Reviews by Kinetic Mouse Car

Orunge is a heartwarming story told in first person from the perspective of a young girl looking to buy some oranges at a market. We follow her frantic rush to buy these oranges and meet up with some mysterious NPC.

Gameplay
The game takes place at a metropolitan setting with public transportation and a maze of outdoor venders. The girl’s desperate search in the gameplay accurately captures a sense of rushing through a busy area, totally lost while on a time crunch. This part was relatable. Science dictates that the less time you need to be somewhere, the more confusing everything- I’m kidding.

Ack, I’m getting distracted! Gotta get oranges first. He’ll be packing up soon, so I don’t have a lot of time. I’ll miss out.

Those pastries smell SO good though.
(The words "oranges" and "pastries" are both links. It is an extremely difficult decision.)

In terms of interactivity, there are only a few cases where the player can make a choice. Otherwise, they are just in it for the ride. But being a short game with a reasonable amount of text, Orunge maintains the player’s attention as they watch the story unfold. Because of this, the game would be a good selection for kids.

Story + Characters
The reason behind the protagonist’s desperate scramble is only revealed at the end. We know one thing: These oranges are for someone else. Until then, there is a sense of mystery and anticipation as we wait to learn who “he” is (In fact, character details about everyone, including the protagonist, are kept at a minimum).

The answer is that there is a (Spoiler - click to show) vender who will teach the protagonist how to make orange juice by pressing oranges. Naturally, she supplies the oranges and does not want to keep him waiting. I am not sure of the protagonist's relationship with the vender or how they know each other, but it is a wholesome story about a person teaching a trade to another.

There are multiple endings. I found two, one of which has two nearly identical variations. For the latter, (Spoiler - click to show) you acquire a pastry to give to the man or you forget/ran out of time to buy a pastry. Either one is a happy ending where the two characters bond over orange juice. It's such an endearing story! There is also a less ideal ending where you (Spoiler - click to show) dally and take too long to catch up to the vender before he packs up his stall and drives off. But never fear, that ultimately leads to a surprise happy ending and still ends in (Spoiler - click to show) orange juice.

Visuals
Unsurprisingly, the colour palette for this game is orange. It has a light orange background with dark orange text and white links. This is quite a tasteful look. There are also some nice story graphics on every page that elevate the game’s quality. Graphics feature drawings done in a mix of orange shades. They depict the protagonist as she runs around the market, and I liked the art style.

Final thoughts
Orunge is an endearing story for adults but also perfect for kids because of the lighthearted story, cheery art, and shorter word count. It features a relatable and upbeat protagonist who leaves a lasting impression on the audience. It’s also a game that demonstrates how you do not need to have ultra-complex coding or dramatic visual effects to create a polished and professional-looking Twine game.

You play as Rovie, a rover on a research vessel called the Curious Kitty. Daphne, the onboard AI, activates you to explain that the ship has crashed landed on the mission’s destination, planet Zephyria. Your task is to explore the landscape and gather research while Daphne repairs the ship.

Gameplay
Plasmorphosis allows the player to roam the planet freely like a parser game. It even maps the area with compass directions. This pairs well with the game’s theme of exploration. Between the Curious Kitty and the planet’s surface, there’s about a dozen rooms. Your goal: Study the planet.

You make progress by collecting research points with your scanner. The scanner can be used on lifeforms or alien objects/artifacts, such as carvings. To complete the game, you must accumulate at least 100 points. However, the planet does not have enough material to meet this quota. The player is required to get creative with the local ecosystem.

The planet is crawling with simple organisms called Zephyrian Protoplasm. Blobs… with shapeshifting properties. These critters transform when you touch them with different objects. For example, if you toss a (Spoiler - click to show) chunk of heat shielding at a Protoplasm, it turns into an *Oven-Safe Slime. Transformations come with unique properties that help you overcome obstacles. (Spoiler - click to show) The Oven-Safe Slime allows you to walk across the river of lava. Experimenting with different objects and properties is the main mechanic in Plasmorphosis. (*I kept expecting this to be Oven-Safe Slime™)

Gameplay relies on an inventory system. At the bottom of the screen is a drop-down (well, technically it is “drop-up”) menu of your inventory items. When an item is selected, it is applied to anything you examine. I wish the game would let you examine items in your inventory, but it’s not essential. There is also a database that keeps track of your research points and log entries for scanned items.

You can complete your mission and end the game after making 100 research points, but the game eagerly encourages you to continue investigating the planet for science. My final score was (Spoiler - click to show) 160/100 with 23 database entries. I believe that is the max. It was fun, finding ways to (Spoiler - click to show) enter inhospitable areas using random objects on Protoplasm.

Not all of it is seamless. There was a bug that kept me from starting over with reset progress even after I wiped my save files/autosave file. I had to do some backtracking to fully restart (author has now fixed this issue). Occasionally, character scenes were repeated. But nothing that really dulls the experience.

Story
This is not a story intensive game. The only backstory is that the mission is backed by Star Research Co. There is a feeling of the Company breathing down your neck about meeting your research quotas. Either that or Daphne is being overly dramatic. It’s hard to tell. I suppose there are some undertones about resource exploitation. For each entry the database lists ways the subject can be used for industry, including pharmaceuticals, robotics, textiles- I’m reading too much into this.

The mission is also about understanding the sentient life that once lived on the planet: Zephyrians (not to be confused with Zephyrian Protoplasm). Zephyrians were (Spoiler - click to show) insectoid creatures that once inhabited the city ruins. They were skilled in the arts and sciences, and different parts of their history can be observed throughout the game. You can figure out what happened to them by checking it out. There is no major story or plot twist, but it is quite interesting.

This game really makes you feel like an anthropologist. Or is the proper word xenoanthropologist?

Characters
There are only two characters (unless you count the Protoplasm) in this game: Rovie (you) and Daphne. The character quirk of the protagonist is that they do not speak in English, leaving it up to Daphne to translate everything for the player. This led to some charming exchanges.

“Great, you found it!” cheers Daphne.
“Beep?” you ask suspiciously.
“Oh, I'm just accessing your optical sensors,” the AI explains gleefully.

Characters certainly have their own personalities. I thought it was (Spoiler - click to show) humorous how the game briefly tricks the player into thinking that Daphne left the planet without them returning to the ship. It was a nice diversion in the gameplay.

Visuals
I would describe the visuals as a simple user-friendly design with a splash of colour. I especially liked the font and text colours for the title screen. Generally, the screen is black with white text. Room titles shown in orange. Links are conveniently colour-coded. Blue for exits, green for objects/scenery. Pop-up boxes are used to explain outcomes of an action, or dialog. Basic enough.

Final thoughts
The author has made multiple high-quality Twine games, and Plasmorphosis is no exception. It’s fun and upbeat with well-implemented puzzles that provide a challenge. It kept me busy for at least an hour.

I would not consider this to be a “kid’s game,” but its lighthearted content (dinosaur gummies, friendly AI- well, anyone can love this) can appeal to younger audiences who are familiarized with more technical Twine puzzles. I mean, there’s a ship called the Curious Kitty. That can leave an impression about the target audience. So, sure. Call it a kid’s game if you want. But if you enjoy Twine science fiction, give it a try.

This is another submission in the Goncharov Game Jam. For quick context, Goncharov is a nonexistent mafia themed film by Martin Scorsese that started from a meme and has transformed into its own unique following. After all, there’s a game jam about it!

In Creating Goncharov, you have been given an unexpected but exciting task from your boss who explains that a group of investors want to make a 2023 remake of the film. Your assignment is to create a pitch for these investors. Oh, and you only have a few hours.

Fun fact: The game’s cover art is a section from the “official” movie poster made by an artist after the meme took off. If you didn’t know any better, one would glance at it and then look for a place to watch the film, it is so convincing.

