Reviews by Kinetic Mouse Car

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

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

He also knows how to stir the pot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not at all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

> light lighter
The lighter seems to be dead.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Cragne Manor reference.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus (aka Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus, Part 1: The City of Dol Bannath) is an RPG fantasy game that follows the journey of a warrior poet (not poet warrior, mind you) who has embarked on a task…

…a task they received because no one else wanted to find someone more suitable do it. Both capable and perhaps a little out of their league, they face their journey head-on, or else they won’t officially graduate from the College of Myth and Legend.

The city of Dol Bannath is where their journey begins.

Gameplay
About this task. The overarching objective of Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus is to hunt down someone named Professor Zylock who stole an important poetry artifact. We don’t get anywhere near to achieving this since this is only Part I of a larger game.

Instead, the game’s objective is for the player to (Spoiler - click to show)seek passage to the Island of Attar, though this isn’t clear until you’ve spoken to the cleric about the tombstone descriptions. After that, the gameplay boils down to acquiring an amulet from a goblin by doing her a favor so you can afford a spot on a ship.

Ultimately, gameplay consists of buying and/or selling items to maximize your stats to prepare for fight sequences. With just under two dozen locations, there is plenty to explore.

Also: The game needs to make (Spoiler - click to show)Chantal more obvious in the room descriptions, especially at the Oasis. There is a lot of text for that location, and you only see her by examining an ornament for sale. To make things worse, my hamster brain naturally read “talk to goblin” on the walkthrough as “talk to the elf shopkeeper,” in the game, initially leaving me unable to make further progress. Fortunately, I figured it out.

RPG elements
There is a neat RPG system in the game, featuring armor for defense, weapons for physical attacks, and relics that enhance the strength of your Rhymes.

Some may be skeptical at the idea of fighting fire with poetry, but I think the concept of a warrior poet is clever and a nice change of pace. Rather than the player choosing between character classes of a scholarly poet or a skillful warrior, why not combine both?

However, I hope the author refines the game’s implementation of poetry because I often had a hard time taking it seriously. For instance:

When your words come, thunder cracks, the sky opens up, and a fount of terrible beauty expels from your lips like magma from the earth -- like wildfire -- like death! You cry out:

"This little piggy went to the market..."

Yes… Mortals will tremble at the mere mention of This Little Piggy!

Annihilating someone through the power of poetry has the potential of being an awesome moment, but that won’t happen when the protagonist is throwing out Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Also, it’s hard not to win. Within three moves I beat my opponents.

Tone
I have a hard time identifying whether the game is trying to be a silly game or an epic fantasy game filled with danger and strategic thinking.

When it comes to using poetry in combat, I envisioned it being taken seriously in the game’s world. Just how the characters in Counterfeit Monkey, a wordplay game, accept word manipulation as an established fact, I thought the characters in Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus would universally acknowledge that spoken words, like poetry, could have a tangible effect on the physical world.

And the characters (or at least some) in Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus do acknowledge the power of poetry, but when it’s Mary Had a Little Lamb… How serious is it?

I will say, while Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus is not a wordplay game, the description on the tombstone in the cemetery reminded me of the implementation of language in the world of Counterfeit Monkey.

Ozul, born almost 600 years ago in 1023, is a famed hero, whose Rhymes were instrumental in the War of Antiphocles that resulted in the independence of Mourdrascus.

Compare with the description for Counterfeit Monkey:

Anglophone Atlantis has been an independent nation since an April day in 1822, when a well-aimed shot from their depluralizing cannon reduced the British colonizing fleet to one ship.

In both cases, language can be wielded in powerful ways. Of course, Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus is still in development.

Story
I quite liked the story, even if it’s mostly inaccessible for the player. The protagonist’s determination and enthusiasm for their studies made their pursuit of the task compelling.

You, a warrior poet, came from a place called Mourdrascus where you pursued your studies in the Department of Poetry and War at the College of Myth and Legend (what a wordy sentence). However, interest in the department has declined. Administration is considering discontinuing it altogether. And this frustration is felt all too often in real life.

When Professor Zylock, head of the department, nabs the Mantablasphere, a valuable poetry artifact, and flees, your chance of graduating is jeopardized. The Academic Tribunal doesn’t care enough to formally chase him down. Instead, they send you, a go-getter student, on a quest to apprehend their rogue colleague.

Looking past the cheesy poems, a highlight of the game was the writing because it gives the impression that the author wants to offer the player a scenic gameplay experience in a fanciful city on top of their main objective of tracking down the treacherous teacher (alliteration!). Like when we get a room at the inn.

Your stay includes a breakfast of mogwai eggs baked in a tortoise shell with tengo root, grilled asobi fish, a side of tremor fruit, and hot black coffee, all delivered on a tray to your room in the morning by a smiling attendant. You consume the meal heartily. After finishing, you take up your pack, leave the room and lock the door behind you.

Five pieces of gold well spent. More exploring awaits!

Oddly enough, the game can also be sparse in implementation. On one hand, the game’s locations are dynamic in detail. On the other, it uses default parser responses for basic actions. Examining yourself only gets, “As good-looking as ever.”

Despite the unevenness, there is something pleasantly atmospheric about the gameplay. I genuinely wanted to visit every establishment and see what was for sale even if I could only afford one or two items.

Characters
I was shocked to discover that our protagonist is rather arrogant… and kind of a jerk. I was imagining a humbled, disciplined, warrior + poet, but instead? We get:

And as if that were not enough, you say, "The cove was crawling with dangerous pirates, but they were no match for my destructive Poetry and the lethal sharpness of my blade."

Okay, hotshot.

To be fair, the protagonist is not usually a jerk. But when they are, it makes you think who is this guy? It seems like I seriously misread them which can be off-putting.

Final thoughts
Warrior Poet of Mourdrascus is a creative fantasy RPG that promises a grand story of hunting down a runaway professor and poetry artifact. However, for it to truly shine, the implementation needs to be refined so the player has more direction of what to do. Ensuring that detail is evenly distributed throughout the gameplay would also help.

As standalone work, it’s a dead end since we never come close apprehending Professor Zylock. Fortunately, the game is merely Part I of a larger narrative, a narrative I look forward to playing in the future.

Seriously, though:

"Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet..."

Please do something about this.

You’ve been told to keep your blood pressure under control. One way to do this is by walking. Fortunately, the air is crisp, and you have access to a lovely beach.

Gameplay
A winter morning on the beach can be played with a keyboard or by clicking on links. The gameplay is simple. You walk as the game counts your steps.

However, you must pace your walking so you don’t wear yourself out… but linger too long and a seagull will come swooping in to cover you in droppings, resulting in a game over. That’s about it. It seems like the author intends the seagull to be an active dodge-the-seagull-puzzle. Instead, it ends up being a frustrating mechanic.

As a result, the gameplay mostly consists of walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, take a break/take a deep breath/admire the view, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, take a take a break/deep breath/admire the view, you get the idea.

The location titles are merely Zone 48, Zone 49, Zone 50, etc., and while I can understand how this may be borrowed from real-life zoning laws, it feels sterile for an IF game. These locations’ scenic detail is limited, and examining the scenery that is present puts the player at risk of being pelted by the seagulls. I just wanted to look at some shells.

A strength of the game are the beach’s signposts that contain messages on environmental conservation and human achievement. These are found every few steps.

During the summer season it is used to display notices and bans, while in winter it is replaced by citations on the protection of the marine environment.

This reports:

"An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment."

- Sir David Attenborough

Who doesn't know Sir David Attenborough? Born in 1926, he's THE voice behind BBC and Netflix nature documentaries, and a huge advocate for all types of life on earth.

This signage was a nice, contemplative touch. And yes, I read this in Attenborough's voice.

Story
There is an uplifting story at the end. I won’t spoil it but just know that (Spoiler - click to show)walking eventually takes you to a walkway with more content. I recommend saving the game once you reach this part.

Visuals
This isn't your typical black and white Inform parser game. Instead, it uses dark green text against a black screen, a combination that was harder to read. I did like the beach imagery behind the game. It added a soothing, calming ambience.

Final thoughts
A winter morning on the beach has a lot of potential for being a chill, meditative exercise in taking care of oneself. Instead, the author tries to incorporate a timed puzzle that distracts from the game’s casual atmosphere. With some refinement I could see this becoming a successful walking simulator.

"Welcome back, is there anything I can help you with?"

One Step Ahead is a dystopian story about the temptations of A.I. and the erosion of choice. Ever since the protagonist discovered the convenience of A.I., they’ve been readily incorporating it into everyday life. But at what cost?

Gameplay
One might assume that One Step Ahead gives the player multiple paths based on whether to use A.I. for tasks, most of which are for academic assignments. Instead, it’s surprisingly linear. To progress in this game, you must use A.I. or get an abrupt GAME OVER.

One Step Ahead also needs more testing and proofreading. Some passages lead to a dead end. If it weren’t for the little “↶” arrows at the side of the screen you would have to restart the game. There was also one instance where I got an error message: Sorry to interrupt, but this page's code has got itself in a mess.

Story
Story-wise, there’s not much to experience. There’s a shift halfway through the game where (Spoiler - click to show) the protagonist becomes worried about how involved the A.I. has become in their life. The A.I. soon picks up on these doubts and throws a hissy fit when the protagonist tries to delete it for good.

In fact, the game ends right as the story gets interesting: (Spoiler - click to show) the A.I. declaring that they’re “always one step ahead” (hence the title), forcing the protagonist to crawl back to it.

Perhaps the lack of choice in the game is meant to represent not having any choice in using A.I. in real-life. If that’s the author’s intent, the delivery needs work because the game is too linear and undeveloped to explore these ideas meaningfully.

Choice is a muscle.
The less it’s used, the more it withers.

