Reviews by MathBrush

This game is a mid-length Twine game (30,000 words in 214 passages).

It's about a rough, one-eyed monster hunter named Jacobi. He's carrying out various tasks for the king in return for help for his loved one.

The game has you face three challenges, each with a map and combat. They become darker as you progress, with the title referring to thematic darkness.

I actually liked this game's interactivity (moving, fighting, buying and selling), but there were several typos, and I was turned off by the 'grizzled unhappy war hero make dark choices' theme. I like those themes in general, but only lightened by a great deal of heart. This game has some (with Elias and Cassandra), but for my personal tastes, I would have liked more balance. This is definitely a personal thing, and others may wish it even darker.

I beta tested this game.

This is an ambitious concept debuted here in a demo game. It is an rpg game with procedurally generated text and spinning wheels indicating combat.

I liked the system quite a bit; the styling was good, and the graphics nice. I felt a bit dissociated from the story; like real RPGs, the story was in service to the puzzles.

There is hidden material here; despite beta testing and playing again later, I didn't find the sword or defeat the giant monster. Worth checking it out to see the system.

This is a very short little game where you are trying to get your crazy future-telling device to work.

It's a one-room game, but very little is implemented. I had to decompile the game to figure out how to get the device to work. I had further difficulties with basic commands like going in doors.

The idea isn't bad, but it could be better developed.

This game is centered around a language or collection of languages that the protagonist is trying to study.

The central mechanic is that you are presented with 3-syllable words that you can alter.

The discussion centers on the idea that language influences our thoughts and actions, and vice-versa.

I liked this game, but it didn't draw me in emotionally.

This game is a worthy sequel to Toiletworld, by Chet Rocketfrak (presumably the same as Chad Rocketman).

This game centers around Bilbert/Bolbert, who has something wrong with them. You can talk to Bilbert, or enter Bilbert.

There's not much more than that. I found it amusing, but the author is clearly aiming for a 1-star rating, and who am I to refuse?

This is probably the slickest of all the games entered this year.

This is a short mystery tale set in a women's college in (I think) the northeast. You are replacing a professor who has mysteriously disappeared.

The main narrative is about time-hoppers (which feels more like a temporal Gulliver's Travels than H.G. Wells), but there is a sub-narrative about the place of adjunct/temporary/visiting faculty and the various roles of women in academia.

The game beautifully divides between 'asides'-links and 'moving forward'-links by having the first show up as notes in the margin and the latter extending the text.

It's well-illustrated and well-written. One of the best web games available.

I enjoyed the story in this game quite a bit, more than just about any other game in the competition.

You play as a magical crow who is fleeing a destructive sentient firestorm. You have to hop from town to town, trying to warn everyone while fighting a bad reputation.

I enjoyed the characters and setting; it was generic fantasy, but not swords and sorcery generic fantasy, more of Diana Wynn Jones or fairy tales.

There were some noticeable typos, though, which detracted from the experience.

I really enjoyed this game. I had a few technical difficulties wrangling with Quest.

You play as a cockney-speaking orphan who has penned up in a penitentiary-orphanage. Your goal is to go from Public Enemy Number 2 to Number 1.

The map is large, but pleasingly symmetrical. You solve a puzzle in each room until the game is over.

Some of the puzzles were fairly nonsensical, and I had difficulty with them, but overall, I was impressed.

This game was fun and clever; I think a large chunk of judges found the concept fun and original.

You are a lurking grue, and you have to devour an adventurer.

Because it is completely dark, you have rely on your other senses.

I had difficulty getting helpful responses from going in different directions, and with the final verb.

Overall, if the feedback from comp judges is implemented, this would be a game that continues to get played for a long time.

I enjoyed the puzzles of Goodbye Cruel Squirrel with a walkthrough. I enjoyed the writing in general, but not the mean-spiritedness.

You play as a squirrel raiding another tribe. You have to progress through a series of locations, each with its own puzzle.

I got stuck early on and used a walkthrough the whole time.