Reviews by manonamora

Told in three parts, with a change in POV in between, the story mashes Christian mythos and horror, through the arrival of the apocalypse. As such, it takes an interesting approach on the theme, by going to the earliest use of the phrase in the blink of an eye, Through this the re-contextualisation of religious themes inside a horror framing, the game discusses religion and faith, change (or lack thereof), and what happens after death.

The writing, being quite flowery and evocative, tries to emulate old English to set the story in late Ancient Times - though only for spoken words, the rest of the text using modern prose. I found it a bit jarring, as little of the setting is framed from being in this time.

Finally, the ambiguous and unchanging ending left me unsatisfied. Your choices, which are recapped at the end, are supposed to give you an answer to why the ending is the way it is, or at least lead you towards your own interpretation. But I don't feel like it quite worked, for any choice I made. I didn't understand why only one of the two, even if both are in this situation, finds solace at the end...

I think quite a bit of the story stands on a prerequisite knowledge of Christian mythos, and assumes that the players has those, to make enough of an impact.

This was a very cute entry to the inkJam, one of the most sweet and serene of all of them, as you watch a forest going through the different seasons and stages, as its inhabitants change*, adapting to the environment. I am still not sure if you are the forest or another wordly being, but frankly it matters little here.
*in a blink of an eye, get it?

Like the story, the writing is fairly mellow and calm. Depending on the choice you make, you can manage to loop back to the start, and try out a different branch (watching more closely or close your eyes and vibe).

The illustrations, both in the backgrounds (which change with the theme!) and as headers for each "chapter", were quite lovely, adding to the serenity of the story. It was just a shame they wouldn't fit properly one the page...

Chill cute vibes.

This is a tiny horror story about what is and isn't around you, but also not quite. It does not just play with your senses of what you see and feel, but also with your agency as a player.

While it should add to the uneasiness of the setting, it didn't work for me. This felt more like something you'd fin in r/twosentenceshorror.

This was a bit of a mind-blowing game. It takes an intriguing take on the themes of agency, control over and expression of one's body, body modification and technological advancement.

The use of an interview mechanic to prove the customer's motivation for a procedure is done quite well, with realistic reactions from them when your probing goes towards an unexpected path or pushes too much. Depending on the tone chosen at the start, you will find subtle variations in the responses. At the end, you will have to choose whether you approve of the procedure or advise against.

It is both uneasy to go through, hard to look away, and pretty well done.

This game had a very interesting sci-fi premise with the whole end of the Universe/of life concept and last effort for hope, clashing with a more blasé outlook of living for the moment while you can, because humanity is doomed anyway. Though it is set in a far future, with a probably impossible setting, the tech doesn't feel too far-fetched and complicated to grasp.

The fast pace start hooks pretty quickly, feeling that anxiety and weight of the importance of the mission. It slows down from the middle point, where you get more concrete exposition* and a sense of dread from the state of your ship and the crew. This culminates to the big choice: continue your mission or give up.
*More lore is available on the game page, as a feelies (downloadable extra).

This was a quirky prototype that ends pretty abruptly (depending on the path taken, pretty quickly too). It is very humoristic, and very chaotic energy vibe: the pets are not your run-of-the-mill cats and dogs, and you might not be able to handle them...

Adding to the chaotic vibe are the illustration, with its funky style. It's a shame the current version is so short (though understandable due to the limitations). So I hope a longer version comes out at some point, and have more shenanigans to handle with those weird pets.

In the meantime, I'm bringing the pets back...

This had huge Aliens/Predator vibes, from the setting of the story to the beasts' descriptions. The whole moving about in the building did remind me a bit of Ripley going through the ship to hunt down the Alien. The gameplay itself is pretty simple: you mainly get binary choices, with some leading you to an early end (being sneaky is not always the smart choice...).

Trying to stay alive, balance your ammos, and keeping everyone sage is trickier than it seemed, but it makes for a fun small adventure/dungeon game.

This game has a cool sci-fi concept, where you get to see how a planet transforms before your eyes at lightning speed, before getting small snapshots of different elements. It's pretty eerie, seeing life being reduced to numbers and snapshots for your own enjoyment (and yours alone). I am still not sure whether the generated planet is supposed to be "real" or lines of code in a computer, but the implications either way are a bit creepy.

The planets and its components are also randomly generated, making replays pretty fun (though I was unlucky the first few times). I also liked the simple and muted animated background, giving off that futuristic-corporate vibe that fits with the setting.

It was a neat experiment.

This entry had an interesting use of the theme, with a collection of snippets of his life flashes before him, as Stan is about to die. The writing is quite nice, and flows pretty well from one snippet to another (what'd you'd expect in that kind of situation). Stan struggles with a lot of things in his life, especially his family breaking apart following his divorce due to his actions, and I thought the writing did a pretty good job representing this. The final beat of the game had me chocking up.

However, I wasn't fan of the Interface (you need to open the game in full screen to play). The white text is often really difficult to read against the bright background (can't be changed) and the font size changes depending on the amount of text. The way the interactivity is set up (having to click Continue at the bottom then go to the top of the page for the option) becomes a bit annoying. There is also barely any coherence in the style of the different backgrounds (AI generated), with the characters represented looking like completely different people from one screen to another.

The Whisperers is an interactive game set in the late 30s Soviet block, where you are an audience member of an interactive “propagandist” play, of three “families” living inside a paper-thin-walled apartment. Throughout the story, you are asked for your opinion on how the play should continue. There are essentially 3-ish possible endings.

I personally hate plays where the audience needs to take an active part of the story, where immersion is broken because the audience must have a say. But as an interactive game, I’ve quite enjoyed it! The active participating is not only welcomed, but adds another layer of intrigue into the story (at least in this case). The awkwardness of waiting for the play to start again is not there, as the passage loads right after your choice is made.

As for the story, a morality take in two acts, it made me think of those typical contemporary French plays happening within an apartment, where miscommunication and personal drama becomes the crux of the issue. While it is not as vaudevillian, with the play set in Soviet Russia during Stalin’s regime, it is nonetheless cynical in its treatment of its characters. No one is good, no one is bad, everyone is stuck in their own situation (and some are maybe a bit stupid*).
*the characters felt at times a bit flat, or a bit preachy in how they discuss some topics.

If you take it at face value, it’s a pretty neat experience; and if you look deeper into it, it shows off the extensive research on the setting and the length taken to portray its intricacies, the horrors, and the hopes. It felt a bit like a commentary of the period. The play is fairly fast paced, and doesn’t overstay its welcome, ending just at the climax. The interactiveness of it is fun, with your choice mattering or being disregarded (depending on the mode played) – it could have been fun to learn whether these choices affected your position.
I found the hidden ending to be the most fun one.

But, I did have some issue with the formatting of the text itself. While I appreciated the inclusion of formatting options, with palette themes and text font/size*, it made it obvious when an aspect was not customised (link colour not contrasted enough, popup). But that’s a detail compared to…
*it might have fitted more inside a Setting popup, the buttons’ colours were too eye-catching.

… the passages not looking like an actual script. From the blurb to the game itself, it was clear we were meant to look forward to a play on our screen. But the text is vaguely formatted like one: the Act is centred on the page, but not the scenes or the character’s names; the actions or voice level* are made obvious in brackets, but end up feeling lost inside dialogue (especially in the Guide’s and Sergei’s monologues)… It might seem like a detail, but the essence of playwriting felt a bit lost because of it?
*the whispering aspect kinda felt like an afterthought after the first scene? The voice level of the characters didn’t seem to matter much in further conversations…

Visual friction aside, this was neat.