Reviews by manonamora

This review will mostly focus on the Twine version, submitted to the 2024 SpringThing.

The Kuolema is a fairly large mystery adventure puzzle/choice game made in Twine, where the goal is to investigate an incident in the eponymous ship, retrieve an important device, and avoid international conflict. In this one-man adventure, you get to explore the ship (whose many rooms require a key to access), interact with the different objects (and bring them along), question the few survivors about the incident, and maybe learn a bit more about this whole... "deal" (boat, employer, device...). There are a handful of endings depending on a few choices made during the story. This version also includes a "Story Mode", which includes visible hints (helpful for the crossword especially).

The game plays on the conventional and expected twists (uh-oh, that's a dead body) and tropes (e.g. the really smart scientist turning cuckoo banana or the rugged security officer that trust no one) of the genre. And while the writing tends to be atmospheric and gradually will build tension, it switches up to a fast-paced action-focused sequence, which kind of turned me off. While the use of the Security Officer breaks the story into beats, I do feel like the game have worked better had you found no life on board.

With the move to Twine, the game managed to remove some clunkyness from the Google Form format, especially when "moving" forward in the story or trying to go backward, with the "return" from your notes and "rewind" if you die - though there is no UNDO (if you clicked too fast, missed some information or by mistake, too bad); the picking up elements and moving between spaces; or with an easier access to the inventory and notes (which are not always available).
However, it also rendered some puzzles tedious, especially the ones requiring to enter a code to unlock a safe or a door. There are 6 different section using a cycling lock (you click on each number until you have the correct one on the screen), ranging from 3 to 6 cycling link, often requiring an option at the end of the cycle - but unlike those real-life combination lock, you can only turn it one way (if you miss it you need to start again). After the second or third lock like this, that sort of puzzle ends up being more annoying than fun to solve.
I think I might not be the target audience for the 'running back and forth' type of puzzle (i.e. the puzzle at one end of the map can be solved thanks to an object on the other end), I found the running around pretty frustrating reaching the halfway point.

I didn't vibe with it as much as I thought I would. I think I found the game more interesting in its Google Form version, because of the limitation of format.

A note on accessibility: while it is appreciated the game tries to be accessible, with settings to toggle timed text (though the messaging section was missed), or turning some images into text-only version* (if not, you have have super verbose Alt-Text), I had some concerned with other aspects such as: colour-contrasting between text and background - especially with pop-ups and listboxes (when open, the options are barely readable) - as well as the text and image animations (a warning would have been nice, a toggle would even be better).
*It would have been nicer instead to be able to enjoy both the images and the descriptive text, having the later below the former (using something like `< details >`). Having to hover over/press the images would make them at times glitchy (if they ended large enough to read the smaller text).

A note on tracking information and choices: Like the Google Form version, this one tracks your choices and compares it to other players (you can see that at the end of the game). While this is expected for the first version because of its format (that's the whole point of a Google Form), this is not a native option for Twine. When using code to track and store information, players should be able to make an informed decision (whether to agree that their playthrough will be tracked or whether to play at all if they are not given the option). This should be clearly indicated when the player starts the game, rather than told at the end of the game or hidden behind a few clicks. [Note: this may have been changed since this review was written/queued]

A note on the final poll about AI use: since the poll is only available after playing through the game (which contains AI generated elements), the results will surely be biased in favour of AI, as opponents of AI are less likely to actually play the game (as mentioned by the author in the credits). This kind of go against the want of the poll to have an open discussion, as the pool of participants is already pre-determined with the placement of the poll (at the end of the game rather, adding a "wall" to access it). This is a clear selection bias.
This placement could be even used to invalidate users choosing an anti-AI position, as they still played a game included AI elements.

My Grandfather’s Clock is a short piece where you must decide what to do with your grandfather’s broken clock after his passing. Between fixing or selling it, you have little choice in the matter at the end. Like your forefather, it is stubborn and unmoving. You could try to change it, but it will take effort that may not be worth the headache down the line. The parallel made between the clock and its former owner in the text made me chuckle a bit – I know a few grandpas like that one…

Roboto is a sci-fi horror kinetic piece, where you follow a robotic scientist waking up in their dark lab, looking for their phone. Forced to rely only on touch, you explore the lab, in search for the item, second guessing every sound and everything. The minimalist prose gives off an uneasy atmosphere, with the descriptions of the inanimate robots challenging their lifeless state. It is subtle, but enough to make you feel that shiver running down your spine.

I Have Something Important to Tell You is a short kinetic entry about depression and communicating personal experiences with this illness with their young child. While I question the phrasing of some sentences to be age-appropriate (to the hypothetical five-year old), it still can be an important discussion to have, especially with de-stigmatising the use of pills to combat the illness.

Kel Versus the Kitchen is a short meter-sensitive Twine, where you play as teenage Kel, walking in on a frenzy family affair, of getting ready for dinner. Before you can even take off your shoes, you are commandeered to do this and that, and blamed for things essentially out of your control. The entry does a pretty good job at depicting that stressful moment before guests arrive and nothing is truly ready. Very chaotic!! Depending on the choices made, which may decrease your/everyone’s patience, you will get one of the four endings, from frustrating to cathartic. But it’s pretty fun to try to find them all!

The eight-headed giant is a micro parser where you are some sort of fantasy office drone about to go face your eight-headed giant boss, and do an important presentation. But before you get into it sword swinging, you need to go around the office and get ready (i.e. collect all that you need). It’s pretty railroady and simple to solve, but I still manage to get stuck because I forgot to do the most important thing: FACE the giant xD
Also a neat thing: it has cool ASCII art!

you are an ancient chinese poet in exile is a short poetic day in the life of an Ancient Chinese poet in exile. Almost kinetic, with subtle variation between your choice of activities, you wake up in a beautiful scenic location, alone and maybe a bit lonely too, filling your day with distractions and reminiscing over your fate, sealing the day with a few poetic lines. It is delightful, both in the calmness of the setting, the bitterness of past events, and the melancholy of it all. Lovely!

To Let Go is a short interactive exploration piece between the ever changing state of nature and bustling speed of change in cities. Though, it seems somewhat a rejection of modernity, looking down on the city “winning” the fight against the woods, technological advancement ruining the natural state of the world. Maybe a bit naive in its nihilistic view. Disregarding the beauty and good.

I don’t know what to make of the interactivity. Coupled with timed text, you go back and forth between passages as some paths are locked until you see a specific text. I wasn’t always sure whether I needed to wait longer to see if a new link would pop up or if I had to try another path first. I did like the different text animation between the “city” and the “forest” sections.

A Mind to Call Home is a tiny adventure where you play as a Space parasite worm, jumping from one host to the next (or not) in hopes to live a long life an die of old age. There seem to be three major deeds to achieve between four hosts. So you need to balance your health and the host’s to get to them. I don’t think it’s possible to do more than one at a time? Some seemed easier than others (I reached one of them on my first run).

Liminal is a micro visual novel about two exes meeting each other on the street by accident, and strike up an awkward conversation… or are they?
This short-VN, with gorgeous (hand-painted!!!) visual and impeccable voice-acting does a great job at portraying that first meeting post-breakup, when things have sort of settled, but still hurt. The familiarity between two people, but forced somewhat to be distance, even with lingering feelings. The attention to certain details might seem strange, until the end. Then everything get into places, and it feels much sadder than it started.
A gorgeous piece!