Gameplay
Before you get a chance to celebrate, your boss throws a curveball about the assignment. The big catch is that you must work with Al, an ambiguous sort-of maybe slacker co-worker whom you barely know. A blandish mystery. You have mixed feelings about this, but it is up to you to decide on your attitude towards these terms. This is done by the tone (friendly, polite, not-so-nice) you use in your emails to Al.

Now, in this scenario Goncharov is an existing film. There is some ambiguity about its existence. It fits in the category of films that everyone thinks they know about but have not personally seen it. As the player, you can read between the lines as the PC strives to create a remake worthy of the “real” film itself. When it comes to brainstorming, the twist is that neither the PC nor Al have seen the film. They never fully admit that, of course. Or at least, not initially.

You will fail. That is not a spoiler. Failure is a mandatory fact of the gameplay. When you submit your pitch, the project is and will be canceled. But that is not the end of the game. Far, far from it. Creating Goncharov is larger than it seems. You can call it quits and end right there, or you can be stubborn and say, “no, we’re going to create this. I won’t take no for an answer.” Al is on your side and is willing to take the gamble with you. See, he’s not so bad after all!

This is not a time travel game (I think. 99.8% certain, at least). But there are some temporal shenanigans at work: The main gameplay mechanic is that it resets on a loop. After a failure, you can make plans with Al to remaking the pitch. The game then “restarts” from the beginning. Much of this is familiar. You show up to work at the same time, read the same email from your boss that explains the pitch as if it never happened (did it?), experience the same surprise about the pitch, and meet up with Al. However, changes are present.

If you could create your pitch again, would you? Not necessarily starting from scratch, but starting over.

Two notable changes occur for each loop. One is that your environment evolves. This is part is relatively minor but still noteworthy. (Spoiler - click to show) First time around, your office is a boring cubicle. After that, the game allows you to customize it. Each loop reshapes the office setting, giving it a dynamic dimension. Plus, any specifications you made for the PC’s character qualities also remain the same. The second notable change takes center stage and is where the temporal shenanigans come into play. While the protagonist is always surprised about receiving the assignment, their (and Al’s) memory about the film expands.

For every loop, Al shares a document with an outline of information about the film. This document breaks the remake down into categories. In the first iteration it only includes PLOT and CAST, but more categories are added for each restart loop.

MORE INFORMATION:
THE PLOT | THE CAST

MORE INFORMATION:
THE PLOT | THE CAST | THE THEMES

Among these questions of “let’s see, how did that go again?” we realize that this remake means taking some creative license. Each expansion allows you to edit more of the remake’s components and is meant to increase your chances that inventors will buy the pitch. My only complaint was how the (Spoiler - click to show) THEMES category on the second loop does not allow you to make the same types of edits as the other categories. Fortunately, there is plenty of editable content elsewhere to make up for it.

The player themselves really starts to feel like they are creating a pitch as they edit the remake’s narrative line by line. In doing so, they get acquainted with some of the main characters and plot elements found in Goncharov as it exists today. Yes, this real-life nonexistent film has an established plot. But in this game, how far you remake that plot is your choice.

Story
There is a strong sense of cubicle burnout where the protagonist is bored of the same floor, walls, and ceiling in the cubicle maze that makes up most of the workday. They are happy to have the job but feel stifled. That's what makes the assignment so intriguing. Consider the meaning of, “You reach the end of the day. You log off.” Does it mark the end of a boring workday or an energizing one?

You sit down at your desk with a heavy sigh, surveying your bare surroundings with a gaze that's 10% disappointment and 90% ambivalence.

It's time to begin your day. You turn on the computer.

There is an appeal of doing something that makes you genuinely eager to show up for work and spending your time on something that sustains you. An unrealistic appeal, though not an impossible one either. This is not just a game about a film. It is partly a story about someone who, whether they actively realize it or not, is seeking an escape from daily work drudgery, but with something more than a mere distraction. The protagonist undergoes a major transformation from (Spoiler - click to show) cubicle worker to a producer of an award-winning film. In real life this would have considerable obstacles, but Creating Goncharov entertains that “what if?” fantasy and makes it real in the game.

Characters
Al. What’s he hiding? Nothing, actually. I was unsure if there was going to be some big secret about Al. Something about the writing and the protagonist’s attitude gives a sense that there is more to this NPC (not that there is any practical reason to think so). What I can tell you is that completing the project and forging a friendly, professional relationship with Al is really rewarding. I was not expecting to find a heartwarming outcome when I sat down to play this, but that is exactly what I found.

Also: I made an awkward mistake when I first saw this game's description: "Creating Goncharov is a surreal game where you play as a filmmaker creating a pitch for a Goncharov (1973) remake with the help of Al, an indecisive peer."

I thought "with the help of Al" was AI, as in artificial intelligence. Your peer is an AI? Cool! Not quite. There is a slight difference between a lower-case “l” and an uppercase “I”, but sometimes your (my) eyes overlook things while reading quickly. Details are important. So no, no AIs. Just your co-worker Al …right?

If you do want to play a Goncharov-themed game with an AI, play GONCHAROV 2073.

Visuals
This game makes use of fun but basic Twine visual elements. Colours, fonts, boxes, and borders create an artsy and fun theme. Its general appearance is white text against a black screen but gets creative for emails. In these cases, text is shown in a black box set against a dark teal background. Borders are white with an extra orange border on the sides and bottom that add a pop of colour. Additional embellishments can be found throughout.

For some reason, you can change the visual style of the entire game in the settings section. There are two options: GONCHAROV and GOMORRAH, the former being the default as I discussed here. Feel free to check out both. I guess it's nice that the author gives us options (I love little gimmicks like this).

Final thoughts
Creating Goncharov is a strong entry in the Goncharov Game Jam and a quality game in general because of its well-roundedness in story, concept, and interactivity. It also perfectly captures the idea of a film being the product of collective imagination combined with a simple eagerness to contribute. I see this on the internet about the meme, and I see it perfectly in this game. If anyone out there is chomping at the bit for Goncharov to be made real, playing Creating Goncharov is the closest you will get (so far).

It is possible to (Spoiler - click to show) play as Martin Scorsese. I highly, highly, highly encourage you to try this AFTER you play this through on your own. Then try exploiting loopholes.

You are President Gusto and have been granted leadership over Terrota, a recently independent world and your home planet. So far, it has a flimsy platform for racial relations, economy, and reputation among other planets. But with your guidance it may finally have a chance to make a name for itself.

Gameplay
Gameplay involves making decisions as issues present themselves. How to build your army, which neighboring planet to trust, how you punish rioters. It is also linear. Issues are always presented in the same order, but all decisions contribute to the outcome of your leadership. Your choices matter.

Again, a tough decision to make. You ponder over this a lot. You consult with your ministers. Then you make a call....

Biturn - The relatively neutral big neighbour
Pytal - The far away ally
Ramdael - The military super power

Top objectives are to build Terrota’s economic structure and to create peace among the population, but preventing war, or at least building an army strong enough to win one, is also important. Usually, you will reach an ending that reaches one or two of these goals, but it takes some trial and error to reach to reach an optimal one. Terrota is meant to be played more than once.

There are no deep, achingly tragic moral choices in this game, but there is a strong sense of responsibility as you make decisions that heavily impact the people on your planet.

This announcement obviously does not go well with Mischins. They cannot digest the fact that they lost their jobs overnight.

They take up to the streets vandalizing and destroying everything they see.

You experience it from a more detached perspective which gives the game a feel of a management sim. However, it would not really qualify as such, or at least not like other games that share a similar concept. While you need to balance your citizens’ trust, the chances of war, and the strength of your army, this is not a game with fine-tuned variables or stats. If you want resource management, look elsewhere. But if you want something low-key, minimal, and interesting, I encourage you to check out Terrota.

