Ratings and Reviews by AndrewStephens

A small, short but well-executed parser game. Technically a single room game but since you play as a mosquito
there are many locations to buzz around in your thirst for sweet mammal nectar. Along the way you might discover a little more about the room's other occupant as you attempt to feast on them.

The main attraction here is the writing, which is witty and flavorful. There are no real puzzles, just an environment to explore and experience. I wish the author had found some way for my tiny avatar to influence what is going on in the room but I enjoyed my brief time as a mosquito.

You have been hired to break into the residence of a famous author to steal something. Breaking in is not going to be a problem - you have special abilities in that direction - but getting to your objective is going to be complicated.

Or maybe not that complicated, Residual Income is a short game featuring only a handful of locations to explore. What it lacks in complexity it makes up for in an atmosphere that suits the vaguely cyberpunk near-future setting perfectly. There is a bit of a twist, but it is well telegraphed if you have been paying attention to the little hints dropped into the writing.

The one problem I have with Residual Income is that it is rather wordy, the hard-boiled writing occasionally veers off towards the purple end of the spectrum. But the game is short enough that it doesn't have time to grate. There are some really nice little touches that make up for a couple of leaden paragraphs and when the game was over I found myself wanting more.

Epistemophilia is a hard game to pin down but a worthwhile experience. I've played it twice and am still not sure if I saw much of the content - this seems to be a large game.

The game starts with you waking up, disoriented and amnesiac, with little clue where you are and what you need to do. These feelings do not go away as you play - if anything the world gets more confusing as you go. This is not a plot heavy game, the enjoyment comes from exploring the environment.

There is a ton of text, there are many points where you can choose between six or seven different choices each with their own several paragraph-long response. Nothing leads you be the hand - it is quite difficult to determine what each course of action will achieve but usually something cool will happen.

I think that, as a game it would be better if Epistemophilia was slimmed down and more focused on plot but as an experience the long-windedness and strange tone make this quite fun to play.

If you like exploration and don't mind wordy prose and not getting real answers then this might be the game for you.

EDIT: After I completed this review I visited the game's strange website (https://epistemophilia.hotglue.me) which has some author notes explaining (but not really) a bit more about the game plus a tentative soundtrack album. The whole thing seems to be a real labour of love, which I respect. Does this make a great game? No. Is this interesting and worthwhile? Certainly.

Gambler's Quest states up front that it is a demo/unfinished game. Fair enough, but this was entered in IFComp2026 so must be viewed in that light. And that light does the parser game no favors.

The game starts promisingly enough, you get up, have breakfast, read your mail, all guided by a quite nifty quest system that keeps you moving to the next objective. The writing is nothing special but perfectly functional and you start to get a sense of the world the author is trying to construct. But the introduction is not lying - the implemented parts of the game are very limited - just a handful of locations and items.

Even what is implemented has problems. Why do you have to (Spoiler - click to show)get the moldy bread when you have a perfectly good loaf minus one slice at home?

The problem is not that Gambler's Quest is unfinished, the issue is that it is barely started.

I didn't have high hopes for this one but the writing and presentation really drew me in. You arrive at a pleasure moon with your loyal crew with the self-imposed mission to recover your memories. Along the way you will get to know your crew through flashbacks and conversations while navigating alien environments. The presentation is appropriate and the background music is a nice touch, although some of the transitions can be jarring.

My one problem with Pegasus Crew is it is one of those games where the protagonist should know more than the player. As captain, Astrid knows her crew well and should have a good grasp of what she is doing, but the first-time player is just thrown in there. There are flashbacks that explain the relationships throughout, which is a device that works in a short story but seems odd in an interactive game.

The story is intriguing and well-written enough that it didn't impact my enjoyment but it did take me out of the game slightly. Otherwise Pegasus Crew makes for a fun experience.

THE GOOD:
Nicely presented with good color choices and background music.
Interesting and diverse characters in a cool sci-fi setting
The writing is good in the cosy sci-fi vein. The contrast between you two crew members is well done.

NOT SO GOOD:
It's only a small annoyance, but having the player only slowly learn things that the protagonist would know makes the story harder to take.
There are a couple of places where you can loop through the same conversations multiple times.
If you are going to make a big deal about the orgy room, then force the player to go into the orgy room, at least have some orgy. Otherwise maybe leave out the orgy room and make the game more suitable for a wider audience.