This point would have more impact if the player could actually choose not to use A.I. and see the impacts of that choice beyond a sudden GAME OVER. Instead, we get shoehorned into one gameplay route.

Regrettably
Due to consecutive nights of staying up late.
You developed an acute heart condition and had to be hospitalized for recovery.

In other words, you can either use A.I. or end up in the hospital. Not a strong message.

Further discussion
There’s little room to explore the game’s themes on A.I. reliance. I found myself approaching One Step Ahead with some cynicism especially since what we know about our protagonist is only skin-deep. Do they seriously think it’s acceptable to use A.I. to do all their academic work?

I don’t want to be quick to antagonize.

Society sets educational milestones for literacy, math, and other skill sets, and individuals who lack the opportunity to meet these milestones end up swimming against the current of a society that may not offer support in helping them catch up. I can understand seeking assistance. Having someone or something (like an A.I.) summarize content (a book chapter, for example) so you can better understand it serves as a steppingstone for producing your own original work.

Not everything can be accomplished through effort alone. You lack formal training in computer science, and the task exceeds your current capabilities.

There’s a balance. A balance of academic integrity and making sure students have the tools they need to perform in academic settings. We all need help, and we’re all responsible for our own work. But balance is not explored in this game.

Where does this leave the protagonist? There is one instance where they struggle in a class due to a lack of prerequisites, but they just opt for A.I. without sharing any perspective on their choice. As for the other assignments, the protagonist simply seems to not want to do the work. And there is never a point where they reflect about the potential consequences of using A.I. to do their assignments for them.

Or I could be overthinking things. It’s unclear, is the author trying to make commentary about the usage of A.I., or are they just wanting to make an interesting story about an A.I. (Spoiler - click to show)forcing itself on a human user?

Visuals
I think the author could have had some fun experimenting with Twine’s visual effects rather than opting for the default black screen, white text, and blue links. In fact, I was expecting something like the cover art which reminds me of the Blue Screen of Death.

Of course, if the author is new to Twine, I can understand why the game uses a default appearance. The (Spoiler - click to show)chaotic red text used for the A.I.'s meltdown was clever.

Final thoughts
I would love a post-comp release of One Step Ahead because its overall premise is highly relevant to the technological landscape we live in now. But as an IFComp game, it has a lot of rough edges that need to be sanded down. The formatting is messy, there’s at least one bug, and the gameplay could be better implemented. It simply feels too much like a draft.

You play as Ioanna Arcensis, a Recollection Officer for Waste Management, a department that seeks to destroy artifacts from other worlds. The job means has little meaning for you but at least you’re good at it.

Until two new assignments cross your virtual desk.

But first…
…I’d like to ramble about my journey with this game.

In a way, Retrograding has expanded my horizons. I have always been skittish about downloading anything onto my computer. Excessive, sure, but I prefer to interact with content that is available online. Then this game comes along: Retrograding. The title, the description, the cover art. I love its cover art. So, I figured, fine. I must play this.

It was kind of intimidating to see “retrograding_windows.zip” slowly downloading (I used an older computer. Fortunately, that was not a problem) not knowing what to expect and was equally intimated by the cryptic folders listed on my computer. Long story short: I got it working! I kept thinking, wow. I’m finally going to play this!

The consensus? It was not quite what I expected/hoped it to be. And no doubt, my excitement probably skewed my expectations. But I have no regrets.

Gameplay
Retrograding feels like two games in one.

Ioanna is given two potential assignments that involve watching over a high-profile person while conducting her work on another planet. You can only pick one, and whoever you choose forms the basis of the gameplay. This means you must play the game at least twice to get the full experience.

The gameplay is choice-based and driven by dialogue. The dialogue appears on the screen as conversation and waits for the player to press “enter” to move forward. Occasionally we get the chance to choose what Ioanna says in these conversations, but otherwise the player just goes along for the ride.

The choices that do influence the gameplay are which items you salvage for yourself.

You gaze around the room and collect:

ITEM: AN OLD TRANSMITTER
ITEM: A CEREMONIAL KNIFE
ITEM: SCRAP METAL

There are three opportunities in each playthrough to salvage items. These items carry meaning for the characters and allow the player to foster a relationship with the person under their watch. The items you choose also determine the game’s ending.

Retrograding has features to make multiple playthroughs more convenient. There is a “skip” command that zooms through the text until you reach a decision-making point or when you choose to retake control. This was extremely helpful.

Thoughts
Unfortunately, I misread the game’s genre. I realize now that I’m not its target audience. Its genre is listed as “Science Fiction” and “Romance,” and I assumed it would be science fiction (big fan) with romance undertones. Instead, it leans heavily on the romance part.

I had a hard time appreciating Ioanna’s interactions with Raven and Zinnia because the game’s world felt undeveloped. One moment I’m trying to piece together the places/events/people being name-dropped. The next moment, Zinnia and Ioanna are madly in love.

It just didn’t resonate with me. That said, if you like romance games that focus on forging a relationship with a single character (and enjoy sci-fi themes) then I strongly recommend Retrograding.

Story
With two assignments come two separate stories structured around a person of interest and Ioanna’s growing relationship with them. This is teased in the game’s description:

A celebrity bomber? A renegade Corpodarling?

Our celebrity bomber is a death row prisoner named Raven. He was once a high-profile racer until a (Spoiler - click to show)suicide attempt gone wrong killed several bystanders. Now sentenced to death, the protagonist is tasked with escorting him around the planet Estehelix until he can be handed off to authorities.

Meanwhile, Zinnia is a “Corpodarling.” A poster child for a powerful corporation (the same one Ioanna works for, it seems). Top notch employee. Except… she has a tendency to go rogue, forcing the corporation to (Spoiler - click to show)recondition her to ensure compliance. It’s your job to keep her in check as you explore Proxima.

There are multiple endings, though the game seems to give more attention to Raven. According to the walkthrough, Zinnia has three endings while Raven has two routes with Route A having two endings and Route B having three endings. I managed to reach one ending for Raven and all three endings for Zinnia. I didn’t feel inspired to keep playing after that, especially since Raven’s story is kind of intense.

The immediate story would be stronger if the game provided more backstory and worldbuilding for context. It all seems so cool on the surface! A lot of interesting ideas are tossed around without further explanation.

For example, there is vague mention of people being stripped of their identity and reformed into other individuals. When Zinnia says, (Spoiler - click to show)“They try to take the calling out of me, put me on the operating table and dig up my insides. Not one piece of me is ever wasted,” I could not tell if they actually did that to her or if she was simply using surgery as a metaphor.

A nifty feature is a “Records Database” section that catalogs names and objects from the gameplay to provide more information. There are 38 possible entries, and I managed to find all but 5, 16, and 17. But even these are sparse. Most consist of snippets of dialogue when I was looking for something more concrete. I have plenty of questions.

Characters
Ioanna (+Maria)
Ioanna has no passion for her job, but she likes not having to interact with people. In fact, her stellar performance record makes her eligible for a higher-ranking position. She merely chooses to stay in Waste Management.

This latest assignment, however, throws her for a loop because of the involvement of another person. She tells herself that it’s just a job. We see otherwise. Ultimately, the player watches as her interactions with Raven/Zinnia cause her to reconsider what she wants in life.

I would have loved to learn more about Ioanna’s background because I don’t think the game clarifies whether Ioanna is a human, android, or synthetic being. She is described as having synthskin and a metallic spine. And of course, Maria, who lives in her head. Sort of.

Maria hums in-between planes of existence. She leans against your shoulder, caressing the hollow of your cheek with a digital thumb.

Maria is an A.I.-like being who is frequently referred to as a god, though I’m not sure if that’s meant to be taken literally. She has full access to Ioanna’s mind and body, providing commentary throughout the game.

It seems like the author’s intent was for Maria to be the classic snarky A.I. whose snarkiness is merely born out of love for the main character. And that’s cool. However, her conversations with Ioanna get caustic to the point where we start to wonder, do they actually like each other? It can get kind of awkward.

NPCs
While the romance did not click for me, I did find the love interests’ personal stories to be compelling. Zinnia struggles with building an identity outside of being the poster child of a corporation that never lets her leave. Raven is trying to process his reality of his looming execution and how it prevents him from facing death on his own terms. Both characters are experiencing a personal crisis that is always lurking behind their every move.

Castor, Ioanna’s manager, was the most interesting character. Through her we get a sense of the bureaucracy that our protagonist lives in. Apparently, people who try to defect from society are dragged back and punished with being digitized, also known as “total augmentation.” Which is awful since the reason many choose to defect is to seek out the old ways of living without technology. And now they’re forced to work inside a digital world. Castor is quite awfully cheerful though, considering her circumstances.

Visuals
Retrograding is filled with visuals as a game made with Unity. Every scene is depicted with photographs as backgrounds, many of which are stock images from Unsplash and similar sources.

Some photos nail the vibe of the game while others clearly look like they came from, well, Unsplash. This is because they look too much like Earth when we’re supposed to be trapezing across Estehelix and Proxima. They look great, but the city streets, graffiti break, and other land features break the illusion of exploring another world.

Castor, Raven, and Zinnia have their own character art in the form of drawings. I’ll admit, for the latter two, I was not a huge fan of the style which seemed to clash with the photograph imagery. That said, the artwork for both characters displays a range of emotions, making their portrayal more interesting.

There is also an art gallery accessible from the game’s memory. There seems to be a total of three unlockable artworks. I managed to unlock one from Raven’s story.

Conclusion
This is a polished work with graphics and multiple gameplay paths that will resonate with the right audience. As for me, I was seeking a sci-fi game full of worldbuilding and found a romance-intensive game instead. If that interests you, please give Retrograding a try.

Not my kind of game, but still a job well done.