Story
Story takes center stage in decision making, but the overall game feels relatively light on story. It often uses ambiguous titles or entities, such as "Galactic empire." While this cuts down on the worldbuilding, the upside is that it avoids dragging the short gameplay with excess details. There is a nice balance of details and simplicity.

I liked how the start of the game has three news articles that provide some exposition. The Galactic empire decided to grant independence to planets on the outer edge of the galaxy, including Terrota. This was done primarily because these planets were never prominent hotspots for economic growth. Of course, that can change if you make the right choices.

It is an oddly interesting story. Not one that captivates or amazes, but one that makes you want to roll up your sleeves and play for the best outcome. There are multiple endings that summarize your leadership. The best outcome I reached was: (Spoiler - click to show)

Terraota has grown into a peaceful planet, while President Gusto made sure it evolved into a military super power by building its image in the eyes of its neighbours. There were no wars which helped Terraota focus on other areas to become a super power.

Characters
In science fiction, or at least in interactive fiction, we often assume a protagonist or supporting characters are human unless said otherwise. There is no mention of the human race in this game. Instead, the population of Terrota consists of Badula, Mischin, and Badula races. No humans here! (I think.) Besides that, and the protagonist’s title, there is little attention to individual characters or characteristics beyond anonymous roles.

Visuals
Visuals take a basic but directed approach. The entire screen is an artist's rendition of an exoplanet against a nebulous region of space. Full image backgrounds run the risk of making text difficult to read, but that is not an issue here. It looks cool and fits perfectly with the planetary theme.

Text is white, but choices that influences your leadership are highlighted in red or green. Red is a negative reception, green is positive. Since things are not always polarized, a lighter shade of red is occasionally used to emphasize a mixed result, see below.

Result: You lose some trust with your citizens, while you have also reduced the chances of war with Madrusa.

Even though it is a simple Twine game, the visual design makes it far more polished and professional looking than if it skipped stylization. Experimenting with visuals can go the extra mile. It was certainly the first thing that caught my attention when I started playing.

Final thoughts
Terrota is fun sci-fi leadership gem in a clever Twine format. For sci-fi fans, I think it has an appeal for a fairly wide range of tastes. A bit of everything. If the phrase “interplanetary politics” catches your interest, give this game a try. It is also the perfect length for a lunch break game. I enjoyed it.

You are a becoming young lady in an affluent family. Your household is staffed, you have a governess, and are at the age when you should be making appearances at formal balls. Handwriting, piano practice, dance lessons, flipping through folios of suitors. And one more thing. Last night, you turned into a werewolf.

Gameplay
The game begins with a short intro. You are wandering unbecomingly in a forest during a full moon and undergo a transformation into a werewolf. Next thing you know, you wake up in your bedroom. A dream perhaps? A quick glance at the paper suggests otherwise: a monstrous wolf-like person attacked livestock during the night. Yeah. That was definitely you.

As you try to come to terms with this new development, another piece of news is thrown your way. In four weeks, a grand ball will be held. During another full moon. Do the math: Lycanthropy + Full moon + Prominent social setting = Disaster

The gameplay consists of making weekly decisions. Each week (four weeks total) you decide between researching your condition at the library or attending to family manners. Family matters are things like writing letters or attending church. There is some strategy thrown in. Each week has its own activity. If you choose to go to the library instead, you skip (Except for (Spoiler - click to show) writing letters. That opportunity is available twice). Every decision affects your stats which influence game’s trajectory.

Gameplay follows a play, fail, play again structure. Failure (or "failure," depending on how you interpret it) results in you caving into your werewolf urges and devouring the nearest person. Typically, this (Spoiler - click to show) occurs at the ball, but can occur earlier if you become too hangry.

The Lady’s Book of Decency features a simple stat system set on the right side of the screen. It uses bars as a visual marker. If you have ever played a ChoiceScript game and seen a stats table that has two values on either side, and colour coded to show which value is higher- that’s what it looks like. In this game, the stat values use abbreviations that ultimately come down to Health, Hunger, Humanity, Social status, and Intellect. I’m taking a guess at the social status part because I could not figure out what SOP vs FOP meant. Probably something obvious.

Stats are not really meant to be quantitative in this game. Just to give you a general sense of your progress. I like how the game summarizes your standing for each stat. My favorite was, “More wolf than woman.” One of the best parts is weighing whether to hide symptoms of your affliction around others. No one ask any questions, aside from what you want to eat, but it is humorous to see NPC responses.

You recall your hunger from the previous night, and consider asking for something bloody, though it would be more fitting to go with something light.

It’s probably a good idea to hide it, but you are so hungry!

You eat well that morning. [+FED]

Now we’re talking.

Story
The Lady’s Book of Decency is a riveting story because it is a clash of two worlds: mundane high-class life during the Victorian era, and the (secret) supernatural. What disappointed me was how (Spoiler - click to show) the protagonist's investigation for answers does not go anywhere. You visit the library three times, and on the fourth, a strange woman catches your eye. This was a cool surprise. You cannot help but notice that she is reading the same books as you. Perhaps she has insights on your case of lycanthropy. If you want to, you can talk to her and make plans to meet again. You end up seeing her at the ball. The end.

This did not feel like a resolution. The start of the game shows the surprising and unexplained event of a protagonist turning into a werewolf followed by her determination to get to the bottom of this issue. I was not expecting to find a cure or an elaborate explanation, just something more conclusive. Unless there is something I overlooked, how did the protagonist go from an unassuming girl to an unassuming-girl-werewolf-mix?

I thought that I found an ideal outcome where you can turn into a werewolf without anyone knowing, but then I ran into a bug that prevented the game from ending. (Spoiler - click to show) If your reputation is poor enough, you can convince your governess to stay home from the ball. After convincing her, I got this: This shows up when a passage failed to parse, or doesn't even exist. Try checking the link for spelling errors or the console logs for more detail on the error. When I clicked on the "back" link, it went to the previous passage with no way of circumventing the encounter. I had to start over.

Characters
The protagonist is a fun combination of social obligation and rebellion. We do not know her name but see has a strong personality. She sees the merit of upholding one’s family reputation and submits to her governess’ teachings. But she does this mostly because she was asked to. She is not deterred from bending the rules. Ironically, her family’s affluence arguably works against her problem. Her upper-class, I would assume, status means that she is expected at social events. Like a fancy ball.

Also, if you liked the character themes in this game, try playing Social Lycanthropy Disorder. It features a female (werewolf) protagonist who is obligated to attend a Halloween party during a full moon.

Visuals
Beige background with a black border in the shape of a fraying rope intertwined with flowers. Its visual elements have a familiar look that suits the theme well. Functionality is also smooth. When I first saw the game I thought, "oh no, scrolling text!" If you double tap the screen the text appears instantly which I appreciate. Scrolling text is great but can be frustrating with replays.

Final thoughts
This is NOT a tidy etiquette simulator about juggling suitors. Not at all. Come on, the main theme is lycanthropy! Do not let the title discourage you from giving it a try. It was made for a Gothic Novel Jam which is pretty cool. While I was hoping to have a little more payoff with your (Spoiler - click to show) investigation, there is plenty of content to explore with multiple endings.

(And appropriately, this review is not going to be a short read.)

Trigaea in a sentence: An epic sci-fi Twine game that looks and feels like it walked off of Steam for twenty dollars. When I first saw this posted on IFDB, I did a double take and told myself, “There is no way that this game is free.” It is. The amount of time, brain power, and creativity that went into this thing produced such a polished, cool, and ambitious piece. I am grateful that the author decided to make this game available to play for free.

