Ratings and Reviews by manonamora

Holy shit, the whiplash from this one. I was warned by the content warning before playing the game (READ THEM, FOR YOUR SAKE), and still I did not expect how much it would affect me. I expected some strange stuff, I always do with catsket's work, but how the gruesomeness was introduced twisted my stomach.

Gruesome content aside, the writing is VERY vivid. The descriptions of the photographs inside the book paint quite the pictures (hehehe, bad pun). Even if short, they say just enough to be able to imagine those faded and maybe yellowed shots.

The start is actually quite lovely, depicting a fun solo roadtrip in nature, where you end up meeting someone cool, and they tag along for the rest of the summer. Shenanigans ensue, obviously. But the activities of two young peeps on a summer roadtrip are really not what you'd expect. They seemed to have fun... some gruesome fun!

Anyway... I will stay away from antique stores for now, and definitely leave weird photobooks alone...

This was a short and fun “political” simulator set in Ancient Rome, where your goal is to try to restore the delicate balance in the Senate (or not) while avoiding causing too many riots (or go for the chaos), or even losing the city altogether (or go for that!). Personally, my first attempt failed the plebs.

The mechanic is pretty simple. You have three important causes where you can levy taxes or spend funds, and the option to nudge the other three Senators (randomly generated at the start) to change their votes through different approaches. I've tried convincing them all, it worked like a charm! Well... only to change their minds, I did cause some riots.

In between sessions, you get to enjoy life, make new connection, and potentially raise your status as a Senator (though I am not sure how much your choices there influence the game). The playful writing is more obvious in this part than during the Senate session.

I really, really, like pieces taking human experiences and flipping it on its head by viewing it from an outsider perspective (aliens/other). It's always a bit strange and uncomfortable, to look at this from a non-human POV, but it also makes you think about the things we take for granted. You know... the little every day things that are actually pretty awesome.

Here, a word - Hypertext (harr, harr) - takes over your body for a month to experience what it's like to be human, and recounts its experiences with you through the medium of Hypertext Kinetic IF (though it reaaallly wanted to make a parser instead). I liked the attention to details, like what's in your bed room, especially the closet and the bookcase, or the ways different bits connect together (the colours and images especially). In trying to explain the wonders (and less wondrous aspects) of human life, Hypertext engages in the debate of how best to communicate things with others, pulling its "hair" at the backward way that is text.

The entry is very strange, but also quite endearing, and I enjoyed the meta/philosophical discussion about the use of words, their meaning, and whether we should turn to other, maybe better, ways to communicate with others.
I could have done maybe without the whole physical relationship passage. That made me a bit uncomfortable.

It was a very good entry!

With a very handed dark approach, and many warnings at the start, this revenge story leads you to kill a god (or try to at least). Along the way, another follows you along, showing you other less destructive paths, if you wish it so - even if you are quite set on revenge for your misfortune, even losing your life for your cause.

The revelations at the end, depending on your choice, are quite interesting. Changing your mind before or halfway through the conversation with the god leads to some somewhat unexpected results.

But I thought the end came a bit too quick. You start at your lowest, have maybe one "trial" before you reach your final destination and make your choice. This made this final choice less impactful than it could have been, in my opinion.

The piece is fairly short, with a couple of hundred words at most, and it will make you hate yourself (maybe) when you reach the end. Entrenched in the very harsh environment that is religious conservative norms, the game explores what it feels to be denied the little joys of life and exploring your identity.

It is not just a tour-de-force to be able to hit those emotions with so little words, but the way the choices are formatted hits like a ton of brick. As you click and come back to the main page, choices appear and disappear from the list... until there is nothing left. Until you are denied everything.

Strangely, the harsh Harlowe interface and palette adds another layer of bleakness to the situation.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, because I had no strong frame of reference for either IPs, I know of both but never played either. But the demo truly wasn't something I could have expected!

At the time of this review, the project is still in a demo/prototype stage, with uncoded variables or statement in passages or its strange ending. From what is there however, the mash up between IPs seems to work (or at least, from a non-informed player), hinting at a probably unserious approach in the future.

