Ratings and Reviews by manonamora

*Lazy Day* is a short CYOA entry where you must decide what to do for a Saturday morning. Having no plans and many hours ahead, there are a handful of options, from chilling all day, to downright sleeping, have some food or maybe even be productive (*on a Saturday?! shocking!*). It's a very chill and cute adventure. A nice way to *start* your Saturday ;)

A recipe for a different kind of love is a short explorative story in Twine about a woman trying to find peace after a recent breakup. Accepting what happened and moving on can be hard, but retrospection can offer a way through the pain, helping us loving ourselves again.

TENT GAME is a short puzzle game in Ink about… pitching a tent. Simple right? Except you don’t remember which part goes where and when, some pieces also seems mismatched, and you don’t have instructions. So starts your struggle to complete your task. Which can be a bit frustrating (unless you pitch tents often enough that you know the correct order from the get go…). Still, between putting poles together, putting down the tarp, and planting the pegs, you are can also take a little tea break do defuse your frustration.

Funnily enough, the game is tagged as Psychological horror on itch.

Ontological Mystery; or, lack thereof is a slick point-n-click mystery piece made in Decker, where you find yourself locked in a room with a dead almost-carbon-copy of yourself and a blade in your hand. What will you do next?

You can explore the locked room for a while, your own self and the body lying on the floor, before a timer finally opens the door and you are left with a final choice, each revealing a little piece of the mystery. Because of the timer, you need a few replays to see all there is in the game and to piece out all there is (though much is still left unresolved). And the illustrations were neat, being all black-and-white-except-for-that-little-detail. A really cool piece.

THE CRIMSON LINE is a shot kinetic entry made in Calico, where following an unexplained erupting conflict, you flee your town aboard a train with a woman. Years later, you return to town, somewhat looking for answer, somewhat avoiding them altogether. Throughout it all, your sanity, memories and senses are put into question (are you truly seeing what is in front of you? did you remember things as they were?).

Thought I struggled at first to find where to click to get the next part of the text (it’s three little white dots on the left, just below the last paragraph), the piece was really atmospheric, with the vivid and almost surreal descriptions, the background illustrations and sound (made by the author!). The start is almost apocalyptic and clashes with the more tame quaint and quiet end.

NYX is a short sci-fi horror Twine piece, where Astronaut Christina Kennedy sends her final transmission aboard NYX-V, following first alien contact gone… not so much according to plan. Through the distressing transmission, you learn of the terminal fate of the rest of the crew, the fate of humanity in the shaky hands of this last survivor. It is crushing, seeing lively crews with hopes and dreams, the little left of their past humanity turned into a single bloody mention, seeing the last survivor struggle with the course of action when all seems lost and hopeless. Now the entity is banging at her door.

There is a choice, of course, for Kennedy to do with her last moment, and how to handle the entity. Between leaving a thread of hope or sending humanity into a destructive course, each option is just… ugh, impeccable.

I really really liked the opening of the entry. It reminded me of those sci-fi novels where large ship would travel the heavens to settle colonies on other planets, always mentioning the engineers and the pilots and so on, with the more “culturally” focused characters being look down upon. The fixation that art and humanity have little to do with exploration and advancement… until something goes horribly wrong.

Anyways, it’s great. Short horror sci-fi story hitting all the marks.

Six of Swords is a short piece made in Ink, where after (what I assumed was) you death, the ferryman asks you to choose one of eight randomly appearing item to continue on your journey, something that you might have cherished, wished for, or regretted in life… It is fitting to its Tarot Card, carrying your past baggage into the future. With the interface and background sound, it gives off a melancholic vibe.

let the lights bleed is a haunting kinetic piece about uncomfortable sexual experiences with a disrespectful partner (to say the least) and being essentially seen as an object rather than who they are (or even accepted by their partner). Forced to focus on the red light bleeding over their (already uncomfortable) body, the narrator disassociates, reflecting on their conflicting emotions and the hurtful act they endure. Between the harsh background and the unnerving sounds coupled with the text on screen, it makes for a devastating memorable piece.

saltwater is a short atmospheric piece, where you are on a nighttime walk on the beach, with an enigmatic woman. Temptress and tantalising, she pulls you into the water, barely concealing her dangerous nature to you as you fall for her charms. You can succumb fully to her, accept your desires and yourself, or fight it, and come out somewhat (but not really) unscathed.

The prose is enigmatic and fantastical, creating a haunting and mystical experience.

Seeing Stars is a short slice-of-life piece where you play as a teenager/young-adult named Alex, who has had a long-time crush on their friend Cyrus, yet never been able to ask them out. An opportunity present itself when a meteor shower is announced. Will Alex finally make their move?
There are two possible endings, reachable through the final choice. It was cute.