Gameplay
Prologue: You wake up inside a tank filled with strange green liquid in an unfamiliar room. A step outside the door reveals a wasteland of broken machinery- you did not wake up in a building. You woke up in the wreckage from a major accident, and your memories are gone.

The protagonist, whom you name, has a brain implant called a Rosetta that compresses an individual’s memories and consciousness. Upon death, the information from the implant is transmitted back to a compact AI-run lab called a Progenitor (where you woke up) that grows a new copy of the body with its own Rosetta. The data transfers to the new implant and the protagonist steps out of the tank as good as new with hardly a gap in awareness.

Early gameplay consists of exploring the wasteland to learn more about your surroundings. Combat is a frequent feature throughout the gameplay. When an opponent appears, you have a list of options on how to respond during the encounter. If you win, you earn microchips that are used as currency. If you lose, you die and wake up again in the Progenitor. This is streamlined to make it simple for players to rebound after a setback. Combat is both easy to use and easy to master. Collecting microchips and quartz chips are also vital to regaining your memories. Later gameplay shifts towards contacting the inhabitants of the planet to learn more about the unknown disaster. Rather than just exploring, you start to have more concrete objectives to complete.

I have played plenty of games advertised as having loads of optional content. Not all turn out that way, but Trigaea really is one of those games with substantial optional material tacked on to its already-extensive gameplay. And on that note, the gameplay is extremely long. Absolutely worth your time but you will not fit this in during a lunch break. Just know that once you complete it, (Spoiler - click to show) you can replay without losing your health and stat levels. Skip the intro, that sort of thing. That was convenient.

One of the coolest features in this game is about augmenting yourself for survival. You can spend microchips to receive genetic modifications or cybernetic implants that grant new abilities. This selection of choices only expands as the game continues. My estimate is that this will be a popular draw for players.

Story
There is so much story content I hardly know where to begin. Probably the best thing for me to do is encourage you to play it rather than making this review longer than it needs to be, but I just have to discuss some of it.

Background context: (Spoiler - click to show) Humanity eventually advanced enough to populate the rest of the solar system, but the space colonies often clashed with the Earth government about resources, especial fuel. Riots and altercations became a common issue. A solution was developed: Project Amber, finding another home, and sources of fuel, for humanity. This was a project spanning decades in the making. Correctors were trained at an academy and assigned to govern a ship filled with thousands of people in stasis pods. Upon arriving a new world, Correctors would help settle the planet and guide humanity. Preparation included scoping out potential worlds with high levels of habitability. That way, even if the planet proved to be unfriendly to Earth-based life, terraforming technology could step in and make it habitable. Then one day, the conflict between the space colonies and Earth government goes too far. Project Amber must launch now. Preparation goes out the window as ships hightail it to their designated planets. Unfortunately, all the planets are too inhabitable. Except this one. Two ships, SCC Nuria and SCC Caleuche, end up orbiting Trigaea. Things did not go as planned.

Now what?
We know that the protagonist was trained to be a Corrector. Part of that training involved receiving the Rosetta implant with a personal AI. Correctors are quite valuable. As you will experience several times, everyone freaks out when they learn that you are a Corrector. Moral choices appear on the horizon as your supposed responsibilities as a Corrector is made known to everyone. You become the go-to fix it repairperson. Someone who can do the impossible. You are a Corrector. Obviously, you are supposed to correct things, right? This is where things get complicated. They have questions. You have amnesia. Recovering your memories is crucial to making informed decisions as the lives of more NPCs fall into your lap.

As you regain your memories you realize that you are in over your head. The situation is not as simple as (Spoiler - click to show) “uh, a ship crashed,” but, to limit spoilers, an Earth ship(s) collided with the planet. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. There are THREE struggling factions on one miserable planet: humans, natives, and robots (by the way, Trigaea is the name of the planet). (Spoiler - click to show) Natives, called X'irii, were on the planet long before this mess happened. Human colonists managed to hack together an existence in the ship’s wreckage. Some humans live as Outer Tribes, but no one seems to care about them. Finally, the robots that survived built their own hive city managed by advanced AI.

One of the strongest parts in this game is how it puts you in the shoes of each faction. The first faction you contact are the (Spoiler - click to show) human colonists, followed by the robots, and then the natives. You may encounter these groups earlier in combat, but contact is when you visit their “homebase.” Your Progenitor allows you to morph into machine and alien forms to blend in. The major clash in perspectives is (Spoiler - click to show) between the humans and the natives. The robot faction is more or less content with minding its own, but they too have an invested interest in the planet’s population.

The human colonists form the baseline perspectives for the first half of the game. From this angle you will look at the other factions and be absolutely convinced that human colonists are the way to go and everyone else are savages. The X'irii have wiped out every human colony except for Delta Colony. They brutally kill human colonists. And yet, when you visit their native home groves you realize that they too have a rich cultural heritage, sense of identity, and drive to protect their own families.

Humanity’s interstellar spaceships came with a Terraform Sphere to assist in colonization a new world. Trigaea is reasonably habitable, but one ultimately foreign to Earth-based biology. As a Corrector, everyone wants something from you: The second half of the gameplay is about finding the (Spoiler - click to show) Terraform Sphere, that is, if it managed to survive the wreck.

Moral choices
So. Eventually, you (Spoiler - click to show) locate the Terraform Sphere. The keystone of the game is moral choices. Get ready to enter Spoiler Land. Seriously, look away. (Spoiler - click to show) Here’s the deal: Activating the Terraform Sphere will make the planet perfect for humans but would wipe out the X'irii in the process. Quite frankly, I was inclined to side with the natives, but naturally the game had to throw some curveballs.

When humanity set to colonize other worlds one principle that was considered while screening for compatible planets was to find one without any intelligent species already living on it. Trigaea happens to be the first planet with sentient alien life discovered by humanity, ever. Arguably, wiping out this race for human benefit would be immoral. Thing is, due to circumstances that I won’t discuss to avoid spoiling everything, Earth is no longer a home. Furthermore, all of Earth’s ships sent to explore other worlds failed. Your own ship had no survivors. The humans on Trigaea are the last of the human race. If you side with the natives in this scenario, humans go extinct. And there’s also the robots to think of.

What would you do?
In this section, I am going to discuss some of my viewpoints in case you want to compare notes (and please do!) I will throw it under one big spoiler tag.

(Spoiler - click to show) I don’t think I would wipe out the X'irii even for the last dredges of humanity, or at least not for the humanity we see in the flashbacks. The humanity in the flashbacks really rubbed me the wrong way. Humanity lost the Earth because of squabbling, and even on the starships there is fighting between former space colonists and those who lived on Earth. I am only touching the tip of the ice burg here. But when put to a vote, nearly everyone onboard was content with squashing the natives to claim the planet.

To be fair, the colonists we meet in the gameplay are descendants of those who survived the disaster. Technically, they are not the same humans as featured in the flashbacks. Earth is a faint memory passed on through generations. Would they share the same perspectives of their ancestors? Thing is, an Earth-old feud still exists, even if the details have gotten hazy. The Outer Tribes are the descendants of the survivors who came specifically from the old space colonies. Delta Colony and its sister colonies were founded by the humans who originally came from Earth. That feuding is still there. And both sides would not hesitate to activate the Sphere. It comes back to the original question: do we commit genocide to wipe out the natives to make Trigaea humanity’s new home?

Oddly enough, the natives are little more receptive, perhaps even sympathetic, about the humans’ reason for being on the planet. You say Trigaea, but the natives call their planet X'ir, which is also the name of the god that sustains life. X'ir follows a reciprocal relationship. If you take care of the planet, it takes care of you. From their perspective, the humans abused their planet (an understatement) and were exiled- and the natives feel pity about that. However, if humans, to put it bluntly, managed to screw up their own planet, what’s stopping them from destroying X’ir? Already, humans squashed countless X'irii simply by falling from the sky. And now, human diseases and garbage from the wreckage has been poisoning the land, causing the natives’ offspring to be deformed. Thus, they feel compelled to fight against the foreign invaders. Besides, [name redacted] is encouraging them to raid the colonies. I am not saying that you should agree with the natives, only that they too have a valid perspective for how they respond to other factions.