(It was also a neat exercise in trying something new: downloading an interactive fiction game. I’ve got my sights on Silicon and Cells. I might play that next…)

Ancient China.

You are a poet whose family fell from grace, making you somewhat of an outcast. But time has passed, and you’ve now carved a simple existence out of reading and staying out of the public eye.

Then, one night, a court official visits your home. You are informed that your poetry has caught the attention of society’s elite. Coincidentally, the Emperor is hosting a banquet to select a new court poet, and you are invited at his request.

Gameplay
you are an ancient chinese poet at the neo-orchid pavilion (aka YAAACPATNOP. Naw, too long) revolves around a sole task: creating a poem to present at the banquet.

The Emperor has a special request for you. He wants your poem to reflect the current climate of his court and the motivations of the people within it, citing your reclusive lifestyle as making you a neutral judge of the factions present at the banquet.

Gameplay is structured into sections where the player interacts with characters or scenery to develop each line of the poem. To provide inspiration for the guests, multiple activities take place at the banquet.

North, in the direction of a fruit orchard in the distance.
East, to a field where the polo court lies.
South, to where a stage for outdoor opera sits.
West, towards a set of low set buildings.

Each activity is run by a group that shares an ideology. For example, visiting the polo courts introduces you to the School of Numerical Perfection, a group that is attempting to create the perfect poem using math because they believe that human experience can be quantified to create order.

You visit two groups, sampling the different ideologies at play. You then decide whether to agree or disagree with the group’s beliefs, forging a new line of your poem. The climax of the story occurs when you choose to meet with either Princess Anying or General Zhang to further investigate the court’s alliances. Once the poem is completed, the endgame reveals the impact of your words.

The game allows you to start from the beginning of the story or to start at the banquet, encouraging replays.

Story
The story is interwoven with political undertones of factions vying for power. The Emperor’s sister, Princess Anying, and his cousin, General Zhang are major figureheads in the court’s politics. They make an appearance at the banquet, and while the three appear to tease and cajole each other as family members, unseen plans lurk under the surface.

When you reach the lake, you decide to walk…

Clockwise, towards the blooming lotus.
Counter-clockwise, where the wild reeds ramble.

Visit the lotus for the Princess, the reeds for the General.

Your interactions with the banquet guests and either the Princess or the General are conveyed through your poem and thus determine the story’s outcome. For instance, (Spoiler - click to show)you can align yourself with the Princess, resulting in an ending where you become her court poet. Assuming the rest of her plans fall into place, of course.

Endings
There are 23 possible endings. So far, I’ve only found: 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 23. That’s not even half. I tried to create a spreadsheet to keep track of how to reach them, but it became too complicated.

I will say, some endings feel cut and paste with their writing. Consider endings 2 and 10:

Theory on endings
Just some ideas.

Characters
The protagonist’s own story is more of a backdrop to explain your presence at the banquet rather than forming the main narrative. We don’t know a lot, but the amount we do know suits the game’s purposes just fine.

I will say, it’s kind of shocking to see Princess Anying act so affectionately towards the Emperor at the banquet (Spoiler - click to show) only to have him (and her cousin) executed in ending 8.

Or when General Zhang reminisces about chasing fireflies with the Emperor and Princess as children (Spoiler - click to show)before taking the firefly off your shoulder and crushing it. He, too, is more than willing to eliminate his relatives.

Also, I kept getting Attendant Zhang and General Zhang mixed up.

Visuals
The visuals are simple yet elegant.

Text is placed in a cream-coloured panel set against a backdrop that changes colours as we explore the banquet. On the right side of the screen is a small photograph, such as a lake, for every location.

Overall, its appearance is bright but not distracting. The author seemed to put a lot of care into conveying simple elegance.

Conclusion
As an entrant to this year’s IFComp, this is a game that you play with for a few minutes before rushing off to play one of the more fast-paced entries. But later, you find yourself drifting back and giving it more attention, taking your time to glean how your choices influence each ending. And I enjoyed it.

Now, the game can get repetitive if you try to strategize to find every ending since picking apart the variables makes the story feel more superficial. However, most players will be content to play it a few times for the overall experience. Carefully crafting a poem can serve as a meditative exercise for anyone.

And on that note… an obligatory poem:

The lonely bird's call battles laughter and music,
Swimming fishes surge to meet the sporting waves,
One with the earth, soil underfoot,
Pouring pearls forth, set loose into the world.

This review is based on the NORMAL Mode setting of the game.

It’s not every day you get reprinted.

But then again, you are Jean Wilson, Comms Officer of Theseus, a cargo ship that has experienced a catastrophic collision. A collision you did not survive. Thanks to printing technology, your mind and body have been reprinted so you can figure out what happened.

Also, this review spoils the heck out of it. Please play the game first.

Gameplay
This isn’t a mere explore-the-spaceship game. It’s also a resource management game with awesome mechanics. It involves finding items around the ship to recycle and then using the resources to fabricate useful items. You also have oxygen, water, and food levels to manage.

Current resources:
Biomass: 22 | Metals: 49 | Water: 15 | Minerals: 35 | Polymers: 12

Puzzles largely consist of bypassing locked doors and barriers, but there is enough variation to keep things interesting. The author also provides a generous walkthrough/hint system into the game.

Detritus is an example of a Twine game with free range of movement, meaning that the player can wander around a map and interact with people/objects in each “room,” much like a parser game. This, paired with the recycle/fabricate mechanics, may appeal to players who like the idea of resource management gameplay but are intimidated by the parser format. Similarly, if you prefer parser games or are not a huge fan of Twine, Detritus is dynamic enough to be engaging.

You can also play the game in Story mode. There is something for everyone!

Story
Main story
The story revolves around a corporation called Rainforest™ that employs the ship’s crew. Unsurprisingly, it puts profits first. But now, it’s taken things too far. (Spoiler - click to show) The crew finds out that the “luxury goods” in the cargo bay is just a cover for the truth: Rainforest™ is planning on using Earth as the galaxy’s new landfill. Plus, cost of upgrading the fabricator, which is practical for productivity, comes out of the crew’s wages. Unacceptable.

Anyway, (Spoiler - click to show)the crew had enough and planned to go on strike by taking control of the ship. Meanwhile, GAIL has been closely monitoring the crew and recording every interaction, and these recordings are automatically company property. So, when GAIL goes silent as the ship wrestles itself from the crew’s control and into the path of an asteroid, things are looking awfully dire.

So: Can we trust GAIL?

As in, GAIL the corporate A.I. who’s been quietly recording and ghosting the crew members right up until the accident? The answer is:

Thoughts on story
Detritus already has received high ratings which makes me feel like a wet blanket by giving it four stars. It has to do with the game’s delivery.

Themes
Detritus acknowledges issues faced in today’s world about corporate accountability, greenwashing, waste disposal, the replacement of human jobs with A.I., and socioeconomic inequalities. There’s even brief mention of microplastics in food.

Rainforest™ heavily relies on greenwashing to sell their narrative. Greenwashing is deceptive marketing where a corporation portrays itself as environmentally friendly to divert attention away from its environmentally unfriendly practices. Predictably, Rainforest™ loves this tactic and uses sound bites such as:

At Rainforest™, we hate waste™.

More like (Spoiler - click to show)“we hate waste so we’re going to dump it on Earth, so we don’t have to deal with it!" And the irony of the name, considering what’s happening to the Amazon rainforest.

I like how the gameplay had data pads scattered throughout the ship to provide backstory without dumping loads of information onto the player. Data pad (f) is especially interesting because it features a newspaper clipping that resembles our world today.

…with the invention of Recycler technology, has the galaxy's waste problem been solved? Not entirely! All planets have signed up to the 'zero-waste' agreement; they are legally responsible for their own waste disposal.

The use of language like “zero-waste agreement” is akin to the pledges countries make, and often neglect, at summits to reach shared sustainability goals. By (Spoiler - click to show) designating Earth as a landfill, Rainforest™ is seriously violating galaxy policy. Another real-life parallel is Nadir, an “ultra-wealthy” planet that sends its trash to Earth, just as wealthier countries export their trash overseas.

In theory, anything can be recycled, but as the quantities increase, so does the energy required. Recycling is not a solution to unchecked pollution.

The game also considers the effectiveness of recycling in being a blanket solution for environmental concerns. There is an ongoing debate about how “clean” the recycling process is since it, too, produces waste. And even if we perfected the science of recycling, we would still need to make other changes as a society to reach our sustainability objectives. While the game does not go into too much detail, it makes some powerful points.

Plus, a few other digs.

"Remember, smart companies don’t pay taxes!"

"We want to make the galaxy great again!"

I’ll leave it at that.

Characters
GAIL
I liked the depiction of A.I. in Detritus because it moves away from the plucky Good A.I. (I’m here and happy to serve the PC!) or Bad A.I. (I’m clearly against the PC’s best interests and I don’t like them either) binary that we often see in science fiction.

Detritus differs from Twine games, such as Lux and A Long Way to the Nearest Star, that center the gameplay on an A.I. NPC guiding the protagonist around a facility/ship. In both games the player communicates with the A.I. and even, for better or worse, forms a rapport with them. With GAIL, it’s different.

While the game’s description describes her as M.I.A., we find her in the “Admin” room. However, she is disconnected from the ship’s systems and has had her memory erased. You can visit her in the room for help but are otherwise left to roam the ship by yourself. And while, yes, (Spoiler - click to show)you can eventually reconnect her from the Helm, doing so offers little in further interaction with her, heightening the mystery.

As we investigate the ship, we receive mixed messages about GAIL’s intentions. As a result, the gameplay is infused with do-we-trust-the-A.I.? undertones that create suspense. This leads to a buildup when (Spoiler - click to show) we meet the “real” GAIL.

