Reviews by manonamora

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!

You know how cooking blogs have those insanely long recipe posts, in which they talk about their whole life, often mentioning things that have absolutely no link with the recipe, tongs of pictures (but not of the dish!) and sometime parsing the steps of the recipe throughout those irrelevant bits, so that it becomes impossible to get clear instructions? To me, the entry emulated that to almost a T.

Though, instead of your run-of-the-mill regular folks with quirky recipes, this one is much more eerie and uneasy to read through, emanating a more sinister vibe than you'd expect from a cookbook (unless you read the blurb before hand). There is something quite wrong there, pushed forward by the interface and the eerie music, but it is not explicit in what - though the game hints at it with wink-wink-nudge-nudge jokes enough.

Some frustrating elements in with the interface: the animated background is pretty distracting as it is much brighter than any other element on the page (I had to turn it of with the console); the text block is quite small, especially for the length of the passage, forcing you to scroll a lot; and the typed text speed is way too slow (can be helped by pressing the Spacebar, though).

While quite short, this entry was very effective in conveying feelings of sadness, griefs, and longing, as well as joy and hope, even if fleeting. With little lords, the writing is quite powerful in its descriptions and depictions, leaving a lot of unsaid between the lines. The player is left feeling the holes and connecting the dots, to see the full picture (or at least a clearer one). It is quite tragic, and beautiful.

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 kinetic bitsi is more of a meta/philosophical musing about creative writing (or creating in general) and an author/creator's relationship with its creations - the positives and negatives, the blank and the whites, and the muddled greys in between. For some, it might be dreadfully existential, others will find themselves in the sentiments conveyed.

Linearity aside, I found the interface quite fitting, with the high-contrast monochrome backgrounds following the points of the text, as if adding another visual representation to the words on the screen.

It's an interesting piece, more so for the message than the interactivity.

This was an incredible game. Using the framing of a game within a game, it taps into the creepypasta vibes and lost content, by adding voiced commentary (amazing voice!~) and an interface of an old glitchy computer. In the game, you play bits of games and demos, created in binksi, from an author who had previously found success, but struggles to put out his next game.

Throughout the game (the one you play), commentaries from the narrator can be heard (in French, subtitled in English) at specific moments (especially the starts and ends of the games-in-game), explaining the state of mind of the author, his motivations for creating certain demos, or links between his games (often in symbolisms and writing on the wall). Most games-in-game are unfinished, explained by the narrator as to why.

The interactivity might not be traditional IF, as you are playing binksi (requiring more movement than choice), and is sometimes obtuse (especially the hidden mazes and paths, though they are not hard), but it reflects the commentary of the narrator on the subject. There are clear reasons as to why a level is built the way it is, why you can't reach certain element until much later down the line, why some demos look polished and some are messed up version. The mirror between what you see in the games-in-game and you hear/read with the commentaries is fascinating, as well as very creepy.

Throughout the game, tension builds up, with all the strange and creepy bits adding onto the pile, culminating to a climax that twisted my stomach. Every bit is linked, right up until the end.

And impressive game, taking you on a choke hold.

Utilisant le motif de jeu dans un jeu, avec des commentaires d’un narrateur (génial, la voix~!) et une interface de vieil ordi qui glitch un peu, on joue à des extraits de jeux/démos en binksi. Les commentaires du narrateur sont activés à des moments clés (souvent début et fin), expliquant l’état d’esprit de l’auteur ou ses motivations lors de la création du projet. L’interactivité du jeu (très binksi) est parfois un peu obtuse (surtout le labyrinthe caché), mais elle reflète le commentaire du narrateur. Ce miroir est fascinant et un peu flippant.

Le suspense monte tout au long du jeu, culminant dans un rebondissement choquant (j’en tremble encore, évidement la clé!!).

Forenote: I am not a poetry person. I usually don't vibe with or understand them.

As the piece is quite short (due to the 4h limit from the competition), I have been reading and re-reading it, going back to the start, and round and round I went, letting my brain be spun inside a washing machine of verses, soaking the intricate (and very steamy) metaphors within the lines.

Though the interactiveness of the piece only comes in two forms (the links between the stanza groups and the word buttons revealing further details), the "story" is linear. There is no choice to make (save for exploring the details and continuing through the verses).

I am not well versed (sorry) in poetry, with my knowledge essentially limited to fables and romantic French poems. But it stroke me how easy my eyes flew through the page, even if my expectations of rhymes would not be satisfied. The content of the poem was enthralling and captivating.

The poem starts with almost a prayer to a divine body, aching to be touched, and continues on an exploration of bodies, where one handles the other like a relic, while the other searches for pain. There is hunger within the poem, a devouring desire that cannot be satiated. It descends into a recollection of travels and inquisitions, a search of a home, and a remembrance of who one is and how much one is loved.

Save for the last passages, the hidden details brings forward a more lustful piece, almost akin to BDSM, adding onto the worshipping of one's lover's body. As the poem continues, the details softens into a declaration of love and loss of one's self without the other (and a small revenge).

I don't think I am done with this piece... for after many readings, I would still discover a new metaphor or a different take on an imagery. I don't think I will ever be done.

Starlight Shadows follows Lyra, a teenager with some sort of telepathic and prescient skills/powers, trying to figure out what to do after she gets a message that something wrong is about to happen at this (costumed?) party...

This short game is quite simple: you have one hour to gather your fighters before a fight with those strange entities is about to break out, and fight them. Unlike Autumn's other time/resource-management-gameplay games, you are able to interact with (and potentially recruit) every named individuals: your twin brother who's annoyed by you derailing his party and would only relent to help with threats, your (maybe more/less) ex who's witnessed your powers before and know you mean business, the social butterfly who's just a school acquaintance and is really into that one old book series, and the underprivilege gifted kid who is a loner. Whether you convince them is a different story...

When you have recruited your agent(s) - you need at least one - you wait until the clock strikes 8 to run fight those strange entities. Follows a turn-based beat-em-up fight against one entity, (Spoiler - click to show)revealing two endings: one failure where you are saved and told you require more training*, one winning where you realise there will be more fights ahead.
*This was an interesting ending, teasing something a bit ominous, maybe an experiment?

The game feels more of a preview of a larger one, where you'd follow Lyra as she takes on fighting different entities, and save the world (or maybe not...) (and maybe explore that past incident?). But considering it was constrained to a 4h deadline for writing and coding, it is an impressive rounded piece on its own.

Even with its limited sizes, there are a handful of Easter Eggs from Autumn's previous work: referencing A Paradox Between Worlds in the book Cy is reading or during your conversation with Cassie (she is a big fan!) (also Cassie's name feels very APBW too), the mentions of DNA-storage/archiving mechanism from The Archivist & the Revolution*... Also the recurrent theme of the main character not liking being around crowd/attending parties (very Karen from Pageant vibes).
*If the names of some of those characters are familiar, it's because they appear in documents of TA&R, making this game some sort of the latter's prequel...

Final note: only when writing this review did I realise that all characters were named after a constellation... and that is also related to the title...