Ratings and Reviews by manonamora

Le Père Potlatch is a a mocking Christmas-Day story, where you incarnate the titular Père Potlatch, who unlike our known Santa, tasks himself with burning received gifts. On his list this year: some rich billionaires and their new toys. It’s as funny as its premise is silly, and definitely satisfying (unless you choose to leave them alone). Happy belated dream Christmas!

Taxathoustra is a short humorous and surreal adventure, in which you play as the titular mage, whose best trick: tax evasion. Waking up from a nightmare where he'd lost it all, he leaves his house hoping to win big! Twists and turns occur along the way, pulling you along with some Dr. Seuss-y vibes. It's a pretty fun short time.

Maasdreniev, district d'Azotja is a short hyperlink piece made in Twine, where you read about the history of the Kostin's family moving to "7 rue des Ramendeurs" a few generations prior, and how they fair now. The narration, with its repetitions and unsaid, paints a very dark atmosphere where hopes and misery cohabit.

Paye tes impôts Isabelle ! is a short Moiki game, where you play as actress Isabelle (Nanty, if the end is to be believed), trying to do her taxes last minute. It doesn’t help that she doesn’t remember where she put all her documents (or that you’ll find them in improbable spots)! It is a pretty light-hearted setting with a comical tone, with multiple different endings. It’s silly… and remind us that lying on our taxes doesn’t always pay :P

Famille P. LOISEL is a short cinematic Moiki story in which you spy on a family, whose business meant the death of your brother. While learning that (Spoiler - click to show)your target is actually not here, which means you can't yet follow through with your plan, you also hear tit bits which makes you reexamine (a bit) what you thought about the family.

The game ends with a little chase (defining your ending), and left me hungry for more! Granted the word limitation could only give us this short scene, I would play a larger version of this game in a heartbeat ((Spoiler - click to show)maybe confronting your target? or some sort of break-in to figure out what's the deal with the daughter refusing to eat).

dénanti is a CYOA booklet, in which you switch bodies with billionaire Arnaud Bernard (and definitely not the French businessman, *wink wink*). Armed with this incredible fortune, you get to choose how to spend it... except, it's *really hard* to spend a lot of money like this. If your actions are not stopped because it looks fraudulent, you actually end up richer by fixing the (speculative) economy or through tax-loophole! In both the setting and gameplay, this entry reminded me of You are Jeff Bezos. It was a pretty funny 5min going through all the options!

Maasdreniev, taudis de l’Est is a short hyperlink story created in Decker, in which you follow a hungry and cold man in an unnamed dilapidated neighbourhood (though the vibes are evocative of Eastern Europe, just after the Iron Wall is constructed). Lost and left behind, these beings do what they can to survive, even if it means turning on each other and losing more of their little humanity. It is very bleak and as immersive (especially with the uneasy tune of the background music).

La Valise is a short speculative fiction made in Ink, in which you decide the fate of humanity, as nuclear bombs are about to decimate your side of the world. Contrasting with the imminent destruction of your country (and maybe more), is a banal and calm prose (maybe resigned already? with the state of things), rendering the scene both comical and pretty depressing. Regardless of your choice, little changes for you, but it is nonetheless impactful.
A great piece of speculative fiction in so few words!

The Column is a Cluedo-like game made in Twine, where you embark on an expedition to explore a desolate island, with a strange and cursed structure. To life the curse and save themselves, the team must trust each other - though the curse will try hard to break those bonds. There are two endings, which can be easily found (the game lets you skip back to the first choice to retry).

It’s beautifully written, with a very enticing introduction. A rag-tag team, each with its own specialisation and personality, stuck together on an island with no other choice but trust each other to get out? Sign me up! And the reveal of the column really built up my expectations for what was to come. That introduction does a pretty good job at laying down what you need to get to the mechanic.

And it’s an interesting mechanic, as a social experiment, focusing on your deduction skills from the information provided - though it doesn’t really punish you if you miss the mark in the combination of choices, even for the high stakes. Not knowing is the hardest thing, and the game forces you to rely on your assumptions to make a choice… and accept you might fail.

It’s a pretty tightly built game overall, but the selfish part of me kinda wished there was a bit more (especially with the introduction being about half of the game) - like getting a few more in-game days, or talking to the NPCs before/after the choices and make them sweat a little. Then again, there was a lot already for a made-under-4h game!

Hotel Halloween is a collection of short scary games created by young students (of the Seneca Thing group), centred around the theme of horror hotel. We have 8 different rooms, each with a different take on Halloween, or creepy elements, or horror. Overall, it's pretty diverse and creative!

Room 10 is a simple story, which follows a person on a holiday, given a key to the titular room and finding a pool of blood by the door. Follows a branching sequence in which you either realise (Spoiler - click to show)you are dead or find a way out. I think there were 3 different (non-repeated) endings to find.

Room 16 is a survival story, in which you decide to relax before the Halloween Quest Game, except there are weird things happening in the room. At every turn, you are given a choice, where your (in)actions will mean life or death. You'll need a bit of trial and error to get to a Good Ending (there are multiple), and advanced to (Spoiler - click to show)an unfinished level 2 :( . Because of the arbitrary consequence of each action, the comedic tone of the writing works pretty well (the Bad Endings line were absurd, in a good way).

Room 102, strangely located underground, is another survival story, where you must escape your room to live. It was a time a bit confusing, which actually makes sense, since (Spoiler - click to show)it's all happening in a dream, though we don't really find out how or why this all happened. I liked the details of the hotel, that made things unsettling.

In Room 113, we play as a werewolf staying at the hotel for a vacation. This hotel is not dangerous for humans, but also magical creatures, which means that with one wrong move, you are out. The consequences are sometimes very sensible (like (Spoiler - click to show)why would you try to pet a dragon xD ), and sometimes pretty arbitrary (like checking into the bathroom). But it does so with humour, so that helps.

Room 444 is doll-themed, with a bunch of creepy dolls in various state throughout the room. And you are given an ominous warning if you decide to stay. The writing does a good job at describing the unsettling nature of the dolls, and your transformation if you get too curious. Very creepy.

Room 505 is another escape room situation, where you are magically transported into a dangerous maze, and given binary choices to find the right path and leave. It's really a coin toss on what you should to pick to get to the end, and I kinda found myself more interested in the Bad Endings after finding a couple (they are pretty funny).

Room 555's puzzle is centred completely around one very important object, which will determine whether you live or die (in various horrific ways). It reminded me a bit of the towel in HHGG in that sense - there's no real reason to need it, and yet... Both Good Endings were pretty nice, but the very matter-of-fact plug-the-wall one was very funny in context of the whole.

Room 666 is probably the darkest game of the collection, with a focus on body horror (and I think no "good" endings). The recurrent attention to the eyes really gave me the creep - I kept hoping I wouldn't have to see it again. It was a good utilisation of the haunted mirror trope, no matter the outcome.