What frustrates me about the human colonists that we meet is how oblivious they are to the impact of their presence on the natives. The natives aren’t using the humans for target practice. They are defending their home. But understandably, that means little when you are trying to protect your hovel of a home against an alien race that keeps trying to kill you. Human colonists trying to make the most out of a difficult situation and are so bogged down with daily survival that they probably do not have the time or energy to reflect on the virtues of a species that has shown nothing but hostility. When family and friends are at stake, the last thing you want to hear is, “well, it is their planet.”

I certainty do not have a polarized perspective. Halfway through the gameplay is a pivotal event where Delta Colony calls for your help in defending against a X'irii attack. In this battle you are on the colonists’ side, but the game will continue even if you fail to stop the attack. Failure just means that the colonist population is severely reduced. Despite my feelings for the natives, I would always defend the colonists in this scene. Why? Well, they are trying to kill characters whom we already know on a personal basis. And that is my point: There are no easy stances. There is the faction, and the individuals within it, and each faction has individuals who form a connection with the PC. The game forces you to make tough choices. (If it makes you feel any better, you do not have to kill a single person in this game. You even get a trophy for doing so. If you fight in non-lethal mode, you merely subdue your opponents.)

These dynamics foreshadow major moral choices involving the fates of each faction. The challenges encountered in the gameplay anticipate decisions about (Spoiler - click to show) wiping out one race to save another. At first glance it seems like you must choose either Faction A, B, or C when in fact over a dozen endings offer a spectrum of outcomes. Everyone wants you to side with them but, if you play your cards right, you can put your foot down and consider, “why not all of us?”

Still, that does not make the decision easy. There is only one consensus: (Spoiler - click to show) I would make a horrible Corrector.

Story mechanics
The story features two commonly used tropes: Amnesia and experiencing the overarching story primarily through flashbacks. These can be touchy clichés, but the game pulls them off. They do not feel contrived, and instead, provide a platform for experiencing the story.

With amnesia, I like games that slowly construct an underlying context behind the protagonist’s reason for having amnesia that, when revealed, builds upon your understanding of everything you encountered in the gameplay. It creates that moment of insight that makes it all click when you finally piece it all together (If you are interested, Worlds Apart is a master at this). Trigaea takes one big reveal, breaks it into smaller pieces, and places them strategically across the gameplay’s timeline to keep the player’s attention from drifting without diminishing their impact. The cause of the protagonist’s amnesia also has a compelling reason. (Spoiler - click to show) Due to an unknown accident, which we slowly learn about in the gameplay, the Progenitor was damaged, compromising the transfer of your memories. When those memories come back- let’s just say that there is substance to this depiction of amnesia.

As for flashbacks, while the game heavily relies on them for exposition, rich story content about your circumstances is also infused in the gameplay. Rather than merely “watching” the story, you take an active role in piecing it together. A smart design choice is that some flashbacks are optional. They are unlocked by spending microchips or quartz chips that allow the player to learn more about the protagonist’s background and the world that they came from. Collecting these memories provides an objective for players who want to milk the gameplay as much as possible for more world-building. Being optional, you can choose to skip them if you would rather focus on immediate gameplay.

Endings
There are a lot of endings. Fifteen. This is the final implementation of the player’s skills and responsibilities as a Corrector. You have already spent hours playing. The game took the good, the bad, and the ugly, rubbed it all in your face, and now challenges you to make a tough decision: How will all this end? The author posted a walkthrough for the endings that organizes them into branches. It is a useful guide if you feel overwhelmed. Some endings will leave a lasting impression.

I won't say it, it is too much of a spoiler to discuss it even here, but one of the ending branches just left me thinking, "you are kidding me," where you are so surprised, you are not sure whether to be annoyed, pleased, or confused. I still don't know what to think about it. It does provide some closure for certain drastic events which I think players will appreciate since this is a rollercoaster of a game. The only mild downside is that it gave me a slightly skewered view of the other ending branches, hence my reason for not wanting to discuss it. It was a surprise and I like how it tests your understanding of reality as you try to navigate this wonderous world of advanced technologies that we can only imagine.

…………………………But then it does it a SECOND time!!! There is an ending (another branch of endings, actually) that tops even that! You are still required to go through the ending branch that I just mentioned to access it which only makes it more surreal. It tricks the player by saying, “oh, you thought you saw the bigger picture? The ‘actual’ layer of reality? Sucker. Think again!” It was wild. The game truly, truly (this time) caught me off guard. The only impulse my brain had was to applaud. I am being dramatic, I know, but it reminded me of the saying, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” If such a statement could be applied in interactive fiction, it would be here. If the author is reading this, thank you for creating this game.

For a hint, it reminds me of a particular Rick & Morty (I love that show) episode. It is up to you to figure out which one it is.

Characters
Esra
Esra is one of the most empathetic AI NPCs you can find in interactive fiction, and the first character we meet in the game. You choose whether Esra is male or female but for this review I will just use "they."

Esra operates the Progenitor that allows you to respawn and carries out genetic modifications. They also have access to your Rosetta implant and will communicate with you throughout the game. There is a whole backstory about Esra- you will realize that this is the case for many characters in this game- that reveals how advanced, sentient AI is developed in the game’s world. Even the AI has a backstory? Yes. It’s quite fascinating.

They are also the NPC whom we interact with the most. The early gameplay contains more casual banter, while later conversation becomes more focused on immediate objectives. When I first played the game, these early interactions seemed to suggest that the relationship between the PC and Esra was malleable. Dialog options had distinct attitudes consisting of friendly, polite, no-nonsense, standoffish, and mean demeanors. Because of this, I figured that you could decide on your relationship with Esra and then see how it manifested in the gameplay.

1. "I'm sorry you have to watch that."
2. "I'm glad you're watching out for me."
3. "If you've got time to watch, why don't you help?"
4. "Geez, I don't get any break from you, do I?"

In one playthrough I was a complete (Spoiler - click to show) you-know-what to Esra (tick off the AI NPC to learn if it results in a certain ending, right?) in all the dialog options to see if that influenced character development over time. I kept waiting for them to turn on me, but they never did. Then I reached (Spoiler - click to show) Ending 10. Despite what I did, (Spoiler - click to show) Esra went the extra mile to make sure I came out top at their own expense. I felt so ashamed. Several minutes went by where I just stared at the screen, that's how much it elicited a reaction out of me. I didn't deserve them.

Once the gameplay moves past the introductory parts, the protagonist and Esra go into teamwork mode for survival. There are some small (and interesting) disputes that you can pursue but they will not influence the characters’ overall relationship. Esra is devoted to your success regardless of your attitude.

Everyone else
I am not even going to try to write about every character. As I mentioned earlier, there are three factions on the planet that you will eventually contact in your explorations. It does not happen all at once. Each faction has its own unique NPCs that play a part in the story. Characters are also shown in the flashbacks, but those come with heavy spoilers. Every NPC, whether you meet them face-to-face or not, adds something interesting to the game.

There is (optional) romance in this game, but that part did not really fly for me. Some of it, especially “flirting,” was almost a bit cringy. The protagonist’s sexual orientation is determined by the voice you choose for Esra, and there are about four choices that let you decide how to approach romance, if at all. Some players might like it, but I was too busy with the rest of the story to be interested.