The game starts off with a more generic ‘get ready to fight some baddies’ moment, coupled with a bit of character creator. You get to pick your sidekick (if any) and who would will end up fighting. It is very important, your CO drills into your head, and very serious...

... aaaaaaand the demo shifts to a homage to Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die (and you die not matter what you pick, like in PUPBD). Getting to that end was surprising at first, but coming back to it again and again felt like it was intentional (or lack of time? not being able to continue the main story?). It's very silly, and going from a set and serious story to this made me laugh a lot.
I am unsure whether this end would actually fit the story planned, but I kind of hope it stays in the game if it ever updates. As an Easter Egg of sort.

Thanks for the good laugh!

The content warnings gives a head's up on the implied content of the game, but it still hit so hard. Takes your heart out, pulls its strings, and squish it into mush... and with just a few hundred words.

Found Objects is short and sweet (also not sweet at all, it stings a lot), using little words and many links to show the resolve of the character when faced with past addiction.

It really shows that you don't need more than a tiny snapshot to pull the heart strings. This was really good.

This is a Twine styled in a CYOA book format with the WritingFantasy coding format, with hyperlinks sending you to the correct "page"/section. Set in a fantasy setting, you have escaped your hometown being taken over by orcs. During this starting struggle, you cross path with Tent, a strange girl with helpful skills. The two of you try to find a way to survive the coming winter (and maybe more, wink wink).

Even if the writing is a tad awkward or repetitive at times, there is a good balance between text length and choices. The pace is fast and to the point during action moments, while slow and focused on thoughts during low stakes times. The choices are varied, and makes any stake brought forward seem surmountable. And the banter between the characters are quite delightful (Tent, best girl!)

For a NSFW entry, the game gives the player an optional path, leaving more explicit scenes behind obvious choices. It is possible to go through the story understanding the attractions between the main characters, without feeling forced to go down that right. I ended up with the Friendship ending, which was quite nice.

Another smart thing of the entry: the order of the passages are shuffled (you go from passage 1 to 54 to 29 to etc...), meaning you can't piece the story back unless you follow the links on the page... You have to play the game to get to the end!

With a superhero/villain setting, Moonstrike is a relatively long game, both in terms of word count and passage length, in an almost kinetic form with its singular ending and limited choices.

The setting is a bit silly, as you are a vigilante trying to take down a villain that just escape, while trying to keep your identity concealed and your life in checked. But these kinds of premise is fun to explore, especially the balance of silliness of the situation and the more serious aspect of the vigilante reality.

While I liked the premise of the game, I did find some issues with the pacing of the story. Part of it stems from the lengths of the passages (from 3-6 word pages by glance). Without regular break, beats of the story seem to drag on more than they should or goes against the fast-paced actions sequences (like the fights).
Another part would be the relatively restricted interactivity. Because of those long passages (often multiple ones at a time), the available actions for the player are few and far between, rendering us a bit more passive than the setting would warrant (why not have a proper fight sequence?)

Another reason for me was the confusing passing of time. We're told at the start of the game we're hunting a villain, and that time is of the essence, but good thing you are on a short break right now! But some actions to track the villain take weeks to process. Or you seem to spend so much time on random things (the middle section at the mechanic shop felt much longer than it actually was? or the drive before meeting the bad guy). In any case, by the end of the game, it was unclear whether it had just been a few days since the start of the story or months.

I did enjoy the funny moments and quibs between characters, especially between the PC and the villain. I'm pretty sure we're supposed to root for the PC throughout the game, but the villain was my favourite character. So chaotic.

A short cute kinetic(-ish) story about the what are/could/should have been in ChoiceScript. The writing is full of emotion, (unrequited?) feelings, and maybe even a hint of regret. Retrospection is a big focus of the story itself.

A strange thing from it was the choice of the You's and I's here. In usual ChoiceScript fashion, the main body of the text refers to the player as You, while it uses I for the choice options. In this game, You's and I's share the same space. Are we supposed to be the I and reflect on our feelings and relationships? or the You and discover how bad of a friends we probably are?
The ambiguity of it made me a bit confused, but I liked it as well.