Ratings and Reviews by manonamora

Folie Contagieuse is a short interactive game made in Narrat, following an epistemologist looking for a cure (for a disease that may or may not have taken their grandparent's life?). You get to explore the home of another scientist to find clues, which will help you put together a recipe for the cure. While the puzzle is relatively simple, you will need to go back and forth between rooms to unlock doors and get to new locations.

Le Dingo et l'Épicéa commun is a short Ink game made for La Sens Dessus Dessous formatted as rhyming fables, referencing fables from La Fontaine from the start. A Dingo meets a spruce tree, who asks the former whether the latter truly is ugly. Branching in different paths, the playful (and always rhyming) prose is full of wit and surprises!

Quite the successful writing exercise!

La voie du professeur Echo is a thriller adventure, in which you stumble into by "accident" on your way to work, as you crash into Professor Echo. Finding strange items in your hands, rather than your stuff, you proceed with a quick investigation to find answers (and maybe get your stuff back)... only to find yourself entangled in some sort of conspiracy - one that Professor Echo predicted.

In between discussions with NPC and exploring the Louvre, you may be able to find the truth... if you manage to solve the puzzle in a timely manner. Otherwise, it's back to the start with you!

The very confusing and convoluted prose (and incidently the story) reminded me of Foucault's Pendulum (which is referenced in the text), with the crazy conspiracies, the predictions, the loose red-links between the mentioned elements. Like with the book, I struggled a lot in getting into the story, because of the writing style.

It was only at the end that all this confusion made sense, when the twist is revealed. The whole game felt a bit like a fever dream...

Nos Voisins les Robinson is a short visual novel made for La Sens Dessus Dessous. Structured as a sitcom, the story combines puns on puns and improbably scenario. Stranded on an island with naturalists trying to find a rare butterfly, you hope to repair a radio to get rescued. Though you are stranded, the island is populated... by no other else than Robinson Crusoe!
This little game is quite silly and plays on the codes of sitcoms, with a laughing track to boot!

L'héritage de la chair is a short binksi game following George Augustus Frederik Charles Hollyroy, the son of an Earl. Being stillborn in a family of scientist looking for an heir, the body of George was replaced by a piece of meat with buttons for eyes by his mother. Follows an absurd recollection of moments from George's life, as he "grows" and finds himself. I didn't see the twist coming at the end, and it made me cackle!
The different pixel visuals added to the absurdism of it all.

Estelle et le Cosmusicien is a short Twine sci-fi story set in the far future. You play as Estelle, a scientist, having found a strange incident with the asteroid belt going against the laws of physics. Enters a space explorer, the Cosmusicien, and his belief that one can communicate with celestial bodies thanks to a strange musical instrument.

The game brings an interesting approach in terms of communication: through music. Us humans can convey feelings and emotions through music, even if we do not speak the same language or have problems understanding each other. Here, it flips this concept by turning towards the stars, which is pretty neat. And magical almost.

There are different ways of achieving an ending, with quite a poetic few.

Le Grenier is a short puzzle game made in Moiki, where you explore the attic of your childhood home. Among the forgotten comics and old games, you stumble one a locked box, tied to which is a note from your mother that starts a small treasure hunt. Going through the different old boxes and furniture pieces, you must solve a little enigma to find the code, and open the locked trunk.
It was cute, and the prose felt sentimental. I struggled with the code, starting with the wrong end of the hint...

Les Idylles is a short demo set in the fictional fantasy land of Loghria, filled with mystery and magic. In this episode, your goal is to help Elinor, a young woman who was tricked by a magician, needing help to break the 'Tattumanti' pledge. The short game includes multiple endings, some helping the woman at the cost of your own freedom, some changing your mind and leave her to deal with her problem by herself.

It was a fun little puzzling adventure, and I'm looking forward to further episodes. I liked the playfulness of the writing, with the play on words.

Solitary Stars is a hyperlink exploration game written in Inform, set in an alternative earth, in a capital of an unnamed country after a succession of Wars (potentially WWII?). You receive a letter from a former mentor, inviting you to see his incredibly discovery that will change the world. The letter, and travelling back to the capital that shaped the trajectory of your life, forces you to reminisce on the past, bringing up difficult and painful memories.

Through its extensive and flowery prose, the game describes quite the dark setting. Between the memories of a distant past, filled with conflicts, a rise of an authoritarian power, and your own personal struggles (choice-dependent), you find during the little walk around the Observatory a somewhat dystopian society. The city is filled with scars from the war, with buildings left in shambles, flyers mandating orders from the populace or face the consequences, militia roaming the streets. But also consequences of the wars, with immigrants fleeing further conflicts flooding the region, past acquaintances avoiding you, etc...

The outlook of life and society through this lens is both depressing and melancholic (enhanced by the choice of background), with bitterness towards the old mentor, as he has thrived while you (and the rest of the Group) clearly have not. And the revelation of his discovery does not bring solace to the MC - aside, maybe from spending time with an old friend.

I think I found the exploration of the city/neighbourhood with the reflection of the past from the MC more interesting than this final revelation. Seeing how the city changed since the last time the MC walked its streets, as well as how little it did in other regards, is a familiar feeling - like going back home or to a place you spent an important part of your life.