Reviews by manonamora

Into The Lion's Mouth is a relatively short game about being stuck in a very unfortunate situation, in the middle of the Savannah, surrounded(-ish) by lions. Lucky for you, you know the ins-and-outs of the region, being an animal refuge guard. You won't be found dead where you stand!

Mixing humour, wildlife facts, and meta commentary, ITLM is, as it calls itself, a lion taming simulator. Though you have multiple paths on how to solve your current situation, it is clear there is only one way to reach "the ending", as the game will nudge you back towards the correct paths. You won't really ever "die".

From the tone of the writing, or the animation and formatting of the text, it is clear the game is not meant to be taken completely seriously. You learn some neat fact, sure, but with a giggle here and there. I think that worked out nicely. Though, it was at times jarring to find embedded videos or pictures that seemed to only partly related, breaking immersion completely.

Not all paths were created equal in this game. Some are quite short (as being the obvious wrong answer), and some seem a bit to run into circle (until you go back to the correct path. I found the cub rescue path to be the strongest bit of the game, as it was quite sweet (who doesn't love petting animals), but the other paths does not really do the game justice.

[Originally played on 1-Oct during the IFComp]

Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head is quite a long entry mixing the heist genre with horror tropes, with a focus on puppetry, and a hint of a mystery. Your job is to recover different puppets hidden throughout an abandoned - about to get demolished - studio. However, the job is not as easy as it seems: monsters roam the corridors... and will steal what you carry.

From the (actual) start, PYHITPH reminded me of Five Nights at Freddie's, not just because of the puppets themselves, but also with the spooky buildings you need to explore at night, and the strange things that hunt you. You need to be strategic in where you go and when you get to it, or you'd cross path with the monsters (the Hints refers to the game as having a Pac-Man sort of gameplay). Adding onto it, you have to solve puzzles to get to certain puppets or bits of information.

I got frustrated losing the puppets pretty quickly (even if I tried to play it smart), so I ended up using the cheat mode quite early on to reach the endings. It is not an issue from the game itself, though. The mechanic and the puzzles pretty neat, I just couldn't handle it [timing puzzles are make-or-break-it]. Were it not for the spooky monsters and tracking their movements…

As well, not being a puppet person, I felt like I was missing context or references when I played the game. I could obviously be completely fiction*, but something about the writing made it pretty believable that something like this happened in real life?
*looking up names left me empty-handed, again...

[Originally played on 1-Oct during the IFComp]

For Eternity, Again and Again is a quite short entry, about love, unbending fate, and rebirth. The entry plays on the trope of immortal lover vs reincarnated mortal, set in a vague fantasy setting. I found all endings.

I thought the game was confusing. Even reading back on my previous choices, or going through the ones I had not picked yet, I found myself wondering what this game was about. I gathered that the story meant to show the struggles between lovers facing their doomed end, but the vagueness and unevenness of the writing didn't quite manage to hit the mark for me.

Having found all ending, I did note that the two paths were somewhat mirroring each other. I think you get to play both lovers, one for each path? If so, that's neat.

[Originally played during the IFComp on 1-Oct]

Help! I Can't Find My Glasses! is a relatively short game, whose premise revolves around the disappearance of your glasses during your nap at school (and maybe a bit more). It quite simple, with limited choices and paths to take - though it does have multiple endings (I found 3 of them).

The game felt at times a bit incomplete in its story, as obvious paths were disregarded ((Spoiler - click to show)Did the president really not have a play in this?) and the consequences of some choices unsatisfying ((Spoiler - click to show)like investigating the "joker" friend). During my first run, I managed to find my glasses ((Spoiler - click to show)by essentially giving up and going back to nap</spoiler) and won a funny achievement; while during others, I didn't manage to find them, as the game ended somewhat abruptly before I could uncover anything substantial. ((Spoiler - click to show)I still believe the president tried to mess with me).