(Confession: When I first picked up Trigaea, I was kind of hoping to play the villain. That honor goes to- major spoiler- (Spoiler - click to show) just kidding, you will have to play the game. Then again, “villain” is subjective, isn’t it? At the beginning, all I had was this wasteland and the ability to come back from the dead. I had an AI who would splice my genome with that of animals. I could have dominated it and made it my own. But as the gameplay started rolling out memory flashbacks and NPCs were added to the big picture, I realized that the PC is meant to be more of a heroic protagonist while leaving “heroic” up to the player’s interpretation. Oh well. Maybe in another game.)

Critiques
You are probably wondering why I am giving this game four stars instead of five (although it came pretty darn close) after raving about how amazing it is. My main critique is repetition, which is tricky in extra-long games like this one. What baffles me is how the game manages to be repetitive and dynamic at the same time. I know the phrase “repetitive gameplay” can scare players away but know that these occasional lulls are overshadowed by riveting, everchanging gameplay. Repetitiveness is boiled down to combat and exploring the wasteland.

Esra gives you advice on what to do which is helpful. But sometimes the only guidance you have is to explore and harvest microchips. During these parts the game shares the symptoms of a repetitive combat simulator- that is, until something does happen. Then the game pulls a surprise rabbit out of the hat of wasteland drudgery and makes things engaging once more with a new development that redirects the gameplay to something interesting. Yes, eventually you will notice some repetitiveness, but it takes a while before you start to feel fatigue (and even then, you can’t stop playing). I also noticed that even when the randomized combat lost its charm the plot-oriented combat scenes were still exciting.

The one tedious component that grated on me is how you gain microchips by killing things. It makes sense with a person since you could theoretically just search their body for microchips, but why would some random animal out in the desert have them? You kill a man-eating starfish and microchips come spilling out of the beast as if it were a piñata. The logic of that does not quite resonate with me. Unless microchips are the equivalent of oxygen… maybe I should just ignore this technicality.

Notes on formatting
The game occasionally suffers from purple prose. You say that your eyes are blue, and this is how the game interprets it: “Your eyes are scholarly and sharp, and tinted as blue as a old mountain lake. Your pupil looms in the middle like a full stop, dotted with parchment ink.” It seems contrived.

There are also some spelling issues. Sometimes Esra’s pronouns were the opposite of the ones I selected. In one playthrough Shay’s pronouns flipped flopped between him and her. Frequent grammar issues are also present. “They looks heavily injured,” taunted me everywhere. In one case, “googles” instead of “goggles.” But in all fairness, these errors were like drops in a swimming pool compared to how much text there is. This game has been thoroughly tested, and it shows.

Visuals
Oh man. This is where the game really looks like a professional piece. There are dozens of detailed sci-fi/dystopian backdrops that would put a visual novel to shame. I looked at the credits and saw that the artwork is from contributions of quite a few artists, and it goes a long way. Even if you decide not to stick with the game in the long run, at least you get a glimpse of the visuals.

Trigaea is also a great example of the possibilities of Twine stylization. Design elements are used to create a flashy interface. Experimentation with symbols, borders, colours, and text boxes add a futuristic vibe. It is easy to forget that you are playing a Twine game.

Final thoughts
I think a lot of players will appreciate elements of Trigaea, such as the smooth visuals, but if you are not a sci-fi fan, your interest may waver early on. It is also not for the impatient. I love science fiction and was in it for the long haul and yet there were times where I was hoping that the game would just hurry up already and move to the next part of the story. It’s worth it.

Sci-fi fan or not, this game is intense. The story is vast and full of tragedies. Thick backstory. Rugged characters. Bizarre technology. Violence. All packed together into lengthy gameplay. But beneath it all is a solid framework. The build-up of all this is for the player to gradually realize the protagonist’s purpose and responsibility as a Corrector, and then make difficult decisions based on the endless content poured on them over hours of gameplay. The notion of finally reaching the point where a major decision is placed in your hands is what makes this game resonate.

Anyway, great stuff. Thank you for reading this saga-length review.

The protagonist is a biosynthetic technologist whose job is to restore extinct animals and habitats. They also designed The Great Memorial Reef, a project to memorialize Earth’s loss of coral reefs after severe climate catastrophes. Not all of it is natural. The fish are robotic but life-like, and the reef is an experiment in biosynthetic technology. Earth is degrading. Any research about biosynthetic technology will assist in terraforming efforts across the solar system.

The gameplay is short. A playthrough spans across four to five choices. You are swimming in the Sea of Memory that houses The Great Memorial Reef. As you take in the wonderous view of your project you cannot help but note that you cannot remember who you are aside from general details about your work. Your goal is to find the answers in the setting.

The plot twist is when (Spoiler - click to show) we learn that the protagonist had died but left behind instructions for their memories to be preserved in the cybernetic fish. The player realizes that (Spoiler - click to show) the PC is a fish reliving the original protagonist's memories. We do not know how the protagonist died or even the nature of their death. Was it an accident? Deliberate? Climate change? Or a matter of human lifespan?

For such a short game I think the author does a good job at maintaining a reasonable level of details to avoid overwhelming the player, but I would not have minded if the game provided a little more overarching story to piece everything together. (Spoiler - click to show) (What confuses me is that one part of the game says that The Great Memorial Reef was built on Earth whereas later it tells us that we are on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.)

The game uses a blue text area against a black screen and the text is light blue. This was a little hard to read. At one point my blue light screen filter was on that made the text area appear purple. Surprisingly, this made the text easier to read because of the contrast.

Underwater Memories is a brief sci-fi story about an effort to preserve a natural ecosystem wiped out by Earth’s degradation. This is not a game solely about climate change, but it does touch on themes about long term accumulative effects of climate disasters and the loss of natural and manmade components that comes with it. There is a sense of tragedy as it ponders the implications of losing the Earth even if we have the technology to sustain ourselves on other worlds.

This is something new. I believe this is the first Twine game I have played that has animated GIFs. It is a Christmas themed poem about low expectations during the holiday season.

Gameplay
There is only one page in the game. It consists of a poem with links that reveal GIFs related to the subject matter. It is fun to find and watch every GIF. Many are taken from TV shows or movies. Not all the GIFs matched with the text’s content- they could have been more concise- but some were spot on. I loved the one with the (Spoiler - click to show) cats and dogs eating off the table. Also: Save us from a world of trouble! That link’s GIF is a lot of fun.

Story
The writing is a bit vague but maintains a consistent and clear-cut tone of cynicism about the Christmas season. It looks at the grandeur of Christmas and the consumption of food and gift-giving which is tied to societal expectations about partaking in get-togethers of family and friends so everyone can be cheerful in ways that would otherwise be unlikely at any other time of the year.

It seems like the author is saying that not everyone wants to celebrate Christmas (or decline to celebrate it at all) with tons and tons of people. People do not always feel the spirit of Christmas and want to be roped into joining the festivities, especially since they do not share the enthusiasm of everyone else.

Of course, "everyone" is subjective. There is often an impression that "everyone" around you love this or that, when in reality the sentiment is a bit of an exaggeration. Still, it feels that way, and the stifling effect seems to be a main idea in the poem.

Similarly, the poem considers the instant cheer where "everyone" goes from living in the rat race to embracing a sparkling life when infused with the Christmas spirit. Obviously, this is not the case for everyone whether it be for personal reasons or circumstances out of their control, but it is easy to overlook the statistics when caught up in the season.

As for society’s (again, subjective analysis) positive attitude towards Christmas, it makes sense that people would be more joyful during the holiday season because of its correlation with traditions/practices that one can enjoy. The main argument that the author tries to make is how emotions and sentiments cultivated during Christmas time often dwindle once Christmas has passed.

Visuals
Now, I am pretty sure that this is made with Twine. It uses a pale backdrop, black text, green links. The only notable visual element is a large drawing of an angel at the left side of the screen, adding some Christmas cheer. And of course, there are the GIFs that offer fun visuals.