Our limited interaction with GAIL means we have less opportunity to get to know her as an individual. In (Spoiler - click to show)helping the protagonist is she merely clinging to the directive of Crew, Ship, Company, or is there a deeper emotional commitment there? By recording the crew, was she only trying to maximize the chances of them being recreated in an emergency or does she secretly want to relate to them more? Plus, Kashvi mentioned in a flashback that GAIL had been suffering from hallucinations, but we never learn what that was about.

Crew
After rambling on and on about GAIL, I don’t have much to say about the other characters since I found them to be less compelling than GAIL. That said, I did think the writing did a good job at conveying the close-knit nature of the crew. Their optimism was vividly conveyed in flashbacks, making it (Spoiler - click to show) especially sad when we find their dead bodies.

Visual design
I love the visual design of this game.

It's all glossy surfaces and sleek edges with text that is easy to read and stands out against the background. Text is a mix of yellow, grey, and white with blue links set against a dark grey backdrop. It also recreates a polished “computer screen” appearance when the player accesses a terminal.

Plus, there’s extra flairs to make things more interesting, including an in-game map of the Theseus. For atmospheric effect, the beginning and end of the game has animated starfield that makes you feel like you’re moving through space. Special animated effects for flashback sequences are also featured.

Conclusion
Detritus is an exciting sci-fi game with all the traits of a high-quality game. I can tell the author left no stone unturned. Personally, there are parts that felt one-dimensional to me. I really liked the (Spoiler - click to show) plot twist with GAIL’s true allegiance. The logistics of the (Spoiler - click to show) PC’s identity were fuzzier in comparison.

Part of me feels that my view of this game is influenced by my experience with The Den. I won’t spoil it, but the big twist (or, arguable, twists) made a chill go down my spine that made me think, woah, that’s brilliant. Not quite as much with Detritus.

Nonetheless, this is a game you don’t want to miss. It can be played at Easy, Normal, or Story mode, allowing you to set the gameplay at your comfort level. As for the ending… well, it just might surprise you.

Also: If you are curious about Twine games that involve your body being reprinted to cheat death, check out Trigaea.

Under the Sea Winds was one of the first entries that caught my eye in this year’s competition because I love marine biology and jumped at the prospect of playing a science-influenced interactive fiction game.

Unfortunately, I have more criticism about this game than praise. I do, however, want to start by saying that its overarching concept is fantastic.

You're about to embark on a scientific journey of discovery sought out by Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Carl Linnaeus, Sigmund Freud, and Rachel Carson.

The opening sequence was especially intriguing. You are a university researcher who seeks to gain funding to cover your travel costs as you complete your research on eels. After some discussion, you defend your request and earn approval!

Following in the footsteps of many brilliant minds who came before you, your goal is to uncover the connections between eel reproduction and their migration patterns.

Gameplay
Taking place over several days, the gameplay is centered on the protagonist’s work at the two locations they received funding to visit: Sweden and Bermuda.

The first portion of the game takes place at a site in Sweden, while the remaining gameplay is split into two sites at Bermuda. Sounds exciting!

The problem is that rather than immersing the player in a rich setting of marine life and scientific exploration, the meat of the story is conveyed through readable content while the gameplay consists of semi-shallow puzzles that lead the play around from Point A to Point B without feeling meaningful.

Consider Sweden.

We investigate an eel named Åle living in a well in someone’s backyard. Due to miscommunication, no one is home, prompting you to sneak into the backyard in the name of science. In a neighbor’s yard, there is a boy watching us, and it becomes apparent that we will need his help with obtaining the eel.

I understand the appeal of having a local kid help a bumbling protagonist through creative and endearing puzzles. It does not come off that way here. I kept thinking, what stake does the little boy have it this? Why would he suddenly have all this insight to help this adult put together a contraption to catch an eel in someone else’s backyard?

I imagine “stranger danger” would be a factor. You, a stranger, trespassing on someone’s backyard, trying to interfere with a well labeled with a historical marker. Some of the puzzles seem simple enough for the protagonist to figure out. Instead, we must involve the boy, even if we already sense what we need to do.

I do want to acknowledge that there is deeper meaning to the boy than what is easy to overlook. The gameplay provides a link to a Reddit/Wikipedia article for some backstory.

We learn that Åle is based off a real eel of the same name that lived in a well in Sweden after a boy placed it there during the 19th century. Åle is said to have lived for 150 years. While some debate the accuracy of Åle’s age, there are recorded cases of eels living long lifespans. So, it’s possible.

My point is, I can see how the inclusion of the boy in the game serves as a reference to historical events, but that does not make the gameplay experience less clunky and restrictive. Plus, interactions with the setting were sometimes counterintuitive.

> OPEN DOOR
This is Sweden. Home to humanity's highest levels of civic achievements, you can't just barge in!

But apparently you can steal the planter off the porch, climb a wall into private property, and interfere with the well in the homeowner’s backyard.

To be fair, we do get some marine encounters via the Bermuda boat puzzle and collect a few samples on a beach.

Sargassum, the seaweed abundant in these waters seems to serve insects and fish who nip at it.

Still, it lacks the depth I was expecting.

Also, the walkthrough was initially a link to a video tutorial. As much as I appreciate the author taking the time to make it, readable hints would be nice. Please. Plus, the video is just over 8 minutes long at normal speed, though some of that is due to the author mistyping something and then retyping it. Thankfully, there is now a simple text walkthrough available.

Story/Characters
I already outlined the game’s story, but there is one other plot element besides collecting data for your research.

Visuals
Evoking oceanic imagery, the game uses different shades of blue for most of its backgrounds. I especially liked the turquoise background for the boat puzzle because it gave it a nautical look. That said, the light blue text on this background was difficult to read.

Also, the game’s itch.io page has some awesome visuals including photographs and maps.

Final thoughts
Under the Sea Winds seems like the author's first game, so I don't want to be too harsh. It feels like a completed game, though one that needs a lot of refinement. There are occasional spelling and grammar errors, and the gameplay is too rigid to enjoy any exploration or puzzle solving.

That said, I could tell a lot of time, effort, and heart went into its creation. And research. I also genuinely learned more about eels. Learning how environments with lower threats of predation, such as a well, can result in a longer lifespan thanks to a reduced production of stress-related compounds in the body. That makes sense.

I hope Under the Sea Winds is merely the first of more works by the author.

Awesome!

The Burger Meme Personality Test is about applying to a fictional corporation called Burger Meme™. You’ve already gone through the application process- (Spoiler - click to show)chip implantation and everything- and this A.I. powered personality test is the final step to see if you’re truly worthy.

Ready to learn a little more about yourself and not hold Burger Meme™ responsible for any trauma this required voluntary test may cause?

What could possibly go wrong?

Gameplay
There’s not much I can clarify for you here. The test asks questions. You answer them from a list of responses. And get judged by a snarky A.I. every step of the way.

One notable feature is a counter at the bottom of the screen that says Sins. If you select an answer that goes against the values of Burger Meme™, you gain a Sin and risk your potential future with the company.

The funniest part for me was Question 3. It features an artwork of a couple standing by an ocean. The man is doing… something vaguely affectionate to the woman. I'm not sure what the original artist had in mind, but the game’s author decided to interpret it as the woman’s neck being broken. We are then asked to identify how we most relate to it:

> I relate to the man breaking the neck of the woman.
> I relate to the woman having her neck broken.
> I relate to the uncaring blue of the sea and sky.
> I relate to the useless yellow flowers, helplessly watching a murder occur.
> I have a different interpretation of the picture.

Why is this so funny? No idea.

And that’s the case for much of the gameplay.

What I wish I knew in advance: This is not a game to play around other people unless you want them to ask, "dude, what's so funny?" because you keep trying not to laugh.

That said, players will either relate to my experience or be turned off by its rapid-fire style of humor. In that regard, the game is more hit or miss.

Story
The Burger Meme Personality Test is a parody of the use of personality tests in actual hiring practices. Rather than using a developed story, the game portrays this general concept by saturating it with comedy. Its appearance and clown mascot is a casual dig at McDonalds and exhibits a whole range of corporate clichés that extend to countless other real-life corporations.

The test is filled with the identifying features of a minimum wage, no benefits job at a corporation that presents itself as a “family.” It also has repeated reminders that your opinion matters, generic HR teamwork-themed imagery, and claims of being stewards of the environment. Oh, and corporate buzzwords.

In fact, it’s inspired by a true story, one that the author found on Reddit’s Mildly Infuriating subreddit.

Someone applying to FedEx had to take a personality test that involved looking at what appears to be stills from a video game that looks awfully like The Sims… except the characters are blue-skinned elf-humans. The applicant was then asked to state if they could relate to any of the characters in each image. For real, the only possible answers were “Me” and “Not me.”

The results were way off. The applicant did not feel like their result matched their actual personality. Apparently, one result said, “Can be taken for granted because you complete tasks without objections.”

?!?!???!?!?

Remember, this is FedEx.

In the end, the applicant decided not to put up with this rubbish and withdrew their application. And I thought Burger Meme™ had some screws loose. No offense to anyone who works for FedEx.

Keep in mind that the author isn’t outright opposing the usage of personality tests in hiring. Instead, it makes fun of tests that have little platform in terms of being reliable assessments of a person’s inner workings.

Plus, the game lightly touches on real-life problems such as the chances of being able to retire at a reasonable age and how “Full and Comprehensive Medical Plans” can be all talk, no coverage.

Characters
The Burger Meme Personality Test is a dorky test that isn’t meant to be taken seriously, but there is an unexpected twist that gives it more depth than games that share a similar premise.

Visuals
Being modeled off McDonalds, most of the game uses a yellow background with dark red text. Meanwhile, the epilogue/endgames opted for a basic white background with black text. Cleverly, (Spoiler - click to show) the Jwala endings, which involve Jwala contacting you on a dating website, featured a basic chat interface with speech bubbles and a website logo.