I feel like the author had planned more for the player, with this entry only setting the stage for a grander adventure... maybe even more mysteries to solve! There were some intriguing aspects with each named character, which unfortunately were barely explored as you have limited interaction with them.
(I'm also still not sure whether the achievements were all attainable?)

Still, I quite enjoyed the goofiness of the setting, and how light-hearted it tried to stay. As it, it was very cute. I would enjoy playing an extended version of this game.

[Originally played on Oct-1]

Formatted as a kinetic micro play, this entry shows a snippet of a discussion between a priest and a confessor, both having had a shared history. With only a handful of passages, and a relatively short amount of words, the story gives just enough information to understand the dynamics between those two, but leaves enough out to make you wanting more. It is dramatic and painful - for the characters - with the beautiful writing focusing on the little things.

I left the game with so many questions about the characters and their relationships - incl. a chicken and egg one about the priest status and the potential forbidden lover trope. I hope the rest of the piece, from which this one is taken, will be published one day.

Through the framing of a told tale about a cowboy, his/her choices, and their consequences, the game mixes a western setting with some fantastical elements, bringing an interesting take on 'the Devil's Deal. Because of this framing, the game utilises different interfaces to demarcate the present and the told story (as you are both listening and playing through the tale).

As usual with this author, the imagery is quite vivid through the extensive prose, especially the descriptions surrounding nature and the start of the second part of the story. Though the choices are limited and the story fairly linear, the interactivity in this game (or lack thereof) is nonetheless pretty interesting, especially through the first part.

I particularly enjoyed the endings, revealing much more than the fate of John Cassidy King. Surprisingly, that extra reveal stayed longer in my mind, especially the one of the earliest ending.

I'm still not sure what to make of this, as the game weaves multiple strands of story (POVs, but also past/future) together. Even through my confusion, I think I managed to piece some things at the end: a couple of peeps are trying to save someone (whose relationship is unclear), each with a different view on how to do so; they end up being hunted by religious zealots for some reason; and one of them meet the/a Devil? I think I took out of this a short take of heartbreak, betrayals, and a trip to Hell?

A certain positive: the portraits were pretty neat, I liked the coloured ones the most.

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!

A short but effective horror tale, leaving the unsaid shape up the story. Framing the story through a questionnaire seemed strange at first, but works surprisingly well (since the protagonist is still in school), and even adds to the eerie/uneasy setting. It was a very interesting use of interactivity.

The writing was on the wall from the start, but I still was distracted by what was not and missed the hints. The end shocked me more than I thought it would.

And, as with any test, I scored poorly: only a crescent.

You lose or your lose... the question remains, how bad can you lose?
Well, pretty badly depending on your choices. But that's fine... end up fine, right?

You are given a pile of scenarios, randomly ordered, for which you must choose a course of action. Each action has a different level of success (which is 'lowest loss') for different faction of society (Culture, Military, Religion, Social Classes, Colonial power...). The further you go into the game, the worse your success will be, the deeper you fall. [I picked the worst options on purpose :P]

The writing in this game is humorous, taking jabs at different historical events, groups and countries (the French, the poor, the communists, women wanting to get votes...). Though, it is very much a British kind of humour: dry and prickly. And that's what makes the whole thing funny.

Still, there were some confusing aspects to the game (which I ended up figuring out after replaying). Such as what the percentages next to the choices were: where they success rolls? difficulty rolls? Even with different percentages in one list, since the links are all the same colour, it wasn't clear whether an option was "good"/passable or not.

Another one regarded the statistics. When choosing an option, the changed state blinks* at the bottom of the screen indicating the amount of loss. However, it was hard to make any informed decision, or targetting a specific element, without knowing the starting states of each groups. Some stats bar would have been welcomed here**.
*this happens way too fast. If your eyes are not staring at the bottom of the screen you will miss it.
**and also at the end of the game, to see how bad we messed up with which group.

Still, always fun to destroy the British Empire.