Reviews by MathBrush

I tried this game in French at first but didn't know some words (like damier) so I switched to English.

This is a Neo Twiny Jam game, a game written in 500 words or less. It uses a parser-like functionality in that you give commands by clicking on links, with your list of commands expanding over time.

It took me just a few moments to figure out what was going on, but that grew into a mix of amusement and horror. Trying my options, I thought I had failed, but trying more and more my interest grew, especially as I had just been listening to season 3 of the Magnus Archives, episode 83, which is strongly relevant.

I got a bit annoyed by timed text on replay but it makes sense for the setup here. Very well done.

In this brief Twine game, written for the Neo Twiny Jam in 500 words or less, you play as an inventor who is pitching their project, Sprinklepills!

The game is pretty short, with only an option or two, but presents a whole story from start to finish in a way many of the other jam entries fail to do.

I liked that the story could be read a few different ways; as stoic heroicism in the face of doubt (like The Pursuit of Happyness), as a goofball story of a whacky inventor, or as a deluded individual.

Overall, there's nothing wrong with this story, but I feel like it has a lot of features that could be dialed up. There's some good writing, but it has the potential for being great; the plot is interesting, but could be engaging, etc. So I look forward to future works from this author, but feel like this won't be their greatest work.

I've heard of the name Cressida St. Claire before although I'm not exactly sure where. I guess it makes sense, since this story is written well, but I think this is the first game of theirs that I've played.

It's a brief tale, written for the Neo Twiny Jam. It deals with a child who ponders the constellations they cannot see while waiting for a mother to visit who brings pain.

It's hard to read, because it represents a harsh reality for so many people. Especially the idea that no matter what you do, your abuser will consider something that you did as wrong, anything to justify the treatment. Overall descriptive writing.

This game seemed almost intimidating at first, like a puzzle box unfolding.

You are outside a palace on a gondola, intent on breaking in. As you explore links, more and more of the text unfolds, allowing additional links, additional interactions.

Once I solved the first big puzzle, the game ended. This, then, is just a prelude, cut short to fit into the Neo Twiny Jam.

This seems like it will be truly great, but for now is quite short.

This is a well-put-together twine game for the Neo Twiny Jam, written in 500 words or less.

In it, you play as someone who seems to have a crushing fear of injuring someone while driving. I understand this fear for sure; I'm a mediocre driver and zone out a lot, and have had close calls in the past, like almost getting sideswiped by a semi truck when I was in its blind spot.

This driver's fears are expressed through oblique references and through the use of color and a few other graphical techniques.

The game itself is tense, but the background is hard to define. Parental trauma lingers in the background, but there's something else going on that's hard to define and is left unsaid. Interesting game.

This Twine game entered in the Neo Twiny Jam is, like the others, under 500 words.

It uses a pleasing text effect where hovering over underlined words brings up a box with clarification, like words muttered under the breath or mental comments reviewing your own previous thoughts.

I at first thought this was just going to be some edgy stoner thing (as it starts with you passing a joint back and forth with a friend) but it's a lot more meaningful, with a deep science conversation about the sun and a link between that and the situation going on around you that is full of implication but not brought into the open.

The ending is powerful in its own way, but it didn't completely land for me, as I felt like it was slightly disconnected from the rest of the game. Kind of like a differentiable piecewise function that has a discontinuous second derivative; the transition is fairly smooth at the break point but something feels slightly off. But the writing is great, some of the best I've seen in the jam so far.

This is a short poem entered in the Neo Twiny Jam, coming in at slightly less than 400 words.

It is a poem of consisting of short, staccato sentences of roughly equal size, some using text effects such as blur or cycling links. It covers brother who is not there, a brother who the parents refuse or are unable to see.

It has several possible interpretations, between loss, a change in self-identity, or something sinister.

There are few choices, if any, but the links there are help to guide your own pace through the poem and split it up in good spots, so the interactivity worked for me.

This game has you, an ancient (I think) and powerful vampire, trapped on a roof, dying as morning breaks.

The author does a good job of evoking feeling. There is some minimal use of quickly timed text, which felt appropriate for the story. The character is portrayed with nuance, both bombastic and arrogant but also stoic and resigned.

There is some appropriate music setting the stage. It was brief, as intended for a Neo Twiny Jam game.

I identified with this a lot. It's a story about the agonies of feelings of inadequacy after childbirth. I remember that feeling after my son was born and knowing that every second of the rest of my life (at least for a decade or two) somebody had to be watching and taking care of him. I remember panicking when some numeric milestone wasn't reached like weight and I remember the first time he had a serious injury. The protagonist is hit even harder, though, as there seems to be very strong post-partum depression and/or anxiety, so it must be a truly rough experience. The author clearly loves the child but that doesn't make it easier; if you didn't love, didn't care, then things would be great, because you wouldn't have to stress about the kid. It's the love that allows the anxiety to take hold, which adds to the guilt. So it's all very relatable.

This Neo Twiny Jam game reminded me of the Magnus Archives in a good way.

You are a puppet made of the shell of a cyperus (which I think is a tigernut? after looking it up). You are forced to dance and dance, but unlike the other puppets, it brings you no joy.

This is framed in the art for the game as a trans story, which it makes sense as, but it also could extend to many things where the reader differs from others around them.

Overall, I found the writing evocative and poetic, which pulled the whole thing together for me.