And tons of ridiculous imagery. Go play the game.

Conclusion
So, are you hired?

I found a great deal of humor in this game. There are multiple endings and loads of replay value. Playing it is time well spent. Even if you don’t get hired.

But wait, there’s more! - Some of my favorite results include:

(edit: grammar, pesky grammar. I swear I proofread these things)

(Edit: Spelling fix)

Soon. Observing the decaying cityscape and the drifting dust clouds, feeling the heat cutting her skin, breathing in infected air through a tube, the Girl had never felt more doubtful.

The Promises of Mars is a Twine game about manufactured hope, waiting it out, and finding a silver lining despite everything that’s happened. And, as the title suggests, broken promises.

Genre
It’s easy to forget how diverse science fiction can be with its subgenres. The genre “science fiction” is so often used as an umbrella term that we overlook its nuances, so I’d like to take a moment to look at the genre of The Promises of Mars as a work of SF.

There is nothing shiny about this game.

It’s post-apocalyptic with a decaying city bleached of its colour. Everything about the story and setting embraces the “used future” aesthetic. That is, a future where life depends on reusing technology and patching it until it can no longer be repaired. Often this goes hand in hand with scarcity, strife, and reversal of technological advancement. Sometimes it includes embracing the old ways of living, though that’s not explored here.

The “used future” subgenre is descriptively conveyed through the game’s writing.

Her body is wrapped in layers of black and brown, cloth and leather held together loosely with gaffer tape and thread. A breathing mask is held tightly over her nose and mouth by fraying elastic straps, and goggles cover her eyes. Soldered onto the underside of a peaked visor, the lenses are thick and brown like soda bottle glass.

It’s infused throughout the game. Dim lights. Cheap recycled paper. Scarred lungs. Tape. Food rations. And the overarching question of how long will this last?

Gameplay
You play as “Girl,” an inhabitant of an underground bunker and member of Command’s Expeditionary Force. You’ve been sent on a mission to investigate a carbon capture plant that has gone offline. It’s also your first glimpse of Mars’ surface, a place you know only through stories.

This is a great puzzle Twine game for those intimidated by technical puzzles. In many ways, the game does all the heavy lifting for us. On the left side of the screen are two boxes. The top box features a clickable map that allows us to navigate the game’s world. The bottom box lists our inventory.

INVENTORY:

Comms Link
Headlamp
Screwdriver
Wrench
Paperclip

When faced with a puzzle, the inventory list lights up to indicate which items may have a possible application. The Comms Link option also serves as an in-game hint system that provides a gentle nudge.

There was never a point where I got stuck with the game. Notably, there is a pipe pressure puzzle where you need to set three pipes to the correct readings as stated by a manual. Pipe pressure puzzles have been used in plenty of games, and I’ll admit I’m not really a fan of them. After all, I prefer story-driven games. But in The Promises of Mars, the process is simplified and provided the right amount of casual challenge.

Gameplay is not as smooth as it could be. For instance, early in the game I encountered an error message:

Error: cannot find a closing tag for HTML <set>
<set $communicationsStage to 1>… >

Thankfully, this does not put the game into an unwinnable state.

Story
Backstory
The backstory revolves around an event known as the evacuation. Once, people lived in a city on Mars’ surface filled with modern conveniences. The protagonist’s mother shares what life was like: pets, frozen yogurt, trips to the mall, looking up and seeing the sky, plants growing on the sidewalk. Grass fields and playgrounds.

But when life on the surface of Mars took a turn for the worse, a bunker system was built underground to serve as a new home for survivors, and a group called Command was arranged to oversee the operation. From that point on, daily life focused on anything that could maximize humanity’s odds of returning to the surface. Everyone has a part to play.

While there is a decent amount of backstory, I couldn’t help but yearn for more of the backstory’s backstory. What exactly happened that forced everyone to flee Mars’ surface? Less relevant questions include: Has Mars been terraformed? If so, to what extent? Has human biology adapted to Mars’ lower gravity or has technology made this irrelevant?

Promises, promises
What exactly is this promise as stated in the title?

The promise is that Mars will recover enough to allow people to live on the surface again. That if humanity keeps trying to rebuild, Mars will respond in kind. But is it really Mars making these promises?

(*Carbon capture technology separates carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it underground.)

Endings
The endings are slightly underwhelming.

Themes
There are several interesting themes in this game, but since I’ve rambled enough about the story, I’ll pick one: Denial of childhood. We get the impression that childhood isn’t really a thing in the bunker.

Like many of her peers, the Girl was born on the surface but grew up underground. The bunker is all she knows. That, and the stories her mom would tell her about life on the surface. And, of course, what we find while exploring. The most moving scene is when she comes across a playground.

She'd never been on a slide. She places a boot on the slide's bottom step. Her mother's words echo in her ears: "Focus up." She'd never played on a climbing frame.

All work, no play. After all, everyone must chip to fulfill Mars’ promise. But discovering the (Spoiler - click to show)futility of the bunker’s efforts to return to a life that once was makes one wonder what is being sacrificed. They are surviving, not exactly living.

She pauses to look at the playground.
She continues onwards.

Ultimately, she can only continue onwards.

After looting the playground for materials, of course.

Characters
Who is the protagonist?

Her name, if she has one, is never mentioned. In simply referring to her as “Girl,” the game is reducing her to a mere role stripped of identity. A single unit borrowed from a population of similarly anonymous individuals.

The word “Girl” emphasizes how awfully young she is to be traversing the ruins of Mars. It highlights both her maturity and Command’s willingness to send such a young person out on a dangerous mission. Whether Command’s decision is merely the product of running out of options or not caring about the Girl’s odds of success are left up to interpretation.

Fortunately, the Girl clearly rises to the challenge, displaying wisdom far beyond her years.

She reminds me of the girl in Fabricationist DeWit Remakes the World, a sci-fi Twine game by Jedediah Berry. In that game, the girl is an NPC and was sent on a mission to track down the protagonist, a synthetic human designed to help rebuild a ravaged world. Her determination and mission of trekking through a post-apocalyptic world in search of answers shares similar themes with the Girl in The Promises of Mars. It’s also more light-hearted with few puzzles.

Visuals
While nothing fancy, its appearance is polished and easy to navigate. It uses a black background with white text and orange links. The game’s screen is neatly organized into a grid. Most of the screen is devoted to gameplay while the left side is reserved for the inventory and the clickable map. The map helpfully lights up to indicate your location.

Conclusion
The Promises of Mars performs well in every category: main character, story, gameplay, and appearance. Overall, there is a solid foundation.

But there’s something missing. It lacks the spark that would transform it from a four-star rating to a five-star one. I think adding more worldbuilding would make a difference. Tell us more about the city and what happened to Mars!

Nonetheless, it offers entertaining and haunting gameplay by allowing us to explore a dying world, a world that is supposed to be our ticket to a better life.

(edit: This review is now for a slightly outdated version of the game.)

Your human is the wise woman of her village. She performs rituals and other services for the local people. But now she is sick and unresponsive with a curse of unknown origin. Who will heal her? As her faithful dog, this task has been placed on your canine shoulders.

Gameplay
I love this game.

I'll admit that I imagined it would be a generic plucky fetch-quest style game with a predictable yet endearing storyline. The Wise-Woman’s Dog blew my expectations out of the water with its complexity, mechanics, and dynamic world. We are transported back into the Bronze Age where we find ourselves amid the Hittite Empire.

Historically, it was believed that dogs could absorb magic, like a sponge. In the game, the dog protagonist literally carries spells and blessings to place on objects around the map. The mechanics illustrating this are the best part of the game. Due to your canine sense of smell, you can detect the presence of blessings and curses.

This is where your human stores the tools she needs for her job. There’s no latch or seal on it—she keeps it shut in a way only a wise-woman can open.

Or maybe an especially clever dog.

You can smell a security blessing lingering on it.

Excuse me while I rave about it.

The security blessing, for instance, keeps a chest sealed shut. Removing the blessing allows you to open it. The blessing can be applied elsewhere in the game to utilize its sealing effects. When inverted it becomes an insecurity curse with its own applications. With twelve (including inverted) possible spells to play with, the gameplay is full of possibility.

I applaud the implementation because it has features that make the gameplay as smooth as possible, particularly with spell management. Notably, there is a spell section that lists the location of your blessings/curses. With a single click, you can teleport yourself to the spell’s location or simply fetch the spell. In this case, the game automatically travels there, retrieves it, and returns to where you were standing. You can even have it inverted for you.

The security blessing on the city stela, in the city center, which holds something closed (fetch it); inverted, it holds something open (fetch and invert it)

I spent much of the gameplay marveling at this convenience. You can also use the clickable map at the top of the screen to travel and keep track of objects of interest scattered around. Nifty, since the dog protagonist can only carry one object at a time. But all of this you will know about if you’ve played the game.

There is some confusion regarding the primary objective in the city portion of the game, and by objective, I mean something more specific than Mission Save Your Human. Do we find someone who can identify the curse? Do we need a substance to make a cure? The answer is simple: (Spoiler - click to show)Acquire the gold amulet.

It wasn’t until I reached for the hints that I realized that the bulk of the gameplay is centered on (Spoiler - click to show)accumulating enough money to buy the amulet by collecting (or in some cases, stealing) valuable items to sell to a woman in the bazaar. The gold amulet was not just a small piece in a puzzle; It was the item you need to deal with your human’s curse.

Once this was clear, gameplay was smooth sailing. I didn’t need to (Spoiler - click to show)try to find answers about the curse. I just needed shekels! Objective identified, I was able to finish the game on my own. (Once you buy the gold amulet, the game is clear that you have everything you need to save your human.)

