Reviews by manonamora

tiny ratopia is a one-page entry where you are a little rat in your cage enjoying the warmth of your surrounding, with your brothers by your side. A movement stirs you, prompting you to recall your routine and what you will do later. But now, now you keep enjoying the warmth.

It is quite the cozy piece, depicting what a utopia would be for a tiny being (here a rat, with few needs and all being met), using simple structures and vocabulary to encapsulate the mind of the little creature. And the entry finishes with the perfect message: focus on the now, because now, everything is great.

stomping grounds is a short Twine piece dedicated to a friend, as a reminder of a promise once made: to one day, going fishing and camping. Formatted as a calendar, each date is linked to a short snippet, like a daily nudge to not forget about said promise.

The snippets depict different elements related to fishing or camping, like the noise from the wind crashing into the tent, or how fire can be dangerous but oh-so worth it because it can warm up the much needed coffee, or that we need to make sure to bring a first-aid kit, or how liberating and invigorating a plunge into a lake can be. By focusing on all the little things, the piece reminds us of the powerful and exhilarating connection we can have with the simpleness of Nature.

Thanks to its expressive prose, with its vivid depictions, Romantic (artistic) description of Nature, and still realistic portrayals of what could be, the game really painted a sincere picture of camping… and it’s making me want to do so myself too.

The Chosen Path is a Twine interactive game where you are an unnamed AFGNCAAP character on a path to become a martial artist in some sort of unnamed and unreal world. Along your way, you come across Dr Syrup, the main antagonist of the game, which you will need to overcome to rescue the Author and Emily Short (and win a prize?).

This is as far as I could make sense of it, as the story is more of an absurd amalgam of references (which seem more done for the sake of referencing), than a coherent narrative. Even with its very linear progression (you don’t have more than 3-4 real choices in the 122 passages of the file), I was more confused with how parts moved from one another… until I gave up and wrote it off as this is all either just a dream or a really bad trip.

I’m not super sure of the point of using Emily Short as an NPC here, especially one that you’d need to rescue. With how influential she has been in the space (which the game acknowledges), it would have made more sense for her to have enough PLOT ARMOUR to not have been in this situation to begin with. Or that she would need the player’s “capabilities” to make her weapon work better than she could. It felt cheap.
But then again, I’m never really comfortable with the use of actual regular living people being used in games period (especially if the person has not given their consent for it).

As a game structure, when looking at the available actions and how the game responds to the player, it does feel like a missed opportunity not have used a parser format (or a hybrid one for the 2-3 choices there are). You are often set into rooms where you can EXAMINE objects or sometimes yourself, TAKE some of them, or USE others. There is also a section where you need to navigate through different rooms, with all the NSWE (and the diagonals) listed - all aside one being valid (the having to go back and forth is tedious). As for the Alice in Wonderlan - like puzzle (EAT/DRINK) it could have been an interesting puzzle of pacing out which item to use to get to the right height.

Kel (2024, words on screen) is a short interactive piece, describing the portrait of the titular character through snippets, each focusing on a part of a face or movement, before closing on the overall picture. You can really explore in details the face of Kel, as the IF Art Show, the jam inspiring the game, required.

Each section is just a sentence long, small enough to fit the rectangle interface, which mimics the frame of a portrait fixed on a wall. You can move from one section to another through the links mentioning another part of the face.

This entry reminded me of those studies of paintings, that would describe in details a piece with such vividness you could almost imagine it standing right in front of your eyes.

Labyrinth is a short interactive story made in Twine, where you play as the Minotaur, who after a long period of isolation, decides to leave the labyrinth he calls its home and venture out into the world. But before he does so, the beast takes a moment to recollect the time spent in this place and say goodbye to the comforting space.

The writing is strangely prophetic, starting with a snippet of Jorge Luis Borges’ The House of Asterion, which is followed by Today is the day. The day you will leave this place. You can’t explain how you know this, but you know it as firmly as the horns are attached to your head. in the next screen. Yet, the hint is just subtle enough not to realise the inevitable end that is coming. It ripped my heart out when I read the final words…

This was a really good entry!

Malachi And The Quest for Attention is a short story in Twine following the titular character in his quest to get people’s attention. Yearning for onlooker’s gaze on him, Malachi performs every day to the best of his ability, whether it is singing, juggling or dancing - though few pay attention to his display of skills. No matter how hard he tries, he fails to entice passers-by to stop and truly look at him.