Quackpond is a one-trick pony of a game but it is a handsome pony with a good trick. I am not sure how much effect you have on the plot but the story plays out in a very interesting way with the fun being working out what is going on.

The idea probably wouldn't work for a larger game but Quackpond is nice and short. It was fun playing with my duck and when it was over I found that I missed Brown Boy the Mallard.

A few years ago I set out to write the most Star Trekky Star Trek game that ever Treked to a Star. I thought I had succeeded and then along comes New Captain, which blows my game out of the water in terms of how much like an episode of TNG it is.

As a Trek fan, I enjoyed this game immensely. There is just something so satisfying about sitting in the captains chair, calling for status updates, and giving orders.

Instead of raising shields and exploring unknown space, New Captain focuses on the other side of Trek - complicated diplomatic missions, treaty signings, and observing rare stellar phenomena. Naturally there are complications to sort out and interdepartmental meetings to be had.

This could have been dull but the excellent presentation and good use of the Star Trek setting made the game a joy to play. Just wandering around the ship was fun and the way the game moves the clock (and plot) forward makes a lot of sense.

New Captain gives you a lot of freedom to move around, read reports, and talk to people. Perhaps a little too much freedom, to complete the missions successfully you have to be diligent to click on everything and talk to everyone. I've played three times and still haven't found the last(?) secret. But concluding the main plot is fairly simple if you don't care about points.

My major issue with New Captain is that it feels like the first act of a much larger game. I felt I was just getting the hang of being a captain as the game came to an end.

GOOD:
Excellent atmosphere
Great interface with an excellent sense of freedom of choice

LESS GOOD:
Be prepared for a lot of clicking and reading if you want to complete the mission with all the points.
It is very like any number of episodes of TNG, but not one of the more exciting ones.

SUMMARY:
Like stepping aboard the Enterprise for twenty minutes. You can just about hear the doors hsss as you move between locations. It sparks joy.

This is definitely my cup of tea - a scifi murder mystery where you are the ship's computer trying to figure out who killed the captain. I really like the work that has gone into the premise and writing of this game, and the mechanics are really clever. Learning the backstories of the characters and piecing together their motivations is an intensely satisfying way to experience a story.

I thought the time limit would be irritating but it did really ramp up the tension in quite an interesting way.

I felt that A Death in Hyperspace is trying something a bit different and mostly succeeding. I recommend giving it a play.

There are some negative points but they are slightly spoilerish, if you have any interest in this kind of thing just play the game before reading on - it is short and enjoyable.

(Spoiler - click to show)With so much effort put into creating the world and the fascinating characters, I was disappointed that the actual murderer is random. Normally I am all for replayability but for a murder mystery I like a definitive answer and learning that it changes every playthrough cheapens it a little bit in my opinion. There is never that "a-ha!" moment where the subtle clue clicks into place and the solution revealed.

This is a slight but fun choice-based game that heavily leans into its 80s Doctor Who aesthetic. Its strengths are the excellent graphics and the way the plot (such as it is) unfolds pretty much like a standard DW story - the daleks are up to sometime and it is up the you, The Doctor, to thwart their plans!

There is nothing wrong with a slight story but I feel that behind the slick interface and shiny graphics there is very little substance here. There is only one real puzzle, most of the runtime is taken up with talking to a few characters to unlock the next scene in a very linear fashion. Again, there is nothing wrong with this but the game has a certain lack of ambition that I found frustrating.

It is a shame, because there is a lack of Doctor Who related Int Fiction and Doctor Who and the Dalek Super-Brain is fun enough on the initial play through for fans of the show. I am not sure it stands alone for people unfamiliar with the premise.

Speaking as a fan, I do have to take issue with the cheesecake images of the companion. Classic Doctor Who was not exactly the most progressive show in its depiction of woman but it never stooped to busty babes bursting out of figure-hugging jump suits (well, maybe a couple of times, and also Peri, but apart from that almost never...) It makes the game feel a little juvenile.

I don't want to dissuade anyone from playing this game - despite my issues there is fun to be had and some nice scifi nonsense to enjoy.

A one joke game, but it's a pretty good joke. Is it a commentary on obvious clichés? A clever meta game? A troll? None of these or all three? It is beyond this reviewer's ability to discern the intent but I did enjoy the few minutes it took to solve.