I liked that you don’t need to cover every puzzle to win the game, but there is still incentive to go beyond what’s required.

Story
Historical backstory
As a work of historical fantasy, The Wise-Woman’s Dog is a blend of historical facts and artistic license regarding Bronze Age culture, economics, politics, religion, technology, and more. It’s difficult to walk away from this game without learning something about this time in human history.

Throughout the gameplay there are green links that offer more historical information in the form of green-bordered info boxes. These were fantastic and full of insight without being too lengthy. Some even have pictures! They do a great job at explaining the terms (to name a few: pithos, stela, shekels) encountered in the game. They also clarify what parts of the game are based in historical accuracy and which lean towards artistic license.

The game’s lengthy description may be overwhelming, but the gameplay’s premise is not centered on understanding dates, places, conflict, and political figures. While it may be historical fiction, meeting its objectives does not require you to process a heavy backstory. And yet, there are plenty of opportunities to dive into historical background if you wish.

After casually reading the in-game fact boxes over several hours of gameplay I looked at the game’s description and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could follow it quite clearly. Not so dense after all!

The Wise-Woman’s Dog manages to maintain a light-hearted atmosphere by skirting around, though not outright ignoring, some of the not-so-pleasant realities of life during the Bronze Age. Subjects such as slavery, animal sacrifice, and violence are carefully handled. In fact, the author describes this game as “cozy,” and I agree with that.

Maybe next we’ll get a game set in the Iron Age.

Immediate story
I was expecting the gameplay to be infused with more immediate story. I thought that going to the city would mean learning about the curse, who put it on your Human, details about how the curse worked. The gameplay is instead (Spoiler - click to show) whittled down to acquiring the gold amulet. I don’t think this is a flaw, though, since the game opts for simplicity with the story to balance out the technicality of the puzzles.

Once you (Spoiler - click to show)have the gold amulet, the gameplay is more akin to a fun day at the market. A new section of the bazaar can even be discovered!

Characters
While details on our canine protagonist are limited, it’s hard not to feel smitten by their resourcefulness and determination. And while they do things that aren’t particularly dog-like, the writing always conveys the game’s world from a dog’s perspective. Surprisingly, (Spoiler - click to show)we never get a chance to interact with our Human after healing her. Are we a good dog? I need answers.

I found the characters to be dynamic and interesting, especially since they are of different social standings and skillsets. Some will even move to other parts of the map during the gameplay. I loved how (Spoiler - click to show)fixing the dam causes Iyali to rally the village children playing by the river to tell them the story of Tarhunt, a story that we can sit and listen to!

“Now! Who wants to hear a story?” Iyali raises her voice over the sound of the river, and the children come running.

As if she had to ask. This also serves as clever foreshadowing since we explore the Temple of Tarhunt in the city!

I like that we can (Spoiler - click to show) give Anzi a token for six goats so she can decide who to marry, even if we don’t get to see who she chooses. It would have been nice if she gave us another pudding :(

Visual design
The game has a light mode and dark mode which is always helpful for me since dark mode is easier on my eyes in terms of brightness. Light mode has black text and a light bronzed singed background that gives the impression of parchment paper. Dark mode is, well, self-explanatory: black background with tan text.

You might feel overwhelmed at all the colour-coded links and boxes on the screen, but you soon adapt to its appearance. Plus, there are additional appearance settings that you can tinker with. Options!

Conclusion
The Wise-Woman’s Dog is a game that reminds you of why you love interactive fiction, of why you choose to devote hours of your time to sitting and playing at a computer.

It’s fantastic in all departments: protagonist and NPCs, implementation, puzzle mechanics, and more. It gives the sense of an author going above and beyond to create a work that exceeds expectations. I have high hopes for it in this year’s IFComp.

It's snowy outside. A great opportunity to drink tea and play a mysterious video game!

I am a big fan of games that present a mundane narrative only to peel it all back to expose something sinister underneath. Violent Delight is that kind of game. But unlike some games that simply strive to horrify their audiences, the gristle in Violent Delight is also embodied in societal issues that are their own kind of horror.

To get to the meat of this review, go to the Story section.

Remember: Violent Delight is a game about a protagonist playing another game called “The Playground.” A game within a game. Don’t get them mixed up.

Gameplay
Violent Delight begins with the protagonist buying a cartridge game off an online auction site and having it shipped to their home to play on their computer. Our screen is organized into three columns: The left for messages we choose to save, the middle for the protagonist’s thoughts, while the right column represents the protagonist’s own computer screen.

“The Playground” is explored in levels. Each level features a small, illustrated map that we navigate with arrows. The illustrations are clickable. Clicking on signs, screens, and faces brings up a black text box with white text that shares a character’s thoughts or displays readable content. There is also a DOWN and UP button below the protagonist’s computer screen that allows you to visit the levels as they become available.

When you turn on “The Playground” you have a limited amount of time to play until it shorts out. There are probably technical details that went over my head, but the jist is that the game’s cartridge can be opened and tinkered with to allow us to access more levels. Tinkering with it takes time, though.

Speaking of time, here’s a quality of the gameplay that may drive some players away:

It.

Takes.

So.

Long.

For things to load.

Each portion of gameplay is interspaced by wait periods in the form of a loading-in-progress bar. The bar is meant to mark the passage of time in the game, only allowing you to move forward once the bar has filled. Except this can take a while. Now, I understand the narrative merit of this. If the protagonist must wait for a package to be delivered, so do you.

…but for a whole hour?

Maybe not exactly a full hour, but pretty darn close. And no, demanding efficiency of the postal service has no result. I was amused to find that if you wait too long to answer the door the delivery man just leaves it on your doorstep instead having you sign for it.

I don’t necessarily see these waiting periods as a bad thing since they are tied to the story. It also helps that the other waiting periods are only a few minutes each at most. However, having to wait at all will likely be a turnoff for some. Yes, it fits with the story, but I don’t know if this is worth losing potential players. At least most segments can be managed by opening another tab and doing other things while you wait.

Answer the door.

Finally!

Of course, if I overlooked an obvious feature that circumvents this inconvenience, someone let me know.

A convenient feature of the gameplay is a “Print” button that saves any text from “The Playground” that sparks your interest. You can then read it while the game makes you wait.

Ultimately, I’m glad I stuck it out. In fact, I ended up playing this game more than once.

Story/Characters
Game within the game
“The Playground” begins in a place called “Park.” It predominantly features child characters, and while there seems to be no sole protagonist, it does give a lot of attention to a boy named Rupert. Rupert is quite fond of his duck toy Duckie and has an innocent whimsical view of the world. Soon that innocence gets chiseled away.

please Read our manifesto!!! The world isn't what it seems!!! We have to save our reality!!!

Even the characters know something is up.

Each level becomes darker and edgier, though this is expressed in different ways.

Blurring realities
Major spoilers in this section. Please play the game first for the full experience.

Recurring elements
Throughout “The Playground” we see recurring elements: Duckie, (Spoiler - click to show) wanting to play on the roof, a fearfulness of doors, someone named Carla. But the most common one is a ball. Somehow, things circle back to wanting a ball or having a ball and then losing it.

The significance of these is not entirely clear, but the ball and Duckie could be tied to the overarching theme of innocence lost, something that steadily occurs as Rupert and his peers move through each level.

“Park” is interesting because it is the rare level that allows us to alter the scenes themselves. There is a child in the upper left corner of the map with a ball, and a child in the lower right corner lamenting about not having a ball. You can actually take the ball from the first child and give it to the second child. Yay!

But then the second child loses it.

the ball's gone down there somewhere... isn't it amazing up here? you can see for miles.

I didn’t give this much thought at first, but (Spoiler - click to show)the phrase “gone down there somewhere” may- and this is just wild speculation- refer to the basement.

I would love to hear the author’s insights on making this game.

Visuals
I really like the game’s art. It’s crude in an appealing way. Reminds me of the art in the Quest game Space Punk Moon Tour but with less detail.

As I’ve mentioned, the game has three columns. They are colour-coded: red, bluish grey, and yellowish grey in that order. Font is stylized while also being easy to read.

Conclusion
Violent Delight is a potent example of surreal horror. Its cozy premise of playing video games amid snowy winter weather is flipped upside down as we’re drawn into the world of “The Playground” and (Spoiler - click to show)forced to witness it bleed over into reality.

I’m taking off a star because I think, for an IFComp game, the waiting periods (at least the wait time for the package) may be a lot to ask for players. But other than that, Violent Delight is one of my favorite games in this year’s IFComp.

Was I engrossed? Yes.

You Cannot Speak opens with an ambiguous dream sequence. You dream that Claudia- the game seems to think you know her- is trying to save someone from drowning. She is failing. She is incapable of speaking...

You wake up. She's you. You are Claudia. Time to start your day.

So, yeah. You Cannot Speak is a brief sci-fi Ink game about a protagonist named Claudia waking up for her first day at a new job. On Mars. But for some reason, she is incapable of speaking. It's as if her ability was switched off.

The player begins in a high-tech bedroom to prepare for Claudia’s first day at work. Gameplay choices center around taking in your surroundings and trying to use futuristic technologies such as a “GOERRING RESOURCE-CONSCIOUS BATHING APPARATUS,” also known as a shower.

Overall, I enjoyed the descriptive writing.

Outside the window is a totally untouched red wasteland, a ruby-tinted desert landscape with red dust and rocks as far as the eye can see. In the distance, you see a great craggy wall of red land.

The canyon is a breathtaking natural beauty, with all the timeless qualities of a MacOS desktop image.

Such vivid imagery. And then of course (Spoiler - click to show)it's revealed to be a screen. Suddenly, your high-tech room feels more like a closet. The wearable TORUS device was also cool.

