Reviews by MathBrush

As I was playing this game, I thought, "This is exactly the kind of game I enjoy most easily: a polished kind-of-puzzly parser game with fun dialogue." It's amazing the reach that Charm Cochran has, from the gritty choice-based game We the Remainder that I first got interested in, to short story-focused games like 1 4 the $, to meditative and poignant games like Sundown and Gestures towards Divinity, to this game.

You play as a spy who has access to word-reversing technology. With it, you can reverse words you can see. Like Counterfeit Monkey, there is some thought put into world-building; people's perception of words (including your own perception) affects whether you can reverse something or not.

I enjoyed the riff on Spider and Web at the beginning with the lockpick, that was genuinely amusing.

The game isn't too long; there's really 3-4 sets of puzzles (the initial rooms, dealing with an NPC, a locked room, and the endgame).

It's an interesting balance of open-endedness and hand-holding. On one hand, conversations can branch a lot--but it often requires you to go through every topic. Puzzles have many potential solutions--but you're often given explicit hints about it and can ask for more in-game. This balance worked really well for me for 90% of the game. It broke down when it came to the puzzle with the (Spoiler - click to show)hammer. There were a ton of items that could potentially serve as a (Spoiler - click to show)handle in my mind: (Spoiler - click to show)the lockpick, a spare part, a branch of the retem shrub, maybe even the yam. But it's probably because I didn't know what a (Spoiler - click to show)spanner is and I dropped it early on as I didn't see a use. The hints didn't get explicit enough for me to know what to do and there was no walkthrough, so I looked for other reviews and saw what to do here as well as the next step which also seemed pretty unintuitive (but for which there is a hint). Now, this doesn't mean it's a bad puzzle; I barely struggled for 10 minutes before getting help. Someone patient and methodical could easily have solved it. It just stuck out when compared to the other puzzles.

Overall this was a good experience. I spent a long time griping above, but that was a minor divot in a good game.

This is a visual novel written by a large crew. It has no decision points at all, which means that its merit rests entirely on the strength of its writing and on the visuals and sound. That's always tricky for me when reviewing choiceless games because they feel like they belong to the wider comparative group of static fiction which is much more competitive.

Fortunately, this is written well and the pictures and sound are well-done. The background images have enough contrast to read the text and the focus on having only one character portrait for each conversation instead of going back and forth fits well with the writing style.

The story is about two women (seemingly in mid-20s, since one has spent time in medical school) who meet in London for the first time after having a relationship online. Things go well at first, but their differences pile up. We end up seeing first one side of the relationship, then the other, with a final perspective reserved for the ending.

The rest of the review discusses events in game.

(Spoiler - click to show)One of the characters is reeling from a breakup with a very physical relationship and tries to initiate that twice with the other. The other partner is deeply disturbed by this and tensions rise between them.

Also, the person who assaulted is very controlling. She sets up every thing on the date according to her ideas and is constantly annoyed or disappointed when the other girl doesn't fit with what she wants.

Overall, it reminded me of several episodes in my own life and the life of my friends. I saw one couple break up and learned a year or two later that one partner had assaulted the other sexually. I cut off contact with that person and supported the victim. They dated someone else and later broke up. I then found at that that person who had been assaulted went on to assault their next partner. It was all so sad. And it kind of feels like that's what's happening here; one person was in an uncomfortable hyper-sexualized relationship and was dumped, then went on to assault someone else.

The whole trip thing reminded me of something in my own life. When I was in college, there was a woman I knew who lived one dorm over, the same age of me, and she was a close friend. Our roommates were a big friend group and we'd all watch movies as a group and do activities. I'd taken her on a date before, and I knew her family well even though they lived far away (her mother liked me and showed me some neat poetry forms and became my unofficial poetry tutor). She had a really tempestuous personality and went from hot to cold a lot and had a lot of backstory from an abusive father. I ended up writing a letter saying I loved her but she didn't reciprocate at that time. We stayed friends. The summer after we moved out, I got an invitation to attend her younger brother's baptism (an event that happens in our church at 8 years old). I knew it was just a courtesy invite but I asked the mom if I could attend and she was thrilled. She even asked me to perform the baptism myself. I got plane tickets and paid for a hotel room. Wisconsin was beautiful, and I flew in a plan so small that there were only 3 seats per row (with 2 on one side and one on the other of the aisle) and, as I was the only passenger, the flight attendant had me sit in one specific spot to balance the plane. When I got there, I was welcomed and feasted. We had bear meat that the mom had shot herself. I went canoeing with the adult brother of the girl in question, and had tons of fun seeing rare native birds. I performed the baptism.

