Ratings and Reviews by ArloElm

One of my favorite things about this game is its ability to capture that feeling one gets upon discovering historical connections and commonalities with gay and trans people of the past (not that they would have used the same terms we use, something the game itself notes).
 
As the protagonist searches through old records encoded in bacterial DNA, she uncovers diary entries from more hopeful times, scientific articles, and more recent entries from the revolution. Decoding the DNA is her job, and, fascinating as some of her discoveries are, the work drains her of energy. Sometimes she can complete many tasks, and sometimes she can only decode one sample before exhaustion takes her. 

The archivist, Em, struggles with chronic illness and survivor's guilt. She is a sick woman in a dying world. She was not radical enough for the revolutionaries, and not conformist enough (or rather, not cis enough) for those in power who would do her harm. Even as the world around her falls apart, she needs to find ways to pay rent, or face eviction. She numbs herself with news bulletins demonizing her and those she cares about. Her struggles are all too familiar and at times heartbreakingly relatable.

And yet, there is hope. More hope than I was expecting from a game like this. Moments of connection with (Spoiler - click to show) her son, S-, and with her friends and former lovers K- and A-, demonstrate someone trying to find connection through undercurrents of hopelessness and despair.
 
This is a game that manages to pack a lot of emotional weight into a structure that is in large part randomly generated or player-determined. (The DNA fragments are randomly occurring; Em's energy levels fluctuate based on fixed probabilities; the player decides how Em spends her limited time and energy.)
 
In whatever ways Em spends her time, she is ultimately trapped in a lichen-encrusted, underground city, trying to cling to what life she can make for herself. In several paths, she finds (Spoiler - click to show) a home and a family, however imperfect.
 
Many of this author's games have made me cry while playing, but not this one. The tears didn't come until the day(s) after. This story seeps into your bones and lives there. A remembered future, a future we can only hope to avoid, even if much of what is depicted only mildly exaggerates what too many people are already facing.
 
One thing to take away from this game, though, is that in either today's world or in an imagined dystopia, our salvation will surely lie in each other. 

This game is witty, profane, disgusting, clever, and very, very funny. It critiques the prison industrial complex, satirizes modern(-ish) pop culture, and delves into personal authorial confessions. It does it all with humor that could easily veer into the jaded or cynical, and it does, at times, but there are also moments of deeply earnest sincerity amid the gore and viscera (it is an odd combination, one that the author gleefully relishes).

There are monsters, and even the monsters deserve love. There are flawed, deeply human inmates and bootleggers. There are gross-out scenes involving various bodily fluids that are extreme enough to warrant taking the content warnings very seriously. There are whole societies based on the post-apocalyptic preservation of the entirety of Pitbull's musical catalog.

One Final Pitbull Song is a wild ride, a fever dream, a horror-comedy-romance for the ages.

Esther's is a very short game, about 5 minutes of read/play time, and that is a perfect length for a game that models itself after a picture book. Everything from the font choices and colors, to the undeniably charming illustrations work together to this end. The humor is clever, gentle, and exactly the kind of thing to delight a young child like the titular Esther.

This is a game to be read along with the kids in your life. To the authors, thank you for making this game, and for demonstrating that this art form truly can be for all ages.

This game has really gorgeous UI, a story mode, and several arcade modes. You play as a bartender in a fantasy universe (think typical fantasy TTRPGs) and serve clients drinks.

The story mode needed a little more attention when I played. There were still a few bugs, but these will likely all be fixed soon, if they haven't been addressed already. The author has been extremely responsive to all reports of errors. 

The arcade mode, though, and the core drink-mixing mechanics, are an absolute triumph. The UI really shines here, with colorful bottles, a variety of recipes, and gameplay that is just difficult enough to be challenging (the timed modes are especially fun).

There are also a few clever UI implementations in the story mode gameplay itself, which add variety to the randomized patron encounters (one involving Tarot Cards was really delightful).

All-in-all, definitely a game I would recommend. Whether you play around in arcade mode for a few minutes, or take some time and delve into story mode and meet the Tavern's customers, you're in for an entertaining experience. 

This game does many of the things that historical fiction does best. It humanizes the people involved in and affected by war in ways that dry articles and statistics simply cannot. Zhang Xiaoyun's childhood and young adulthood are followed through retellings to her great-granddaughter, and at the center of it all is a very meaningful, very human, love story.
 
A Few Observations:

• I loved choosing options to get additional information, especially the ones that take the player back to the modern-day conversation between (great-)grandmother and granddaughter. Many of these function purely as footnotes, but some also involve playful asides that inspire affection for the characters as well as being informative about the history and setting.
 
• I also enjoyed the little moment of mlm and wlw solidarity when (Spoiler - click to show) Zhiwen says, "Maybe we're not that different," and the protagonist feels a sense of safety around him (plus her looks of recognition when she sees Zhiwen's reaction at being reunited with the cadre with whom he was presumably romantically involved)
 
• During this playthrough, I didn't choose many options I anticipated as being more romantically bittersweet, but those few I did read through were poignant and beautifully written. I think I'll devote another playthrough to choosing more of those options in the future.

• A potential error: (Spoiler - click to show) If the protagonist attends a resistance meeting with Yan Yan, later, after the two escape and the authorities show up at their school, the text reads as if Yan Yan is the only one in danger of being found out, when in all likelyhood the protagonist would spare at least a passing thought for her own safety as well. (This may be a missed variable or coding error, and is really a very minor, nit-picky complaint in what is overall a wonderful gameplay experience.) 

In closing, I also want to mention the small piece of meta-commentary the game engages in, about the nature and purpose of stories. At one choice, the protagonist says that stories are useful because they "help people understand other people and themselves." If that is the purpose of stories, this game fulfills that purpose very well.