This game makes excellent use of different text and background colors and fonts to provide an intriguing and creepy atmosphere.
You play as a groundskeeper for the queen who has been dismissed. You take a short tour through a fantastic and frightening landscape. The background darkens as the game progresses.
Overall, a great short gane.
This game is brief, and is based on (I believe) on the Masque of the Red Death.
The game is sub-q style, short and straightforward, but Bruno manages to make it interesting. The writing is heavy, like Devil's Food Cake. The game is an adaptation, but with enough early changes that I was intrigued to see where it would go storywise.
The game has good replay value due to a sequence of end actions wandering about a party and choosing what rooms to visit. I found at least two different interesting sequences.
I recommend this game as a short literary bite.
This isn't really something to try and beat as much as it is a tool to come up with characters. It chooses things like name, sex and appearance, but also personality types, astrological signs, concerns about body image, etc.
There is a message of sorts in what options are generated, but it seemed mostly just like a fun tool rather than a means to a greater end.
Edit:
I've just replayed this, and discovered the black text is links to mini-stories, many of which are really good. I recommend this game now. Some strong profanity. I've increased the rating from 3 stars to 5.
Feu de Joie was a serial story released starting in 2015. It was about someone working for an online company who started getting weird messages from elsewhere.
This game is set from the other side, and manages to make powerful statements about war and world history. It's hard to go into more detail without exposing the plot.
It is very brief. I give it five stars for its polish and for its important place in the Feu de Joie series as a whole.
This game is about a young person who longs to be free from the mundane world. They try to escape, and begin to find the faery world.
The game has a variety of branches, picking from 2 sets of three big options and many smaller ones.
The game is very successful at creating and maintaining a wistful, deep atmosphere.
S. Woodson is a talented author, and it comes out in this brief game.
In this game, you create a story by choosing from menus. This game has a time cave structure, where every chance branches widely into more choices.
This usually is not effective, but the branches are short, the game meant to be replayed often, and you have a general idea of what effect your choices will have.
Options include choosing a setting for your short story, choosing characters, choosing motivations or objects, and so on.
This Sub-Q game is tightly focused and compact. You play as Fuwa Bansaku, a samurai based on a real-life Japanese swordsman. You are investigating an abandoned shrine that is rumored to be haunted.
This game uses a small number of directional commands and tightly-written poetry to achieve a compact and peaceful feel.
The story revolves around court drama and the story of the abandoned shrine.
An enjoyable, short piece.
This game is about a father who is macho and masculine, and a son who has taken a different path and identity from their father.
You take turns playing as father, son, or, eventually, unicorn. The meaning of the unicorn is enigmatic to me, perhaps representing social pressure, but you'll have to play to see what you think.
There is some strong profanity, vague reference to sexual acts, and occasional violence.
In this game, the doctors are testing to see if you have recovered from a mental illness. They test you by having you rhyme words that they say, but in an odd way and with a timer counting down quickly.
In no way is this an epic or life changing games but it satisfies all of my criteria for 5 stars, which is why I'm giving it that score.
This is my favorite Apollo 18 one move game so far. It is very simple; someone is chasing you, and you have one chance to escape them. There is a correct solution, but all endings are interesting (I found 11 or so).
This game really shines in its writing and creativity. It affected me emotionally in a mild, pleasant way.
There is some mild profanity right at the beginning.