But the woman didn't talk to me the whole trip. She was completely silent. I realized I had made a huge mistake (as those reading along probably realized earlier!). I cried in the hotel room each night. She didn't say goodbye when I left, either. When I returned to Utah, flying over the Great Salt Lake, I thought it was the ugliest place in the world. (Not now, though! every time I fly over it now I think how much I love it and look back on that old memory and am glad I changed.)

Obviously I never contacted her again. Months later, though, her stepdad wrote me urgently and with great conviction. He said that she was marrying a deadbeat loser that she had recently met (his description) and said: "If you love her at all you need to fight for her!" I wrote back and said, "I no longer believe that we would be happy together." She married him and also inherited from her grandmother a ranch in Arizona, where I presume she still lives.

Years later, after I was married, some of her family members tried to add me on Facebook. My wife at the time was extremely upset, more than almost anything in our marriage, and said that that girl was trying to reconnect with me to flirt with me and steal me away. So I never added them.

After my divorce, though, I did add the little brother I baptized on Instagram. He went on a mission, got married, and seems like a great guy.

Anyway, so I resonated with this game a lot, both from my own experiences with uncomfortable 3-day visits and from seeing how assault can destroy relationships of others. So I was completely dumbfounded when they stay together at the end, it really defied my expectations. I don't really feel good for them; the hesitant one even resolves to be more physically affectionate in the future, presumably to please the other and against their earlier choices. I did the same thing at the end of my marriage and trying to save a relationship through physical intimacy alone is the sign of a sinking ship.

So, the story definitely made me think a lot, which is, in my mind, a sign of a good story.

This is a nice-looking Twine game set in a dystopian near-future where most fun jobs are taken by AI and humans are given Universal Basic Income that lets them scrape by but without much purpose in life.

You are given the opportunity to do some experimental trials for a shady company. The trials have to do with a kind of neuron-affecting chemical injection, but to find out what it is, you'll have to proceed with your trial.

I found the writing engaging and the story interesting. It doesn't last too long. I just wish it either had a more solid ending or more options for interactivity. As far as I could tell, the majority of interaction was 'do this interesting thing' or 'stop the game early'. I just checked (stopping in the middle of writing this review) and tried replaying with a different first option and saw that it changes a good deal of the story, which is actually pretty neat. So I'll bump up the rating for that. But all 4 ending variations I've seen seem really anticlimactic, which is rough because the rest of the story flows so well.

I beta tested this game.

Marbles, D, and the Sinister Spotlight" is a delightful game from Drew Cook (author of Repeat the Ending) that is inspired by the old Zork CYOA books (which I haven't read, but I definitely got old-school CYOA book vibes from the writing here.)

This is a highly polished Parser game with several illustrations, cinematic 'cut scenes' and act changes, several layers of help menus and a lot of independent actions by actors and scenery changes. It has a lot of custom responses as well.

The idea is that you are a highly intelligent cat and you're exploring an abandoned movie theatre with your human friend that you've been locked inside of as part of an adventure. The movie theatre is mysterious and dark, and it's up to you to guide your human around.

The text is rich and expansive, while the geography is small and limited. I'd say that this game is designed (intentionally?) to be accessible to those familiar with gaming in general but unfamiliar with parser conventions and tropes. It has extensive tutorial comments early on, a constrained list of verbs that can be accessed at any time, a list at the top of available locations and important items, and hints in the text at which actions are appropriate to progress.
It's not too long; it's divided up into six acts and a finale, with each act solvable in just a few actions. The story does feel complete, though, which is another reason I think this makes a good game for those new to parser games. I've found that when starting parser games (or playing parser games in a new and unfamiliar language) that it really helps to split up the game into distinct sections, limiting the geography, and keeping a running list of important items makes it so much easier (I write this as I'm struggling with a long French parser game).

The pictures were a real highlight, very evocative and fitting of both the setting and the style of writing. They worked for me in both downloadable and online versions but I preferred the overall look of the online version.

The HELP text at the end suggests that the game was made with learning and/or teaching new Inform techniques like scenes in mind. I hope the source code becomes available, as the game does enough neat stuff that I think people would benefit from seeing examples of it.

I appreciated the little 'paw pictures' that let you know when to press a button, as there are often large amounts of text at once.

Veteran parser players will enjoy the Zork references (which manage to be both pretty faithful while also being creative) and newcomers will appreciate the help systems. Fun and not too long.

This is a game with many endings. I achieved one, but didn't get any of the 7 achievements.

This game uses extensive music, styling, and art to provide a dark and (literally) demonic atmosphere. You play as someone in a messy and cluttered apartment. Looking around, you find reminders of your life as well as huge messes.

Any attempts to get things done result in demons appearing that attack you. You can confront them in negative or positive ways (I laughed when one potential response to a demon attacking you was to doom scroll, but it makes sense since that's often a real-life response to stress).

You have a strong connection to food; there are a ton of take-out menus and each item gives you a flashback or an emotional connection.

