Ratings and Reviews by MathBrush

This game, like so many other Choicescript games, has a pretty bad beginning followed by a much better middle.

I found the opening very slow, with children's book-style writing and very slow plotting. The second chapter was also fairly slow, and I found it difficult to push through, one of the openings I struggled the most with.

The middle was wonderful. I enjoy being exposed to other cultures, and Baba Yaga is about the extent of my knowledge of Russian folklore. However, every Russian I've seen comment on the game says that it portrays the folklore inaccurately or poorly. On the other hand, though, every such comment I've seen has also included a complaint about how the your sibling is non-binary (which you find out by them telling you they don't think they're a girl or a boy near the beginning). So I can't tell if it's actually really bad representation, or if people hate the non-binary thing and that makes them inclined to attack the rest of the game.

But as a fantasy story in general, I liked the middle. You have a choice of three extremely powerful villains to deal with. I faced a seven-headed dragon and a necromancer.

The ending was fairy tale-like, with simple surroundings and simple solutions. It felt like it fit the story, but wasn't the most satisfying ending, as it didn't tie up every narrative arc (the most thorough tying-up I've seen is in Herofall).

This game's approach to challenges had a lot of pass/fail with no real benefit to failing. That makes sense in some games; but with no undo (like in parser games or in Heroes Rise's legend-point-retry system), a long linear game like this with many chances of failure is too tedious to replay a lot. And another thing this game does that some other Choicescript games do is having a long series of difficult tests right after each other, where failing even one is heavily penalized. Much better is the system in Choice of Robots, Creme de la Creme or Tally Ho where your failures provide as compelling a story as your successes.

Nevertheless, the game was polished, descriptive, I found much of the interactivity interesting and I was emotionally invested. I'd probably give this a 3.5, but rounding to a 4.

I received a review copy of this game.

If you told me there was a game whose villain was catapulted by reality tv into the presidency, who had had several spouses and relationships, who ran on a platform of locking up his enemies and keeping 'others' out of America, who employed his children in government positions, I would have told you that it was a heavy-handed ham-fisted commentary on modern life.

Well, this game came out in 2014, a year before Trump started his first campaign. So it's interesting to play a game that directly speaks to current issues without being affected by them.

This is my favorite game of the series, probably because I'm emotionally invested by now. You have the chance to work with former enTheYour first game let you save a city, the second let you be known to America, the third lets you shape the future of the nation.

This is a hard game, and it's definitely possible to lose. You can buy an in-game hint system for $.99 (or use in-game money if you got rich in the other games), but I followed a playthrough I found online (although they made different choices than me, so I had to adapt).

You can play this game separately from the others, although I'd recommend starting at the beginning. You could always play the first chapter of this game to get a feel for it, though.

I received a review copy of this game

I was interested to play this game, as I know that on one hand it's been one of Choice of Games' best-selling titles for years, and that on the other hand its frequently vilified by a subset of the Choice of Games forums.

It's one of the oldest Choice of Games entries, the fourth one ever made. I've played a lot of the old ones recently, and have a lot more variation between them in length, use of stats, linearity, and romances as the company hadn't settled on a house style yet.

And this game has a lot of peculiarities as well, but manages to be more polished than many early games. The stats are clearly communicated. In fact, they are spelled out in the game. Your choices matter; occasionally you are presented with binary choices, but one is grayed out. That doesn't mean (as some steam reviewers thought) that you never have that option; it means that the game is keeping track of your past actions.

One peculiarity in particular is that there is a single forced narrative of who you are and what you feel. That doesn't really change from playthrough to playthrough; you're always the child of disgraced, incarcerated heroes; you always experience the same trials and betrayals; you always have the same powers. There's only one romantic option, and its fairly forced on you, the game describing in detail how you feel about the other sexually, one of things I found least enjoyable.

What changes, then, is how you get through these opportunities. Do you follow justice or fame? Are you defensive or offensive? Do you have hero worship or work on your own?

So I see why it's popular and I see why people on the forums don't like it. It doesn't fit the ideal of the current, refined in-house style of Choice of Games, with plethoras of backgrounds, branches and romances. But it's also a compelling story with good emotional involvement.

In my playthrough, as a hetero male, all of the female villains and the main romantic option were consistently described as sexy, busty, working in prostitution or seduction. I didn't find that enjoyable, and I considered taking off a star for that. But I believe that many people will enjoy playing this game, and for that reason I'm giving it 5 stars.