Claudia has a backstory shrouded in mystery. (Spoiler - click to show)Once, she had bright dreams of a career in Earth’s Space Force. Something happened. Now, she is stuck working in the private sector at a Martian facility called Ares-622. Her official role is “Wellness Director.” We don’t get a chance to see what this entails.

You Cannot Speak seems to embrace the debate of dwelling on the past vs. focusing on the future, though the game is too short to really explore these concepts.

It's better to know
Forget about it

We can, however, prompt Claudia to do some deep thinking about herself.

As much as I love the author’s vision for You Cannot Speak, it needs refinement. I understand that it is an introduction for a larger game. Such kind of games have been submitted to IFComp in the past and have done quite well. That’s not the issue.

My main problem with this game is how abrupt and clunky the game ends. When Claudia (Spoiler - click to show)leaves her room, a scraggly man tells her in vague terms that she... I'm not even sure. Something about how her actions will affect everyone. And when a guard shows up the man starts yelling. Game ends.

As an IFComp game, this stands out like a sore thumb. The sharp edges of a promising game should have been sanded off first. Also, in one playthrough the game ran into a dead end.

It’s frustrating because there is a certain magnetism to You Cannot Speak. The title piqued my curiosity. Even the cover art- a single red square- made me think what could this be about?

Nonetheless, I wish this game well, and hopefully we will get to see more of Claudia’s story in the future.

“Good morning, dear. Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are?”

Penthesileia begins with Penny, our protagonist, informing her husband, Achilles, of his good looks before seeing him off to work. It’s a wholesome life.

But the next day, she falters. And he notices.

Gameplay
The gameplay is centered around Penny investigating funky moments where she acts out of turn, forgetting her lines in a script that she doesn’t remember reading. Things like pausing before telling her husband- who is hated by many- about his handsomeness or muddling up his coffee or asking questions. There are no puzzles, only a compelling narrative to sink into.

The author has such a precise, effective way of writing, at leaving the player transfixed about what would happen next without lengthy paragraphs. Some scenes are like being doused in ice cold water. The wham moment in the game is when (Spoiler - click to show)a dinner party is held for high-ranking officials. I won’t spoil it, but the characters did something that made my blood go cold. And then you are asked to participate. Do you? Or will you refuse in a room full of powerful people?

Eventually, you are required to choose between (Spoiler - click to show)sticking with the repetitive luxury of your current life or biting the hand that feeds you.

While the gameplay is mostly linear, you must dig around to reach each ending. I found five total with two of them being nearly identical.

Story
But onto the story.

Penthesileia is a dystopian thriller with political undertones. And perhaps even science fiction since it takes place in the 2060s. Every aspect of daily life revolves around the existence of a Prefect and the Regime. High-ranking officials clamber over each other to gain favor, and restaurants have names such as “In Honor of Our Everlasting Prefect.” And of course, a resistance, named only as “the opposition.”

This is where Penthesileia leans into the science fiction genre. It doesn’t focus on the technicalities because it’s not necessary to tell the story. But there is room for curiosity.

The story of Penthesileia ultimately explores the idea of second chances.

So: Are second chances something we’re given or something we make for ourselves?

Characters
The game’s characters are borrowed from figures in Greek mythology. Even if you are familiar with Greek mythology- Achilles being a more recognizable name- you may not make the connection right away. Let’s look at Achilles first.

Some may recognize the name Achilles from “Achilles’ heel,” which refers to a single weakness capable of bringing down something difficult to destroy. A fatal flaw. In the game, Achilles laments how the Prefect isn’t giving him the recognition he deserves. To him, the Prefect and its Regime are invincible, all-knowing, powerful, and immovable. Unflawed. Except (Spoiler - click to show)he unwittingly becomes the Regime’s “heel” through Penny, if she chooses to bring down the Regime with the flash drive.

The title, Penthesileia, is a slight misspelling of Penthesilea. Penthesilea was an Amazonian queen who brought her army to Troy and fought the Greeks. It’s said that she killed Achilles only for him to be resuscitated by Zeus to allow him to kill her in return- and this act greatly saddened him because he also loved her. Despite this tragedy she is seen as a symbol of triumph amid conflict and great loss. To exhibit strength as a female in a realm dominated by men and encountering love- in a twisted way- while participating in war. In subtle ways, we see this in Penny.

Penny’s connection to Penthesilea is only clear once you start digging for details. The misspelling of Penthesileia and Penthesilea appears to be deliberate. We do get opportunities to learn about Penny’s (Spoiler - click to show)previous life. Examining the photo in the office drawer reveals that Penny’s name was originally Leia. Take a closer look at the title again: PenthesiLEIA. And in the ending where she leaves and takes on a new identity, she tells a customs officer that her name is “Penthesileia,” quietly regaining her past identity as she reaches for a brighter future.

I was curious as to why the author chose to (Spoiler - click to show)model the doctor on Antiope, an Amazon and sister of Penthesilea. There are other Greek figures including Theseus and Diomedes, though they are featured more superficially.

Visuals
Penthesileia uses a basic Twine appearance. Black screen, white text, blue links. Text is easy to read and is gradually revealed as the player clicks on the screen, creating suspense as the player waits for what's next.

Conclusion
In case you read this far, I apologize for the length. I was excited to review this game because it left such a memorable impression.

Penthesileia is a chilling narrative about finding choice while living inside an oppressive system. Penny is a protagonist full of poise and quiet determination. We feel the fragility of her existence as the wife of a powerful man- a man who lives with a target on his back. Her despair at the knowledge that those who create you can destroy you in equal measure. And her exhilaration at discovering the impact, or perhaps chaos, she can make.

If you like dystopian stories that are character focused and force the player to question said character’s status quo, play Penthesileia. It has potent writing mixed in with Greek mythology symbolism. With several endings, it is worth multiple playthroughs.

Maybe there’s more than one way for this to end.

(Reader note: If you don’t feel inspired to read this entire review- and I don’t blame you- please check out the Visual design section to see one of the main reasons to check out this game.)

This game made me feel so slick. For an hour or so I felt like a quantum computing genius. Well, at least you play as one.

Also, I remember this game being released in Spanish in 2022, and I was always curious about it even if I couldn’t play it. So, I was thrilled to see it in this year's competition!

Gameplay
This review- like many of my reviews- is longer than I anticipated, so I’m going to break the gameplay part into sections.

Overview
You play as L. Garcia, a researcher who works for the Quantum Model and Simulation Laboratory, a department of the European Centre for Computational Research (ECCR) that specializes in quantum computing. The gameplay is also narrated in first-person.

For context, advances in quantum computing have opened the door to modeling a person's consciousness and developing highly realistic simulations of real-world environments. My understanding is that a personality “snapshot,” or image, can be paired with a model of how people interact, which is then added to a simulated world.

The player’s task is to create a personality image through brain scans and then train a social model before compiling everything into a simulation. Gameplay consists of navigating a menu of locations on a computer to create the files needed for the simulation. For instance, “bin/” contains links that lead to emails, a saved web page, and other content.

Once the player has everything, they start the simulation and prepare for the end game. The result? Life- or at least existence- after death for the protagonist. Hopefully.

Thoughts on gameplay
I realized that the game’s difficulty does not stem from implementation challenges or flawed design. Rather the difficulty came from my unfamiliarity with the game’s concepts. During my first try, I had a vague sense of what I was doing. Surprisingly, the ambiguity did not frustrate me because I was having fun running scans to see what would happen, reading emails, and simply exploring the game's content.

And I actually did get quite far on my own. The main obstacle was needing help with (Spoiler - click to show) running the high intensity scan, and even then, I came close to figuring it out. So, the walkthrough was more of a useful guide to keep you on track and inform the story rather than being a resource you cling to desperately because the game has led you astray.

I will say that the walkthrough does a poor job with the (Spoiler - click to show) compilation puzzle. It made no sense. I knew that I needed to stack the numbers in the right order, but I couldn’t figure out how the arrows worked. The walkthrough does not mention the arrows. Then, it finally clicked! I figured out the arrows and the puzzle ended up being a lot of fun (and much easier than it seemed on my first try).

It was a bit intimidating at first, but I picked things up as I went along. Just a little bit of context and most of the technical jargon made sense. The README.md file made me think "Of course! It's so simple!" even if that was not the case when I first picked up the game. I think this gives whoami good replay value. You go back and revisit how the gameplay merges with the story now that you’ve played it at least once.

First time around, I tinkered with the game for about an hour before completing it with the walkthrough. Once you know what to do you can zip through the game in about ten minutes. I noticed from the walkthrough that you only need to (Spoiler - click to show) complete the high intensity scan. The low and mid intensity ones are unnecessary. Fortunate, since performing the high scan fries your brain, killing you and making the electrodes inaccessible.

Story
whoami is ultimately a game about making desperate decisions, exploring what we are willing to do when you have nothing left to lose. Are you willing to put faith in technology that is still filled with unknowns? What can it offer? Do you even want what said technology has to offer?

The beginning of the game informs us that it is the year 2030 (five years from now!). Our protagonist, L. Garcia, has staked out in a remote research lab tucked away in a place called The Vault, located somewhere in Europe. The climate has taken a turn for the worse and now countries are in the midst of nuclear warfare. Chunks of Europe have been lost to nuclear weapons and Garcia is slowly dying from radiation and injury.

They can die... or attempt to create a virtual consciousness.

There are four endings based on (Spoiler - click to show) how you acquired fruit from the man in the social training simulation (I discuss this later). Out of the four endings, arguably only one is a "bad" one. I mean, why would you choose to live in a simulation of the same violence and human nonsense that destroyed the real world?

Both the emails and saved web page provide excellent exposition without overwhelming the player with details.

Additional thoughts on the story!
The emails offer a lot of foreshadowing.

