by the high life glamour that comes with being a prominent ballerina. For her, ballet is a portal into this extravagant world. She is giddy and excitable without knowing the grimmer side of fame. As we see at the start of the game with Élodie, fame brings patrons, but patrons can easily ditch their favorites and become entranced with something new.

Élodie’s character is a sharp contrast. She has years of experience, not just in ballet but also the industry. Because of this, she is cynical, sees fakery from a mile away, and hostile towards those who waste her time (so, everyone). But she has secrets and has been burned by individuals. There is, perhaps, a genuine motive, though self-serving, to protect Laure from making the same mistakes that she did as a career ballerina because she knows too well that success attracts powerful people who call the shots.

Perhaps. Élodie strikes me as an individual who dislikes others but is not one to stand by and watch someone, especially if that someone was once her, make the worst possible mistake because of inexperience or vulnerability. Laure seems to be that someone. But it’s just a hunch, and one that may be disproven as the story develops.

Drama, drama, and more drama
It’s bad enough that Les Souliers Rouges is cursed. Now, two new developments have increased the scandal. (Spoiler - click to show) The first is that Laure is cast as the lead, Clara, instead of Élodie. The second is that rather than having a male dancer play the character of the King, Élodie will. Or maybe the King’s character is changed to female. I’m not sure. Either way, people see this as scandalous- for reasons I’m still trying to piece together- because Élodie claims Laure as a bride via the character roles. Is the gender change part bold, or is it just the rivalry between the two lead ballerinas?

Laure herself is shocked about this news but reassures those in charge that “I would do anything to become an étoile.” Anything? You can probably finish that thought. The demo ends after (Spoiler - click to show) Élodie and Laure dance in a duo piece, which only makes you want to know more of this catastrophic show. Is it really cursed?

Visuals
The visual design goes well with the atmosphere and subject matter. It conjures up the image of velvet, wine, and... blood? Maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions. Oh, you can also change the colour scheme for the display mode, a superficial feature (in the best way) that wins me over every time. The one I just discussed it the default is called "Nuit," which means night. The other theme is "Matinée," a show that takes place in the day. The colour scheme for Matinée is creme and light blue. The best part is that it all contributes to the concept of performing arts.

More importantly, the text is easy to read. You can also adjust it in the settings. The super fancy cursive is great for flair but having it for everything would eventually be a pain to read.

Final thoughts
I have played games about the performing arts, but this is the first based on ballet. It’s exciting and dramatic with a strong feel for mystery. I want to know the truth behind Les Souliers Rouges.

I recommend it to players interested in historical mystery games with an emphasis on the characters and story. As a mystery Twine game, it steers away from deductive puzzles and instead has the player carefully glean valuable bits of information as encounters arise. If you like the Lady Thalia series, you may enjoy Rougi but know that it is a complete change in tone and technicality.

One more thing: I'm going to be a spoiled brat for a moment. This is another polished, excellent demo that I've seen on IFDB (there are quite a few) that I would love to see continued. The author says that Rougi will be updated over the next few weeks. My understanding is that it was published about a year before it was added to IFDB. So, I am not sure when the next update will be.

I hope it continues to be developed without adding tons of pressure (that’s the last thing I want to do) for updates. If the author is reading this, just know that you have something with a lot of potential. I say that for a lot of games, but I would not say it if it weren’t true.