Edit: On a side note, after I played it last night, I had terrifying superhero dreams based on it that woke me up with fright. I guess its descriptions are pretty vivid!

I received a review copy of this game.

I had trouble starting this game. It begins with a story about you, a squire, helping your lady chase down a rogue baron who may have kidnapped the prince. I found this chapter very lacking, for my tastes one of the most difficult opening chapters of a Choicescript game to get through. Choices were confusing, there were a lot of stats but very few points to go around (my largest stat was a 29 at the beginning, which in most Choicescript games represents dismal failure), and the story seemed fairly dry.

But the middle part of the game was very good for my personal tastes. I love games about the Fae or the fairy world, and much of the game revolves around attending a fair and a tournament. The fair has plausible deniablity with magical involvement, such as a tent that looks suspiciously like a giant flower.

In the path I chose, I ended up in a faery land, and found that part very enjoyable. I left with a strong assurance that I would somehow return.

But the last chapter all built up to a final choice, and I failed that final choice. I didn't die, but apparently I lived a sad life and never had any connection to the faery world again, which seemed a direct contradiction to the earlier paths.

I may need to play again, but I found the last chapter a bit lacking. And as for the first one, I wonder more and more as I play through the Choice of Games catalog whether authors should write the first chapter last, using a small set of 'preset' stats and names for a placeholder for placetesting until the very end. So many Choice of Games titles (pretty much all the ones I've given 4 stars) have mediocre opening chapters but satisfying mid-games. I think that you really get to know your characters and world as you write a game like this, and that you tend to grow as an author as you write. This game has the second-lowest rating on the Apple omnibus app, and I think its opening has a great deal to do with that.

I received a review copy of this game.

This is a game I went back and forth on for a score (between 4 and 5) for a while.

It's different than most other Choicescript games, but, in common with Gavin's other game, For Rent: Haunted House, it has a very, very small number of stats. There seems to be very few ways to tell what, if anything, your stats are used for and what effects them. There is one point in the game where you can actually ask a banshee what the stats do, but that is only one option out of many, and I didn't try it as I had others I was more interested in.

Most of this game involves you commanding a group of zombies and skeletons (the numbers of which are tracked and change), and basically creating a ton of gore. A lot of intestines and decapitations and devouring.

The game is completely self-aware, and includes outrageous characters (like an romantic option who urges you to complete destruction, or a vampire). The opening is very different from the rest of the game and I would definitely recommend pushing past it.

'Winning' is hard; my run (and most people's I saw online) ended in arrest. Strategizing is difficult in a way that's not entirely fun, and that's probably the biggest reason I'm going for a 4 instead of 5.

Strongly recommended for people that like parodies of horror movies, and there may be some overlap with fans of this game and fans of Robb Sherwinn games.

I received a review copy of this game.

This is very entertaining title from Choice of Games.

It's a self-aware farce with characters drawn from broad fantasy/fairytale stereotypes.

You play as a royal heir who is constantly surviving kidnapping attempts. The bulk of the game concerns one kidnapping attempt, which involves you and four heroes (a bold knight, a proud Amazon, a peasant, and human raised by faeries) descending layer by layer through an enormous tower full of traps.

One compelling thing about this game is that it rewards bad behavior. Being a helpless drama magnet is one of the strongest ways to make it through the game. So is being selfish and mean, but being kind is okay.

It even makes good use of bad relationship stats. You have plenty of opportunities to decide who to throw in the mix of danger.

Some people have expressed difficulty knowing which stats connect to what. I admit to being a little unclear on the use of strategy vs intuition (neither of which I maxed out), and I stayed almost exactly 50% on 'ready for the ball' vs 'ready to fight'. I think one issue is that much of the humor relies on you making specific choices, so it can feel forced at times because it IS forced due to the humor requirements. I also found it a bit hard to get started.

I received a review copy of this game.

This game is one of the shorter Choicescript entries, around 80K words. It still had a comparable playthrough length to bigger games, so I suspect it just has less paths than most games (my game is in a similar spot branching-wise).

You play as a news reporter who is investigating criminal activity. Unlike most Choice of Games entries, the main character gets their butt kicked frequently. It can be a bit frustrating having so many negative things happen.