Characters
L. Garcia
We never learn the protagonist’s full name. Even the web page only lists them as L. Garcia, and emails show that people would refer to them as “L.” I’ve already shared most of what I know about them. It seems that they are meant to be a PC that the player can step into without being distracted by a complex backstory.

I do have one question. I don’t think the game explains why (Spoiler - click to show)Garcia went back to the lab rather than take shelter with everyone else. Was it because they wanted to take a chance with uploading themselves, or was it something else?

Despite limited information, I still found them to be a compelling character.

Mia Gerdes
The arc with Mia added dimension.

Mia is (or was) the protagonist’s colleague and potential love interest. We know little about her other than the fact that her full name is Mia Gerdes, that she was headed to a shelter following a nuclear attack, and that Garcia attempted to send her an email admitting their feelings towards her. An email that failed to be sent, making this character dynamic bittersweet.

Visual design
This is one of the coolest uses of Twine I have ever seen. It's visually diverse and uses various design elements to illustrate the game's narrative.

The main gameplay uses a basic black screen with primarily white text and blue links. Animated text is often used to give the illusion of a computer “processing.” For some reason, the upper right corner of the screen has a faint yellow/white glow (although, I'm not sure what that's supposed to convey). But things get cooler.

The “dev/” section allows you to “access” the facility’s cameras. This is illustrated with a white text box containing the protagonist’s thoughts set against an image of static. Then there is also a “web page” that seriously looks like a web page. It provides an overview of the Quantum Model and Research Laboratory.

All this pales in comparison to when you train a social model. Surely, it’s going to be another black screen, right? Or maybe some boxes with an interesting background?

Wrong.

I was floored. (Spoiler - click to show)The screen turns white with black text, and you actually type commands. It was the last thing I was expecting. It’s that feeling of Woah. That was my reaction. You go from a Twine game to this. Somehow. I don’t know what kind of Twine wizardry the author used but it is one of the most novel and unique uses of the Twine format I have encountered.

Conclusion
I had a lot of fun with whoami. As I’ve already said, it offers a novel use of Twine and demonstrates its potential in visual storytelling. The game gives players a compelling glimpse into a future where human innovation is paired with human destruction. I would definitely be interested in knowing more about the story and its characters.

At one point, Garcia gives us the following reflection:

This machine is my prison and perhaps my salvation.

I think that is meant to be left up to the player. Garcia seems to take the stance that it is salvation, but even they reserve space for doubt. Perhaps we will have to do the same within our lifetimes as quantum computing and other technologies loom on the horizon.

Until then, whoami provides a thrilling sci-fi experience if you are willing to brave the gameplay’s mechanics.

(edit: formatting cleanup/grammar.)

You've been fired.

Your boss is a jerk. And has committed acts of fraud, embezzlement, harassment and other crimes. Fortunately, you've been collecting proof. Proof that you can take and hand off to the authorities! You have a printed stack of emails ready to go and....

Wait, where did the stack go?

Someone has taken your stack of evidence. Will you search for it, or leave your ex-job behind empty-handed?

Gameplay
The player navigates a small-sized map of an office building, starting in the protagonist’s crummy “office.” Using a meager box of belongings, the player must gain access to areas deemed off-limits to the average corporate employee. You know you’re getting somewhere when the all-purpose industrial grade floors become carpet.

The game has a max score of 20 points. Points are generally earned through sneaky actions and/or destructive sabotage. It was satisfying to get a full score. Ironically, it requires you to do some (Spoiler - click to show)highly illegal things.

I ran into some guess-the-verb issues, primarily when (Spoiler - click to show)exploring the basement for the first time. It’s dark in there, so you need a light source. You have your lighter (and your 5th anniversary “gift” from your boss) which you drop, leaving you in darkness. I figured that "Find lighter" or "Search floor" would have worked, but they are not implemented. Instead, the solution is “Take lighter” which made less sense since we can’t see where the lighter fell. That said, the game has a helpful hint system to nudge the player in the right direction.

Story/Characters
Fired embraces the familiar premise of an office employee (or in this case, an ex-employee) getting revenge on their immoral boss. It does not offer anything new, however. Does it need to? Arguably not. I’m just left with some questions. (Spoiler - click to show)Why is there a key in the microwave? Was the protagonist fired because of the evidence gathering, or was it unrelated and the printouts merely taken after their desk was emptied out?

Nonetheless, there is still a strong sense of satisfaction at undermining a self-centered and immoral boss. The player strongly feels like they are on the protagonist’s side.

There are multiple endings. You can leave the building at any time to end the game, but the outcome will depend on the actions you took. Your main objective is to retrieve the printouts, but secondary goals such as (Spoiler - click to show)covering your tracks are highly encouraged. That, and getting your poster back. You can take additional steps to gain revenge on your boss, but it's not required to get a decent ending.

Conclusion
Well-rounded, consistent, but not a lot of depth. And implementation could be a bit smoother. That said, its well-roundedness balances out its lack of exposition. I am pleased with my experience.

If you enjoy office settings and/or want a parser game with fairly easy puzzles that is light on story, Fired might be a good fit for you.

The syrup rain drifts down as a heavy mist, making sticky the just and the unjust alike. It is nighttime. But then, it's always nighttime in Sugar City.

You play as Private Eye Bubble Gumshoe, tasked with solving the murder of Jimmy Piñata, a- you guessed it- piñata found in a garage at the outskirts of the city, bashed open and hanging from the ceiling.

But first…
Who Whacked Jimmy Piñata? (WWJP) was the first game I decided to play for this year’s IFComp because I recognized it immediately. It is the third installment of a series that started with Who Shot Gum E. Bear? (WSGEB) back in 2022.

As someone who enjoyed but felt frustrated by the first game, WWJP was a treat to play because it showed clear improvement and dimension. WSGEB featured a lot of seemingly important details that ultimately had little to no function. This included (Spoiler - click to show) visiting the VIP room, buying a newspaper, and utilizing the pack of candy cigarettes. So, imagine my delight when I saw these details being given a purpose in WWJP!

As a fan of WSGEB, I was happy to run around visiting recognizable characters, re-reading the books in the bookstore, seeing if someone was still doing candy in the bathroom stall (blue crystal this time instead of sherbet), and exploring the expanded map*. It also feels a bit edgier and more cynical, heightening the mystery.

And… Easter Eggs! I loved finding subtle references to the previous two games. The walkthrough even has a section dedicated to it.

(*I think it’s neat that you can overlap the map for all three games. Some locations may be inaccessible depending on the game, but the fact that it’s the same landscape builds an established setting.)

Gameplay
Like many detective stories, the game has the player explore the city, gather evidence, and interview people of interest before making your accusation. Relevant topics, objects, characters, and scenery are shown in bold, something I did not see in the previous two games. It made gameplay much smoother.

In comparison to WSGEB, WWJP is stronger in every way, especially with the ACCUSE command, a central mechanic. A complaint I had with WSGEB (spoilers!) was (Spoiler - click to show) that you could accuse anyone and solve the mystery by randomly guessing without any investigation. That’s not the case with WWJP. You want to accuse someone? You need to present evidence to back up your claims.

Plus, WWJP is generally more well-rounded. The map is larger, the streets have names, characters are more responsive, you can dance (as long as no one is watching), and additional verbs are added.

However, for a while, WWJP was cruising at 5 stars, but lost traction following (Spoiler - click to show) our rescue by Battenberg. She’s not the issue, though I do wish she was more responsive to your questions. It has to do with the remaining puzzles. Specifically, INSERT [object]. The game needs to be clearer when inserting objects has any relevance.

This tripped me up twice: (Spoiler - click to show) trapping Father Wafer and getting the keys to the boat. The boat especially was difficult. I knew where the keys were but there were no scenery clues about inserting items. And licking the taffy to make it softer didn’t occur to me, despite me tasting everything in sight just for fun. These were the only two cases where I needed outside help.

There is room for improvement, but the foundation is there, the story is catchy, and the characters are a lot of fun. It is easily the strongest game in the Bubble Gumshoe series.

Story
The author does a great job at combining the grittiness of an urban landscape with the cheerful innocence of different types of candy, all while incorporating themes about poverty, murder, drugs, sex, and crime without being too explicit. You may laugh at the idea of a piñata being a murder victim, but for the characters of Sugar City, this is serious business.

There is plenty of world-building if you know where to look. Occasionally, examining scenery- like businesses at the docks- provides exposition on Sugar City. Especially regarding the highly influential taffy factory that now lies derelict. Even though it’s not a focus in this game, its presence is still heavily felt. So much to see! And taste. And smell.

I won’t spoil who the mastermind is. I am, however, curious about why the game allows us to (Spoiler - click to show) decide if police arrest [name redacted] or not. It’s a yes or no decision that you make right at the end. Both lead to the same outcome of victory but I suppose it lets you pick the flavor of justice.

Characters
Sugar City’s inhabitants are creatively designed, and Bubble Gumshoe is as awesome as ever. Some are recognizable, others are new.

Speaking of new characters, the coolest part of the game for me is this heartwarming scene outside Gumshoe’s 1973 Fudge Challenger:

Also, I know this is besides the point, but Jawbreaker is such an underrated character.

You hold the roll of cash up for Jawbreaker to see.

"That's a roll of cash," says Jawbreaker. He stares at you dimly. "Did I get it? Did I do a evidence?"

The way he says this made me laugh. He brings a lot of unexpected humor.

Conclusion
To wrap this up, WWJP is a delicious story with a light-hearted yet gritty world and a likable female protagonist. Some parts were sweeter than others due to implementation but is otherwise a strong game that shows a lot of refinement. Plus, the author provides a generous walkthrough/hint (available separately) guide, even if its Jolly Rancher imagery made my mouth water.

I hope this isn't the last we see of Private Eye Bubble Gumshoe.

(edit: grammar fix I missed)