In his desperation, Malachi turns to his friend Agnes, a fortune teller, who - unlike him - sees many people coming to her. Agnes, who believes in the mystical, shares with Malachi a way for him to grab people’s attention, if he doesn’t mind messing with people’s dream…

With the entry based on the Single Choice Jam, this is where the player’s path branch out: Malachi can stay and listen to Agnes’s proposition, call it a night, or brood by himself for a while. The different paths have an interesting take on the wish for validation for one’s work and how to deal with the failure of fulfilling this wish - whether it is letting it go of the pressure to achieve a certain level of attention or making it consume your whole self.

Quite distressing in its relatability. I liked it quite a bit!

sojourn is a micro interactive story, with a very intriguing way of formatting its text. Rather than having a clear beginning or end, the game lets you interact with the different links to display further text, but never more than two blocks at a time. All the paragraphs are connected with one another through these links, and you must cycle through different block to be able to read everything.

As for the delectable prose, it is really “a love letter to many things” as the blurb informs us. At time melancholic, serious, mathematical, musical, or even cheesy, the different little paragraph describe the things that the author holds dear to their heart. It’s delightful, and I was gushing all the way through reading it!

Neapolitan is a collection of three linear story meant for previous jams but never released until now. It was made in Twine. The stories are named after the Neapolitan ice cream flavours: Vanilla (following the creation of an Ice Cream Clicker), Chocolate (a story about break ups and moving on), and Strawberry (a conversation between twins about their struggles). When you clear them all, you get to read an Author’s note about the game and themself.

Although they are pretty short, each story do convey realistically struggles of doing things with your life, navigating through relationships, and accepting one’s self. It was fun to see each flavour being referenced in their respective stories. Like the ice cream, it was sweet.

Le Dernier Serment is an old school parser adventure made for the Amstrad CDC, in which you must rid your village of a nasty curse: losing their freewill, leading them to their death. The adventure includes a nice range of puzzles, and an external manual/feelies pdf. There are no hints, help, or walkthrough included. There are also 5 endings listed (though I am not sure whether one of them is possible?).

I definitely had a few difficulties going through some of the puzzles, but it’s probably more due to me not being good at (French) parsers or just not reading the manual correctly, or whether the puzzles are actually obtuse (which, for an old-school parser, wouldn’t be too surprising). But figuring it out (and seeing the environment change before your eyes) felt so darn good! The puzzles are pretty varied, going from interacting with your environment to timing puzzles. I struggled with one so much because it dealt with opposites and transposition.

The game is also GORGEOUS! Every screen includes pixel art, one part showing what is in front of you (directions between rooms can change) ~ each being distinct from the others, and another showing yourself (and your state). The font used might not always be legible, but its design is so atmospheric.

A beautiful neat game!

Le Bastion de la Porte is a fantasy game made in Moiki, where you play as Salma, a Trimolienne in the land of Sargh, as the newly appointed lonely guardian of the Door up high in the mountain. Your task is to guard the door, and try (but not pressure) any passers-by not to cross it. What is behind the door? No one knows, as no one has ever come back from it. How will you handle that task? Will you let everyone through or force them to turn back? Will you go through the door yourself as your predecessor has?

The job, however, is a lonely one. Aside from your monthly delivery (with the best boi Ernest!), few climb up the mountain, wanting to reach the mysterious landmark. But when they do, you get to listen to their stories, ask some questions (and maybe answer theirs), maybe share some wine, and potentially change their fate. There is never a right or wrong answer, though maybe some will make you question your ethics and morals. It is touching and emotional, and makes you reflect on what is important.

Throughout the story you get may be able to ponder on the meaning of the door and what it could represent. One character might make you think it is simply an allegory for moving on to the next plane, another as a escape from danger and difficulties, a final one as a celebration to dive into the unknown. It is quite interesting how one single thing can represent widely different concepts.

While it is already pretty entertaining (and with an impressive count of over 900 screens), I wished we could have had more during the downtime. You are able to interact with elements around the house, though it is sparse and does not change much between periods. You can always take the same shower, reel in some water from the well, pick up some dried meat, and look yourself in the mirror or at you sparse house décor. And when you do, the text seems to be the same (or fairly similar).
It would have been interesting to maybe do some activities to spruce up the hut, like gardening or fixing the roof, remark upgrades done by the Fédération after you complain about things, picking up a hobby…
And, being able to wait for time to pass in other spots than your bed, like at the desk doing some writing or doodling, or sitting by the fire, and when during the spring/summer, maybe waiting outside on a log enjoying the nice weather.

The game page indicates further updates, which would include missing chapters and other types of gameplay, are to be expected. I’m looking forward to those.