There are three main stats, and many parts of the game involve choosing your best stat. When I was writing for Choice of Games, they mentioned the 'three stat trap' a lot, and I wonder if games like this is where that comes from (just having every choice be an option between three stats).

It sounds like I'm being pretty negative about the game. The truth is its hard to design a satisfying story arc for one of these games in 80K words, unless you paint everything with broad strokes and have a lot of life-changing choices (like Choice of the Dragon).

Nevertheless, I enjoyed discovering more about the mystery, and the characters were vividly described, if somewhat one-dimensional (especially villains!). I don't regret my time playing, and the game was polished.

I received a review copy of this game.

This game is firmly in the drama camp. It had a lot of action and intrigue and less, if any, humor.

The setting is detailed and vivid, and is the best thing about the game in my mind. Its set in a Borgia-era Venice, albeit with different names, and you are part of the crime family. Your parent has died, and there is a power play between you and two siblings. You are the only one, however, who is a blood mage, an illegal type of necromancer who can see and influence spirits.

This is in the category of Choicescript games like The Martian Job or Rent-a-Vice where there are a lot of ways to go wrong and it doesn't feel like you have complete power, as opposed to pure power-fantasies like Creme de la Creme (by the same author) or Choice of Robots.

This game has more options to violent or dark than most Choice of Games titles. Murder is a possible solution to many problems. And there is no way to please everyone. One of your siblings is an ineffectual pacifist and the other is a violent war hawk. At least twice in the game you get urgent messages from multiple people and have to let someone down.

I had a satisfying romantic arc in my game. Some reviewers have complained that romance is less of a focus, but the game was updated this June to have additional romance.

This is a long game. While having a lower wordcount than Tally Ho or Creme de la Creme, the playthrough length feels comparable. I felt like I was playing a quality game. I am glad, though, that the tone is lighter in Creme de la Creme.

I received a review copy of this game.

Some Choicescript games stand out to me in different areas. Choice of Robots has a real sense of freedom. The Martian Job has beautiful wordcraft. The Treasure Seekers of Lady Luck has memorable and original characters.

This game had perhaps the most satisfying story I've played so far. Part of that is my personal tastes. I love mysteries, and Christopher Huang is one of my favorite mystery authors. This game is a superhero game, but it definitely has a mystery feel.

You play as a news reporter who must assume the mask of the hero when your (Spoiler - click to show)twin brother gets kidnapped. You have to face off against three superhero villains to get to the core of the plot.

The story has a definite narrative arc with a good buildup and one of the best denouements I've had in Choicescript games, which usually end quickly.

If I had a gripe, it's in the game having a lot of romantic options but having you start off engaged (though not married). It seemed kind of underhanded, though (Spoiler - click to show)upon replay I felt better about it.

I felt like I had real agency in the game. And Christopher Huang nailed something that I've found lacking in many choicescript games: making failure feel worthwhile. Failure in this game doesn't lead to messages implying "you are bad at this game". Instead, it leads to dramatic tension, the 'calm before the storm.'

Stats aren't superpowered in this version, making this less of a power fantasy. But that makes sense, considering you're a civilian that only recently took up the mask. There seems to be no way to manage your stats to pass every check somehow. But it's okay.

I can see why some people might not like this game. But it has all the things I personally look for in a game.

I received a review copy of this game.

This game is basically exactly what the title promises. It is a sword and sorcery game with dinosaurs everywhere.

Strip away the dinosaurs, and it is polished but generic swords and sorcery. The only real weapons mentioned are swords; there is magic, but it generally just does whatever you want without any sort of system; everyone has a class of some type, either a bard or a ranger or a wizard. The enemies are (Spoiler - click to show)dragons and a necromancer.

It's also oriented towards a younger audience, I believe. The language seems intentionally simple, the romances involve mostly hugging and kissing (which is fine with me). Everything is telegraphed and/or on-the-nose. Although you are an adult, there are segments like seeking admittance to wizard school or looking up info on dinosaurs that are more reminiscent of junior fiction.

None of this is necessarily bad. I think this would make a great Wesnoth campaign, for instance. And it had a definite narrative arc and some great characters. I enjoyed my neurodivergent partner who disliked crowds and touch, as well as my velociraptor Rex.

I had the chance to be evil at one point, and I took it. The game didn't really seem to want to commit to me being evil, but I did anyway, although I betrayed my new ally in the end and sided with others.