Reviews by manonamora

Forenote: I played this entry in English.

Even though the game is fairly short, I only had the stomach to reach two different endings. The writing is quite gruesome, with violent imagery, which considering the events happening around the release of the game made it very hard to read (personally) - even if they are probably not related.

The interactivity and choices available, as well as the responses from those choices, are pretty confusing, which makes total sense since this is supposed to be some sort of nightmare. The branching also seemed quite complex, with paths seemingly looping back.

Pretty impressive for something made (originally in Spanish) in 4h!

This was one twisted story. Starting already strange becomes bleaker with each passage, as you get deeper inside the man's values, morals, and outlook on life/society.

Though well written, this was far from easy to read, due to the implicit and explicit violence depicted in the text. While the main body gives some indication of what is happening outside of the man's thoughts and spoken words, it is brought even further through the list of choices. It is subtle enough to give you pause, as well as showing how insane all of it is...

I know there are multiple endings to this game, some of them "better" than others, but I didn't have the stomach to hunt them all down...

Tiptoeing the other-wordly aspect of horror, this short game shines in its pacing, starting slow before picking up fast enough to hold your breath until the end. The writing does a good job at hinting during the first half of the game of something not being quite right, while still keeping the stake low, keeping it subtle enough to leave you confused until the reveal - though it can be easy to guess the kind of twist the story has.

I could have seen the ending going a different route than is currently there, where you don't make it out, pushing the horror aspect even further.

This entry took a subtle approach to horror, using the rambling of an older woman through a voice message to her son. Complaining about everything and nothing around her, the message verges by the end of the piece close to paranoia (or full on paranoia depending on the path taken). While there might actually be something wrong with the woman's surroundings, she also seems not to be of sound mind either. Some paths will make you question whether the woman might just be out of touch, or whether her neighbours are as difficult as she portrays them to be, or the reason why M left...

If I were her son, I would honestly have deleted her message (if she sends it first, that is...

When I saw the game pop up on my feed, I honestly thought Autumn had built a new program and had just uploaded a legit but bare documentation for it. But now, this is an actual IF, pure science fiction (I hope...) bundled up in an unusual format.

The whole gameplay feels like going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole (you know the ones, where you open links on the current page into a new tab to read later, because who knows if you'll find them again, and now your browser is lagging and it is 5h later) mixed with an incomplete and obtuse documentation for a program that doesn't exist (at least here) and doesn't seem to have a clear use (by going from the starting page/game blurb).

As you go deeper into the pages, finding that this program was lead by a university professor and eir students (some of which have left the projects in suspicious ways), it is possible to piece the mystery together (or the big picture at least). The implications of what is afoot is quite frightening, and bleak.

An impressive amount of content for just 4h!

Silly games are my favourite kind, especially the ones that know that the premise is silly and continue to go full speed ahead towards MOAR silliness. And this one knocks the silliness out the park.

Three friends have 20 bucks in their pockets* and a dream to make a horror movie called GUT (like their band name) in hopes to cash out. Each bandmate has an idea on where to spend the money (actor, scenery, costumes), or they could follow their manager and just get some chips. If the former option is chosen, the movie is film and shown around. But the movie is not yet perfect. So you go back to the drawing board and invest a bit more money. More shenanigans ensue! Very chaotic, much laughs.

While playing through it is fun, I felt the game shined even more after a replay or two, trying the other paths or different combinations of choices, as you'll get some very special flavours of chaos. It's very fun!

This is a short parser letting the players use only one command: examine (X / L), where the point is to examine the abandoned house, and its different element, as if you were exploring it. Examining an element gives you a description, which focuses on other smaller elements, which if you examine those will describe further details, and... so on and so forth until the details are simply too small to see, or until you examined all elements to reach the end.

The gameplay reminded me of Nested, where checking an element gives you details you can look out, each if checked will give out subsequent details, and... Except, unlike Nested, TLH doesn't loop back to repeat ad infinitum if you take one specific path.

As for the whole, it felt a bit voyeuristic, especially in the descriptions of each details of the house, as, even if it is abandoned, you sort of see yourself opening the door or looking out the scenery from the window. You wish you could be inside the house, but you can't. You're on the other side of the fency, gazing with envy at the house. It's pretty eerie...

Also: +1 for including a walkthough! -1 for not being able to pet the dog (/jk)

This game might be short and concise, but it is quite well-written, impactful and heartbreaking. From the start, there is something not quite right with your son's interruption of your sleep, even if it is a yearly occurrence. Things just don't quite fit all to well, especially when your daughter appears or when the mother is mentioned (in hindsight... 🥴). But is is not clear until the end what is truly going on here. What seems at first like a slice-of-life with some spooky halloween aspect, turns downright terrifying. The reveal is not only depressing to internalise, but the implications are frankly hitting much harder than what you'd expect from the blurb and warnings. The final choice is, again, heartbreaking, whichever way you choose...