Final thoughts
This game offers an alternate look into celebrating Christmas. If you want to switch things up with your Christmas IF playlist, consider playing Christmas Greetings.

This game is NOT for kids.

Page 1: This is Jo. Jo wants to go on an adventure!

You are reading a storybook about a boy named Jo who seeks to overcome adversary to reach a mountain and climb it. The narration depicts a fun adventure but inserted text on each page reveals how Jo really feels about the story.

Gameplay
Gameplay structure follows the concept of reading a storybook from start to finish. You click on a link at the bottom of the screen to flip to pages in the "book.” On the screen are additional links that allow you to explore Jo’s perspective as the protagonist of a storybook.

(It's almost over. Stop reading. Please.)

Turn to page 10...

There is more to this game than clicking on links to read a story in a picture book.

"Stop reading" and "Turn to page 10..." are both links that places Jo's predicament into the player’s hands. One hears what Jo has to say about the scene while the other simply moves forward with the story. This opens new avenues for the player to explore which then changes the gameplay.

Story
The main plot element is that (Spoiler - click to show) characters recognize that they are cartoon characters in a storybook and that there are countless copies of the book that feature the same characters with the same struggles. As for Jo, he has experienced the same linear story of climbing the mountain repeatedly. Every time someone picks up the book to read it, he must relive the whole thing.

If you dutifully follow the page sequences straight to the end, (Spoiler - click to show) Jo manages to make an appeal when you reach the final page. He wants you to free him by ripping out the page to ensure the story never ends. That way he no longer endures the pattern of traveling to the mountain and climbing it.

The player has two choices. (Spoiler - click to show) They can rip out the page like Jo requested or close the book. Both led to lackluster endings consisting of a few words on the screen. I was expecting them to have a little more substance. Fortunately, it is possible to (Spoiler - click to show) reach an alternate conclusion by diving deeper. If you ignore the page sequences and explore the links on the screen you reach hidden content that takes the game in a whole new direction. That’s when the story starts to take off.

Clicking on other links reveal (Spoiler - click to show) Jo’s daydreams and idle thoughts of what he would do if he had free agency over the storybook that he is trapped within. These scenes depict violence, self-harm, and other subjects that depart from the picture book’s cheerful story. It also details the frustrations he endured and outlines his plan for vengeance on the author of the picture book if he had a chance to escape. If you explore these grievances enough, you can reach an alternate ending. It is similar to an ending that I previously mentioned but feels more like a solid outcome that ties the story together with no loose ends.

Characters
There is some cynical humor to the story and its protagonist. A (Spoiler - click to show) “children’s book” that jumps off the deep end with a dramatic shift in story tone. One minute a good-natured boy meets a friendly bear, and the next thing we see is the boy killing the bear instead. However, not all of it is a laughing matter. There are themes that make the humor less lighthearted and the story’s content more serious. But different elements can add dimension.

This is a PC who feels trapped. Jo often looks (Spoiler - click to show) for ways of committing suicide to escape the story but fails every time. The difficult part is that once Jo shares his grievances in an alternate scene the game then launches us back into the main storybook gameplay so that Jo can go through the exact thing he was talking about. At least I can say that it is possible for Jo to be free and seek vengeance. Closure, if you will.

Visuals
A white section of page is used for the picture book which is then set against a pale blue backdrop. As a picture book it naturally features cartoon artwork. If this were a book for kids, I would say that the artwork’s style is a tad mediocre, but it has a crude quality that suggests a dissonance (or maybe it’s just the parts with the (Spoiler - click to show) blood). I have no idea if this is what the author intended but it pairs perfectly with the story and gameplay.

I like choice-based games that reveal a sinister truth and convey it with an abrupt change in visuals that tells the player in unveiled terms that they overstepped or disobeyed and should get with the program. The player has no choice but to follow the game’s orders, infusing the remaining gameplay a sense of dread. The game i love gardening comes to mind. If you refuse to garden, well…

This Is A Picture Book is a bit different in that the player is not being herded into making one specific decision. They still have choices even if Jo does not, but the change in the game’s appearance still indicates that there is a darker layer underneath this sunshiny story book. Things escalate.

The shock value comes in when you first encounter Joe’s (Spoiler - click to show) alternative narratives that dispose of the bright colours and outdoor scenery. Disturbing imagery is used. For instance, a friendly bear frolics on the green grass next to a clear blue lake. Next, the bear is dead on a stretch of concrete with red blood pooling from its neck. A noticeable transition that packs a punch.

Final thoughts
Right from the start you know that there is something wrong with Jo’s situation, but you do not know the extent of it until you go off the beaten path to explore the links that reveal the story underneath. I liked how the game rewarded the player interacting with more links by adding an ending that felt cohesive, humorous, and a place to finish playing. Hidden cynical horror with a catchy concept. I feel like people are either going to like it or dislike it. If you are comfortable with its graphic themes (Spoiler - click to show) (violence, self-harm, mentions of suicide, blood) then try it.

Several days ago, I visit IFDB and see this:

News on Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone: OFFICIAL PLAYER'S GUIDE November 22, 2022 An OFFICIAL PLAYER'S GUIDE is now available for Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone, with all kinds of tips and hints and solutions and maps. - Details

I wasn’t sure if I should cry. I had thoroughly played all the games (within the game) and completed them but one. Meanwhile, I was hearing all about (Spoiler - click to show) some secret bonus game that would be unlocked by completing the first four. The words “tips,” “hints,” “solutions,” and “maps,” in this announcement immediately pulled me back to the game so I could finally play it from start to finish. It also means I can give this awesome game a review.

Overview
This was an entry in last year’s Ecto-Comp and offers quite an experience. My understanding is that people besides Ryan Veeder wrote and created stories that he then implemented into parser to be showcased in Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone. An anthology.

It is the first game that I have played that splices Twine with Inform/Vorple. It begins in Twine. You are a guest at Castle Balderstone and are brought to a room where four cover art photos are displayed on the screen with the games’ titles. It felt like walking into a movie theater and looking at the posters. When you click on one you “walk” to an area where the author of the story is getting ready to read the story to an audience. This transitions to the parser where you can play the game. Immersive approach!

During the gameplay a sketch of the author is included on the right side of the screen with a small bio. It helps you appreciate the amount of brain power that went into each story. Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone is the amusement park and the games set within it are the rides. It has nothing to do with amusement parks/rides but that is the analogy that came to mind.

Letavermilia
I will discuss this game first because it is the one that I could not complete without the walkthrough.

In Letavermilia you are playing as a bounty hunter tasked to hunt down a hacker who goes by, Letavermilia, the same name of a deadly plague that has run rampant across interstellar space. This is probably the most elegant space bounty hunter IF game I have played. The protagonist has worked their way up to become an “A-list bounty hunter” with high paying clients, and it shows. For one thing, the ship has been upgraded to something classier. If “space bounty hunter” does not sound like your cup of tea- think again. There is something about it that strikes a unique chord. Rather than a typical high action speed chase through space, an emphasis is placed on subtlety. If you try to examine a detail, chances are the game will have something to say about it.

We begin on Ligeia, an oceanic planet where you are vacationing. As you lounge peacefully on the hull of your fancy ship you get an urgent message to track down Letavermilia (the hacker). You are following a trail that she leaves behind. Gameplay involves decoding her messages to find the coordinates for the next planet you travel to. Before the walkthrough was published, I was stuck on (Spoiler - click to show) Zante, trying to decipher the message on the (Spoiler - click to show) etched panel. I feel like I should have been able to figure it out on my own. But I didn’t, and that’s that, I guess. Now I was able to go to the next planet. I was really excited to see what world was in store (and tired of guessing pitifully at travel coordinates). After that, I used the walkthrough on and off.