This worked for me as a 'depression simulator', and I found it relatable and having an overall uplifting message.

This game has great multimedia presentation. It fakes a desktop with music, notes, etc. and a cute cursor dripping purple particles. It has occasional images included as well, and it seems to have been written as part of an academic requirement, as it cites committee members.

The writing is more literary/poetic than genre-based. It depicts several vignettes from the life of a girl, from 13 to 21. All of them are dynamic and full of emotion, some strongly negative (there is attempted sexual assault and violence) while others are more thoughtful or melancholic.

Much of it seems pretty realistic. I work with kids and a lot of kids get into the occult or, worse, poetry at around 13-15, and talking to former students who graduated college, many of them do find it grueling and rough entering into the working world. I found this poignant overall.

This game runs on a timer, although there is an option to download a non-timed gblorb. While I played it, I had to get called away three times for family business while the timer was running. I talked to my son about including that in the rating (the fact that it's hard to find time for timed, unpausable games) but he said that that shouldn't be factored in, since the game was specifically about being timed. So I won't. Edit: I've been told the game is pausable, so that fixes things! I didn't notice it earlier.

Story-wise, you are the Little Match Girl (whose powers are best discovered by playing one of the other Little Match Girl games), trying to stop a spaceship of villains from their plan of blowing a hole into heaven through the golden sphere that surrounds it. Along the way, a variety of shenanigans occur.

The game reminds me of Attack of the Killer Zombie Robot Yetis (or whatever the name is), in that it's meant to be played in one fell swoop with high stakes while cleverly disguising the way the game pushes you forward. I have a list on IFDB of games like this called "Linear Thriller Games" but haven't found many games to add to it recently. This one is an especially good example.

The timer starts out at 30 minutes but can change and adapt over time. I'm not sure what would happen if it got to 0.

The lore of the series continues to evolve. It is self-consistent. It reminds me of shows like Adventure Time and the Simpsons that start out with no continuity then end up, several seasons later, being very heavily continuity based with long storylines.

Overall, the dialogue, characters, world-building, story arc, and descriptions worked well for me.

As I played this game, after Spring Thing had ended, I thought, "This is a lot of fun. I'll probably rate it at 4 stars, but I kind of feel like it should be 5 stars under my criteria."

Then I went to see what others had rated it as, and was really surprised to see that it had an average below 3 stars.

So I wanted to share my reasoning on it.

First, a description. This is a Twine game with a kind of central hub where you, a stowaway, are hiding in the cargo hold. From there, you can go to four different locations, each of which contains either an item to grab or a place to use an item, together with (Spoiler - click to show)a strange and fantastical world unrelated to the ship you're on. There are at least 5 endings, of which I found two.

As I write this, I reflect that this is very similar to the first Twine game I every truly enjoyed: Astrid Dalmdady's You are Standing at a Crossroads, which has a similar spoke and hub structure where you find places you need items first and use them later.

Perhaps it was this similarity which made me enjoy the game. Here is my breakdown on my rubric, which is not hard and fast, but helps me organize thoughts:

+Polish: The game was bug-free, as far as I saw, looked nice, and was complete.
+Descriptiveness: I enjoyed the descriptions of the very different areas, and I liked the feel of the pirate crew.
+Interactivity: I felt like I could strategize towards my own desired ends. Interactions were clear and intuitive.
+Emotional impact: I enjoyed the sense of wonder and the whimsy of the game.
+Would I play again? I was interested enough to play to two endings.

I like all of Bez's games, many of which recently have taken the form of voice-acted adventures with character illustrations set in a world where where people are a mix of animal and human.

This one is part of that larger continuity and follows on from past stories. It has three friends (including a cute snail human) that are doing Tarot readings and talk about the future.

I like the writing and the authenticity. Like some other Bez games, the story here models being open with friends and overcoming social challenges through honesty.

So why three stars? Well, with Bez being a prolific author, I've started sorting through the games in my mind. I prefer the stories by this author that have choices and also those which have a bit more content.

This is the author's first game. I'm giving it 2 stars right now but it could easily be 3 or 4 stars with just a few small touches, if the author wanted to revisit it.

This is a short branching games with some neat tricks including colored text, briefly timed text, and a countdown timer in at least one part.

You are on a train, contemplating your beloved child named Lila, when a visitor comes and surprises you. The game reveals that (full spoilers) (Spoiler - click to show)you are a vampire, and this stranger is set on killing you.

I like the setup, and there are real choices. On the other hand, the game is really short, and there are a lot of typos that detract from the game. In Twine there's an option at the top to print out a 'proofing copy' of the game that's one text that you can run through a spellchecker; doing that would improve this game quite a bit.

I definitely like the author's storytelling ability and think that they're already doing great at writing, and I'd be happy to play another game by them.