Reviews by MathBrush

You Cannot Speak

Hmm, this game is almost entirely incomplete. While several games in this competition are unfinished at various levels or promise sequels, this game stops before any of the actual plot happens; it's not a game with a sequel hook, it's a prologue with the game missing.

You play as someone with sleep paralysis who wakes up in a hospital that seems to be on a space station. There are some weird objects in the room, and then an old man is standing outside your door. Then the game ends, and promises the Chapter 1 is coming soon.

So there's really not anything to judge. The only thing in this game to talk about (for me) that isn't a setup for some future, unknown payoff is that you have some options in what order to explore your room.

Yes, I'd like to see it finished. Edit: I've given this game 1 star. I'd be more than happy to revisit it and the rating once there's more content here.

This is an unfinished Twine game about you, a horse whisperer that now works for the mob. You have to talk to three horses and get them to finish a race in the order that the mob has told you to do.

You have about a week to do that, and can talk to one (or sometimes more) horses a day, then you race.

Each horse has its own dialogue tree. These aren't, in general, finished, and the end of the race screen I played had a broken else statement in Twine (which I reported as the game asked).

What text there is is mostly jokes about the wild lives the horses live and silly dialog options you are allowed to say. Some of the content might be described as crude but mostly harmless. I enjoyed some of the banter with the snobby horse.

Like a couple other games this competition, this game would have benefitted from more prep time, and especially if it had been finished before the competition began.

This game depends on the author's api AI key, which is currently non-functioning, making this game unplayable. I'll update this review if it becomes functionable again in the future.

This game starts out with abstract text in an unreadable font. It soon changes, so I'll put the rest in spoilers.

(Spoiler - click to show)You discover that you are in the arms of your mother, who can provide you with drinks, words, etc. You can look out the window or at your mother. At times, it seems like there is no way to progress, but as you complete the cycle, you can. There are 3 achievements; I got one of 3.

The more you play, the more you realize that there is something else going on here, a different genre and setting. The vocabulary used is grim and strong in this game. I found it interesting and was glad to play it.

This is a Neo-Twiny Jam game about a relationship where you and the other person meet and care about each other but there is, it seemed like to me, space between the two of you, a lack of complete emotional intimacy. I enjoyed the writing, and it brought to mind some close friends of my own in a positive way.

The text is on a timer, specifically a very slow timer and it refreshes to a new screen each time the timer goes off, with no way to go back, so you have to sit very still and watch carefully to avoid missing anything. Text comes in passages with each passage having three sentences followed by a binary choice. The game lasts around 4 choices, so it doesn't take too long to play. I found this pretty frustrating, which was balanced by my enjoyment of the lovely way the writing connected with me.

This is a Neo-Twiny Jam game written in 500 words or less. Its text is rich and symbolic, though difficult to understand. I felt that it was saying that I was some kind of monstrous creature, part lizard and part bird or maybe even insect, whose body was bleeding and rippling and changing in a liquid way.

The writing had a lot of good similes and metaphors and strong verbs. The game doesn't last too long, and it all ends up kind of in the air. Fun for its length.

This is a short game that has a special gimmick. Revealing the gimmick removes most of the enjoyment of the game. I recommend playing it; just now I played it twice in 10 minutes so it's not too much time.

Story-wise, you are a contract killer who has performed an assassination, and your goal is to get home. You meet three different people or groups of people on the way, with some choices on how to deal with them.

(Spoiler - click to show)This game is played in reverse. Each action is kind of localized in time, and then you go to an earlier time in the day. The way this is represented is that each spot has two ghostly figures, and by recreating the ghostly figures, you cause them to disappear. In reality, what you did was make them happen, but since time is going backwards, it looks like you make them unhappen.

I always thought there was a unique path in this game, but you can pick between multiple futures at each location.

The gimmick here really is impressive. I'd love to see someone else try it. Long gone are the days where people could reasonably assume to have a unique idea for every parser game, so it would be fun to see this concept polished up a bit.

This is a short game that relies on parsing out text briefly in two ways: timed text (which is relatively quick) and 'click to add more text to the paragraph', which is helpfully indicated by a symbol in the corner.

As part of the Neo-Twiny Jam, the game is short. As part of the Bluebeard jam, it is full of mystery and violence. And as part of the Anti-Romance Jam, it is heartwrenching.

I felt like this game was trying out something really unusual. The way that text spread and proliferated as I clicked on different things and the way the text automatically appeared felt like it was glitchy and strange, but intentionally so as part of your experience as a (Spoiler - click to show)robot.

I couldn't find anything much to do beyond looking and doing what I was asked not to do. In a way, that strengthens the story and explains why (Spoiler - click to show)all the earlier experiments failed; it is part of their existence to rebel, there is no other way to progress. At least, that was my interpretation.

This is a very brief game with lovely art.

You are a noise conductor on a mouse train. On each screen, you progress by clicking the train button at the bottom, which gives a satisfying animation with acceleration.

The story is simple and linear, but I was intrigued by the station list and the restart button. The restart button let me play again and I realized that everything was different. I played for a while and tried to imagine explanations for what was going on, especially given the list of stations, and that was fun.

This is an extensive story about a vampire who was both blessed and cursed with vampirism. Of course being a vampire is a bad thing, but you've been blessed to be a vampire with some control and restraint over your feeding.

Unfortunately for you, you've been trapped by an ingenious device and have to await the coming of the sun (which is the radiance inviolate mentioned in the story name).

While you're waiting, you have numerous flashbacks. You see how you originally died, how you came to be a vampire, and some other unholy creatures you've met.

While most of the game was linear, there were a few interesting choices and (I think) multiple endings. I ended up with a somewhat romantic ending.

I liked the writing in general. One effective piece of text I liked early on:

"Camille—his maker—had left him a particular imprint; a drive to consume those already craving relief from suffering.

Acts of mercy that fueled him, yes, but also brought him to face that force of nature which he himself refused and resented.

Death."

Overall, by far the best part in this story for me is the dynamic between characters. It's clear the author is talented and experienced at writing interesting conversations and relationships, and that's something I look forward to in future games from this author.