While gameplay has a narrow focus on one objective at a time, it still injects intriguing overarching story along the way. The big concern looming over everyone’s heads is Letavermilia, the plague. We get a smattering of interplanetary politics. Entire planets infected by the disease are quarantined. Meanwhile, uninfected affluent planets form an alliance called “Isolated Worlds” that cease contact with worlds outside this group.

The player is in a unique position because the PC’s bounty hunter credentials allow access to worlds that would otherwise be unavailable. I feel that the portrayal of bounty hunters in both IF and non-IF (or at least in what I’ve seen) tend to use a profile of a battered scoundrel who accepts shady contracts and walks a fine line with the law. The protagonist in Letavermilia is more privileged with glitzy clients and jobs received from entire governments.

I was not happy with the ending. No, no- It’s a fantastic ending. It’s an effective ending. I disliked it simply because it did not end how I wanted it to end. This may surprise you, but if I were to assess the ending of every story in this game and decide on the scariest, it would be this game without a doubt.

What do I mean by scary? I don’t mean spooked scary where everyone around the campfire screams because they heard a small noise out in the words. The feeling I associate with this ending is deep dread that sets in only when it is too late. You realize what just happened, quietly, without the game having to spell it out for you. (Spoiler - click to show)

Your nose is bleeding.

This bounty hunter had in the bag only to discover that the villain (who, technically, we still never meet) has been holding everything in the palm of her hand. I was rooting for the PC. If it weren’t for the villain, we would be swimming about leisurely on Ligeia. Plus, there is only one ending. In the other three games you can negotiate for happier ones.

This sense of dread is not a sudden event. It develops slowly through the gameplay, and you hardly even know it until it reaches the end. A trend is that (Spoiler - click to show) planet locations generally have small maps that you navigate freely and yet they manage to convey a feeling of being funneled along in a direction regardless of your choices. The anxious man who is a little too zealous about your presence (and your teeth, for some reason) as he escorts you up and down the narrow stairwell to look at the server room. The dust storm that keeps you confined to the area around your ship. The deep elevator (my favorite) that shuttles you deep underground to a concrete room. And somehow this hacker manages to leave her messages before you arrive. You are in control, but ultimately, you are not. The extent of this is not revealed until you paint yourself into a corner. Then- surprise! Down you go. That’s what makes this game scary.

Before I move on, I want to share my favorite planet, (Spoiler - click to show) Ulalume. Here, you are at a planet devoted to the nightlife. While planets are consumed by disease, partygoers continue to live extravagantly without any thought that the vast resources of the Isolated Worlds could be spent- I don’t know- coming up with a cure, maybe? Or maybe they simply want to distract themselves from it. People on this planet have a lot of ways of trying to distract themselves. You use an elevator to reach the bottom level. Its glass walls allow you to see the establishments on each floor. The farther down, the more unsettling things we see.

Now you can see through the haze. Humans are sprawled over velvet pillows, wearing expressions of vacant satisfaction.

No one cares that you are plunging deep underground in an elevator to reach a cold concrete room with a message from a hacker who borrows inspiration from a deadly plague. Now, that’s atmosphere.

Visit Skuga Lake
Your boss went to write some articles on a little-known town but has gone missing. As her intern, you travel to the town to investigate only to be thrown into a motel closet. Seems like outsiders are unwelcome. I did not need the hints for the Visit Skuga Lake because I had already devoured back when I first found the game. I mapped that place to death. Notes, lists, you name it. I did consult the guide’s amulet/eyestone chart because it is much more organized than the table I created.

When I first played Visit Skuga Lake last year during Ecto-Comp, I remember the parser being a tad slow with my commands. It would take about half a second- just enough to be noticeable- for the game to respond. But not really a big deal. When I replayed it a few days ago the delay time was even slower. The longer I played the greater the lag. By the time I managed to (Spoiler - click to show) retrieve the key from the sleeping guard and get the boat running to reach the smaller island it was taking three full seconds for the game to respond to each command. I’m not sure why. This was not a big deal since I already knew what to do, but if this were my first ever playthrough, experimentation would be a nightmare.

This game has heaps of cool content. Every animal, landmark, and found object have important content attached to it. What I like best is how there are plenty of puzzles, but their solutions are flexible. While many puzzles are optional, pursuing them are still relevant to your objectives because they follow a similar concept. (Spoiler - click to show) You collect animal amulets and eyestones. When paired together, they give you powers- a wide variety of powers. Experimenting with them is so much fun. You do not need to find every (Spoiler - click to show) magical item, but it is a welcome task, and one that will likely prove useful later in the gameplay. Experimentation is the main attraction. I hope the lag is just an issue on my end. That aside, the story, gameplay, and characters are excellent. Lag-time or not Visit Skuga Lake is a must play if you feel like sampling the stories in Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone.

Singing for Me
Definitely, my favorite in all of Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone. It is meant to be played repeatedly and offers a lot of strategizing. My high score is (Spoiler - click to show) $1938. "I suppose this is adequate," said the Waldgrave. I’m still proud of it.

The protagonist is a young man returning home after college. He tells the story through humorous journal entries shaped by the player’s choices. The entries depict an oddball town that grows weirder and weirder in a way that suggests normalcy in its community. If you keep shuffling along with the town’s traditions, you get sucked right in. Next thing you know, the (Spoiler - click to show) Harvest Festival arrives. The ending is delightfully disturbing and unexpected. Even better is the redeeming ending. The game makes the player work for it, but it is fulfilling. I’d share more but I’m already starting to sound like (Spoiler - click to show) Darren.

Nyvo the Dolphin
This game gave me a lot to think about. If you happened to be standing on a tall cliff while staring at the ocean and see a dolphin equipped with a (Spoiler - click to show) prosthetic arm, a (Spoiler - click to show) grenade launcher, and some (Spoiler - click to show) foreign object in its eye, what scenario would play through your head? What explanation would emerge as you try to rationalize what you just saw? Nyvo the Dolphin has the answers. An adolescent dolphin comes across a shipwreck. Not some storybook pirate shipwreck but the wreckage of a high-tech ship carrying (Spoiler - click to show) classified military cargo. The highlight is the writing. It has a dramatic yet clinical tone as it narrates Nyvo’s encounter with (Spoiler - click to show) dangerous human technology…and how he is changed by it. It’s also in third person which makes it even more potent.

You mean there’s (Spoiler - click to show) more?
Finally, this was the moment I was waiting for. (Spoiler - click to show) The bonus content: a FIFTH game. Hunted , if I remember correctly. A stop and start Christmas nightmare. I think. This kid is on the run in the North Pole. When he gets caught* the gameplay switches where you are the “Bad” version of the kid. The Good and Bad version of the kid’s identity battle it out as you flip flop between two gameplay sequences. And then sometimes the parser would kick back to the Twine format where everyone is sitting in a circle to hear a story before launching into more gameplay. It was overwhelming. Cool, but overwhelming. At one point I was in a cozy house, but then that changed. The entire time I was all, “wait- stop, stop, stop. I wasn’t done yet!” I would gladly replay the entire game to revisit it if not for the lag issue I had with Visit Skuga Lake.

Nonetheless, I am so happy to have reached this point.

*Also: (Spoiler - click to show) I found a key that presumably unlocks the office door, but right before I reach it Krampus gets me. Is it possible to outrun him or is failing the whole point?

Final thoughts
A truly ambitious piece. It also defies the notion of quality over quantity, or quantity or quality. It’s a quality game, and there’s lots of it! A lot of planning and care seems to have gone into its creation. Sometimes you may find yourself coming back just to revisit one of the stories. Especially Singing for Me. There is something in it for a wide range of audiences in terms of length, technicality, and subject matter. Make sure you turn on the rainy music that the game recommends before you start playing.