Reviews by manonamora

Roman Holiday is a strange creepy game, one I don’t know what to make of. A group of friend are one some sort of road trip, lost (sort of), stopping at a store in the middle of nowhere and of the the night. Ensue strange happenings.

It sort of reminded me of those paranormal movies, with its VCR/TV visual/audio quality, or that 80-90s low-render graphics for the characters. A lot of the game is spent looking at cut-scenes of conversations between the different characters, with a bit of moving around, and some branching conversation (with at least one NPC, afiak).

In any case, it’s creepy, you don’t really know what’s happening, and things don’t quite make sense - I still don’t know what happened, I ran into a To Be Continued screen.

I Knew A Guy is a prototype short entry, formatted as a linear short story to raise awareness about suicide and myths around it. In it, an unnamed PC recounts their final moment spent with a person who would later take their own life, and their guilt around not seeing the signs or not helping them as much as they could have. Along with the text, a daunting track plays (which, if you go backward on your navigator becomes even more creepy and unsettling).

IF can be a great medium to explore difficult themes and spread awareness on this topic. And I wonder where this prototype will end up looking, because I think it does have a good starting format for what it’s attempting to do.

Do you think we’re soulmates in every universe? is a cute slice-of-life small visual novel where you take a walk with your partner, when they as you the titular question. You have a couple of choices throughout the discussion, communicating your (lack of) doubts about the matter or your opinion on the need even for this kind discussion. And, in between, you can imagine different scenario about you and your partner meeting and maybe falling in love.

It’s pretty sweet, though my opinion on the question is more on the realistic side (soulmates are not really a thing, and the probability of finding the same person again is just sooo small…), rather than the maybe childish/cheesy “of course we’ll always be soulmate through time and space”. I also found the partner being a bit too insecure in some of the paths. It’s still nice for a short game.
I would have preferred though, to have less descriptive elements…

Who are you talking to? is a work in progress piece where you are confronted by a strange creature, in an unknown place, unable to leave. You can talk to the creature, asking them questions, and go over some of your most recent memories. Being an unfinished piece, there are timed where the game ends abruptly, forcing you to rewind and pick a different path to reach the end. There are at least 8 endings, though I’ve only managed to reach one.

From the tone of your interlocutor, my reading of the game (so far) is that you (Spoiler - click to show)died and are talking to some otherworldly being (maybe a God?), assessing your nature and action back when you were alive (though it seems your fate is sealed). You have the option of showing remorse towards your actions or doubling down. That or aliens.

pacodnd.exe is a short interactive story focused on a group of friend trying out a Dungeons&Dragons campaign, through a chat form. During the session, you have a handful of choices that may or may not affect the ending… for all that matter in D&D is whether the RNG God is on your side (yes, apparently dice rolls affect the story!).

Though it’s pretty short, there are still four endings to find (only found 2 so far), plus an extra short scene after you reach one of them. The chat is pretty chaotic, and reminded me of TTRPG campaigns I’ve been in. It had a pretty fun vibe, overall!

Syzygy is a short but complex exchange of diplomatic communication between the Syzygy planet and the Sol System Alliance, where you are a Diplomat from the latter group. You must navigate a change of power within Syzygy, while a SSA fleet is on its way to the planet, as planned many years prior.

Your communication between the planet and the fleet are mainly done through letters, which you can craft to convey your message and wishes to the other party, and untangle the mess thrown in your lap. You will have to assess whether you can trust this new correspondent and whether you will need to warn the fleet before their arrival - is there more than the new ambassador lets on? Your words will affect the Alliance’s relationship with Syzygy, and the safety of the fleet.

And, when you have some down time, you get to chit-chat with your Assistant about the situation, or burn the midnight oil on reading the HHGG. Aside maybe from the Admiral, all the characters have fun and intriguing personality, leaving you wanting more by the end of the journey.

It was really fun to craft the messages and see what kind of responses I would get back. I purposefully pissed off the ambassador in one playthrough, while being overwhelmingly kind in the next one - resulting in surprising endings.

I did run into some little bugs though, which broke the game for one run, so best to get your coffee and read your poetry when you start the game, as so to avoid it

Circle Back is a short psychological horror visual novel, where you play as an unnamed employee in a big corporation, freshly promoted, the night before a big presentation. Except… you get locked into the bathroom.

Ensue some strange meetings and conversations, where you will not only have to confront things about your life and situation, but also will make you question your sanity (at the very least) and what’s really going on at work (seriously, what’s up with the (Spoiler - click to show)dormitory?!?!?!), and maybe flirt a little bit.

I was really enthralled into the whole story, getting anxious when we found out the way out was locked, or you start hearings voices, or checked out the security system and…

the screen turned black. I hope this is just a small bug that can get fixed, because I really want to discover what’s really going with work. Because it’s really sus and I want to find out why!

The Croaking is a short train murder mystery, made in Unity, feeling like a 3D version of a bitsy game. Here, you play as Detective Luddington, a toad on the same car as a handful of colourful passengers going to a retreat. But, as expected of the genre, nothing goes as planned, and a murder occurs during the trip. And it is up to you to figure out what is what…

Go back an forth between the different NPCs, ask them questions, confront them about their statements, and accuse who you think is the most likely actor. While you can accuse anyone (and they will get arrested), only one person is the true murderer.

And the link to get there seems a bit broken, where you can ask that suspect a question, but can’t ask any other NPCs for confirmation or rebuttal - which is strange because you can (Spoiler - click to show)accuse the actual murderer from the start. Restarting the game also seems to be broken - you need to refresh the page to actually restart it.

There was a bit of a mysterious setting, with all these different characters being part of some strange organisation (which may or may not sound like a cult). You only get bits and pieces, but it would have been interesting to see more of that aspect into the story.

Just A Simple Interview is a widely branching short Twine… well, interview. You were one of the few to be selected for an interview with LazyTown HQ, for the cool position of Fix-It-Man! Aren’t you the lucky one! Now, you just need to ace-… Uh-ho…

Twist and turns awaits your interview, depending on the choices you make. Lore about the company and your interviewer can be discovered, leading you to many different endings (I have found 4 so far). And it’s really fun trying to explore all the different paths too, very humorous!
It was a quick one, but I had a lot of fun playing it!

A Woman’s Duty is a short epistolary game, made in Ink, set during some undisclosed war, where you, as Mary, correspond with your sister who has been sent to the front and another private who was put into contact with you. Through the exchanges, you learn of your family’s relationships, the state of the war, and the moral of your correspondents.

While you send about a dozen letters before the game abruptly ends, most of them only having some sort of variation in the content of your letters, you neither affect the fate of your correspondents with your words, nor the overall situation.
Granted, the latter could have been a big shot, but there is very little impact with your words, unlike what was promised in the blurb. Though, this is less obvious with the letters sent to the private, who seem to react to the different prompts you are given.

I wonder if the piece should have maybe focused on the correspondence of only one of the subject, rather than both, and explore that path more fully - maybe even affect their fate in some way.