Reviews by MathBrush

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.

Portrait with Wolf is a poetic game. Or, a collection of smaller games. When you open it, you have a one-room game and a standard Inform header but with Info for a different game. You have 4 choices you can select from. Choosing one of them gives you a brief ending, then reboots to a new miniature one-room game with four choices.

The choices have different words each time but represent CAT, TURNIP, BOOT, and ASTRONAUT. Wolves are also a recurring theme.

After making 6 choices, you are given an ending. How much of different choices you've made affects which ending you get.

After collecting all the standard endings, you can go on to get a few more complicated endings. I played until I was able to unlock all the GUIDE options.

I initially wrote a review of this game saying that I didn't really understand it, and documented my extensive efforts to find hidden meaning in the game. I didn't feel satisfied with my review, though, so I sought out more clarification on the game, reading other's reviews and asking the author for clarity.

I found out that I had framed the game incorrectly. I had thought the point of the game was to find clues in the text to piece together a mystery. While I enjoyed the art that reminded me of Van Gogh's thick oil style (with brighter colors and subject matter reminiscent of lovingly-illustrated German fairy tale books I read as a kid), I thought it was tangential to the work as a reward for solving the text mystery.

Instead, the game is meant as an experimental work. Had I paid closer attention to the Spring Thing blurb and in-game explanation, I would have seen that it was an homage to the former IF art shows, where I think it would have fit well; Emily Short and Ian Finley would likely have seen this game as a great fit for those competitions (I mention Ian Finley as he also excelled in artistic, artwork-centered experimentation).

As an experiment, this game does many things that are highly unusual. It takes parser affordances more typical for challenging puzzle games (like careful explanation text, error messages, guides, etc.) and incorporates them into a non-goal seeking context. (I say non-goal seeking even though the game does have goals, but the goals are more 'here is what you can see', like Jacqueline Ashwell's The Fire Tower, another IF Art Show game, rather than 'solve the puzzle). Additionally, the creative use of the Inform game header was something that struck me as the game's most intriguing part, using the most dull and tedious part of a regular game and turning it into one of the more fascinating portions of the game.

Part of the poetry sections of this game have been spun off into extensions. The complex menus and ending systems are also an experiment that I could see find use in a variety of other games, especially the presentation of endings and unlocked material.

I played the original spring thing online play version, which jumps directly into the text. The new version, which I played on itch after writing my initial review, has a beautiful opening image that significantly enhances the initial impression. I'd be interested in learning more about how the image scaling was handled.

I was glad to get a new perspective on the game, as I had set out to do. It was on my mind for the whole day after I wrote my original review, and I didn't feel settled. I do now.

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 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.

This is a short Twine conversation with some nice styling and neat CSS effects (like hover-over color changing).

You are talking to a friend and you have deep conflict in your heart about your interactions with them. They are a knight, the Hound of Ricsige, and they also don't really consider your feelings all the time (that's the impression I got).

The story makes use of tastefully timed text that doesn't take up much time (and the game itself is short enough that time text isn't a big deal).

I feel like I'm being vague with this review, but the way the game was written, I felt like either:

a) the author was writing in a purposely vague way to make the game more relatable, with its tropes of angst and difficulty communicating, or
b) the author was writing about pre-existing OCs and didn't feel a need to provide more context as the context already exists in their mind.

I'm guessing it's more a), and as a relatable conversation, it works pretty well.

This game has an intriguing concept. Your enemy has promised to never give you back a medallion that you once gave her.

But you'll get it back, even after she's been (Spoiler - click to show)cremated.

It looks like the game can't be finished. No one in the itch comments describes finishing the game, and one person had the same issue with me, that the medallion can never be interacted with. (Spoiler - click to show)Following the exact sequence of moves described on the itch page, I hear the medallion and it says I find it, but trying to exam or take it gives an error message.

Overall, it looks neat and I'd love to see the ending. It's short, made with just 500 words as part of a competition.

This is a very short French game entered as part of a competition using games of 500 words or less.

In it, you are Santa and you want to burn the gifts that millionaires give to their families. You can either choose to (with your laser-assisted reindeer) or not.

After two burn options, you can get a third.

There's not much to the game, just an amusing idea.

This is a short French game in Ink. There are always two choices: "nous" [us] and "je" [we].

It tells the story of a burgeoning civilization, learning to find food and learn language. Choosing 'nous' gives communal results, while 'je' gives individual results.

It's a fairly short game, with two endings which the author says are meant to lead us to reflection. I thought it was pretty interesting, but I felt like the plot was a little generic, and it would have been nice to have some effect of mixing the two options or some other effect of the choices.

It was pretty fun though!

This game is structured like a linear visual story, with black and white hand-drawn images. It won the Short Game Showcase.

Here are the criteria I use to judge things with:

-Polish: The game is both polished and Polish (the author is from Poland), so it doubly fits here. More seriously, the game uses a variety of textual techniques to vary the appearance and the writing had no typos that I saw.
-Descriptiveness: The writing was vivid and I was able to picture what was going on.
-Interactivity/Use of medium: While there was little interactivity, I also use this category for the artwork and structure of visual novels. The art definitely contributed to the overall feeling here, expressing disinterested observation, alienation, fear, isolation, and determination.
-Emotional impact: I actually originally played this game for the first few pages a while ago and stopped because I didn't like what it was about. Finishing it later, it was not what I had originally expected. Both times I felt a strong emotional reaction.
-Would I play again?: Yes, I think I would, there's a lot here that is of interest.