Reviews by manonamora
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All The Games I Would Have Made For Seedcomp If I Had The Time (Which I Did Not) (Oh Well There's Always Next Year) is a short game going all on the meta, about the SeedComp! format and game reception. It emulates participating at the last possible minute in the competition, and finding what people think of that entry.
The game is essentially those two screens: picking the seeds from the SeedComp! you want to mix together into a game, and the IFDB page for said-game with its information and a handful of reviews. If I counted correctly (which I probably have not), there seems to be 5? possible games to check out.
While you don't get to play the games (all of them sounding like a riot - I hope you end up making them, KADW), there is just enough information to imagine what those games could have looked, how their atmosphere would have been, how fun the gameplay would have felt (or not). It's kind of bizarre (but fun bizarre) to play the game in your head rather than for real.
Now I wonder how it would look like with all 90 seeds of this edition XD
Poet on trial, March 13, 2024Poetic Justice is a short poetic and logical game made in Dendry, where you play as a legendary unnamed (at the start) poet on trial for plagiarism. On the bench, sit your peers, other iconic poets, ready to judge you. Will you manage to refute their arguments or face justice?
Worried about fairness? You get to choose one of those judges are your poet representative (though it ends up barely mattering... but you get to learn a bit more about them with a Wikipedia snippet).
Because it is also a fair trial, you get to review the evidence against you, before refuting each of the poets' arguments (I'm not sure why you need to fight your own lawyer, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). It's pretty much a breeze. But your own arguments are not enough, you need to trick them to see the idiocy in their thinking.
Which leads us to the main interactive element of the game: a logic puzzle. Each poet writes their own version of one of your poem, and your must choose the right order and combination so they all end up criticising each other. I ended up writing down all the options to get it.
The puzzle was neat. I wished I had more to do in the first half of the game, especially when refuting the arguments of the different poets. Or maybe even lose the trial (I don't think there is a bad ending?).
Politics and Relationships, always an interesting mix, March 13, 2024A Collegial Conversation is a short Twine interactive piece, lasting the time of a conversation during a fancy party. Two couples of different social classes, but linked with their workplace, exchanging some... words. While the story is fairly linear, and you may not affect it, it is told in an interesting manner: each scene can be read from the point-of-view of each selectable character. By clicking on the different names, you can switch POV and read what the next character sees, hear, or feels. All scenes can be read from one POV at a time after reaching the end.
It's not just fun to read about an event from different POvs, to see how differently they view one same situation, but explore their motivations for doing a specific action or saying a specific thing, their wants and worries, their pride and insecurities - but it also puts a lot of things into context. You get to understand the relationships between the characters, the politics happening in the workplace, and the tribulations of each characters. Even with so few passages, each character get a lot more depths than you'd expect.
I think I ended up keeping the spiciest of characters for last (it was a treat, I really enjoyed that POV's commentary), that was delightful. I was kind of wishing after going through all possible POVs to be able to get more of Seira's, the commissioner.
A fun use of the seeds too!
Weirdcore galore, March 12, 2024Made in Decker, this point-and-click game follows Linus (you), a young adult still living with her parents in what seems to be a Scandinavian Arctic town. Linus has not had the easiest of time, being a shadow of her brother, unsupported by her family, and having gone through a breakup. In this cold afternoon, you explore Linus’s home, looking first for a bite to eat, rummaging around and reminiscing about life.
With its low-bit and dithered aesthetic, the game falls deep into weirdcore when you hear a strange noise. The pixelled background sound and flipped palette renders the already melancholic-to-depressing atmosphere to a legit skin-crawling creepy one. I don’t know whether Linus was having some sort of out-of-body episode or some otherworldly beings were at play. I don’t think an answer is needed to enjoy the game however.
The entry used all songs, and explicitly indicated where those bits can be found in the game on the game page and the credits. Each song has been used in different ways, from taking snippets of the respective music video, displaying lyrics on the screen, to using it as an inspiration for the setting and story. It is a nice blend.
Le Dernier Serment is an old school parser adventure made for the Amstrad CDC, in which you must rid your village of a nasty curse: losing their freewill, leading them to their death. The adventure includes a nice range of puzzles, and an external manual/feelies pdf. There are no hints, help, or walkthrough included. There are also 5 endings listed (though I am not sure whether one of them is possible?).
I definitely had a few difficulties going through some of the puzzles, but it’s probably more due to me not being good at (French) parsers or just not reading the manual correctly, or whether the puzzles are actually obtuse (which, for an old-school parser, wouldn’t be too surprising). But figuring it out (and seeing the environment change before your eyes) felt so darn good! The puzzles are pretty varied, going from interacting with your environment to timing puzzles. I struggled with one so much because it dealt with opposites and transposition.
The game is also GORGEOUS! Every screen includes pixel art, one part showing what is in front of you (directions between rooms can change) ~ each being distinct from the others, and another showing yourself (and your state). The font used might not always be legible, but its design is so atmospheric.
A beautiful neat game!
Le Bastion de la Porte is a fantasy game made in Moiki, where you play as Salma, a Trimolienne in the land of Sargh, as the newly appointed lonely guardian of the Door up high in the mountain. Your task is to guard the door, and try (but not pressure) any passers-by not to cross it. What is behind the door? No one knows, as no one has ever come back from it. How will you handle that task? Will you let everyone through or force them to turn back? Will you go through the door yourself as your predecessor has?
The job, however, is a lonely one. Aside from your monthly delivery (with the best boi Ernest!), few climb up the mountain, wanting to reach the mysterious landmark. But when they do, you get to listen to their stories, ask some questions (and maybe answer theirs), maybe share some wine, and potentially change their fate. There is never a right or wrong answer, though maybe some will make you question your ethics and morals. It is touching and emotional, and makes you reflect on what is important.
Throughout the story you get may be able to ponder on the meaning of the door and what it could represent. One character might make you think it is simply an allegory for moving on to the next plane, another as a escape from danger and difficulties, a final one as a celebration to dive into the unknown. It is quite interesting how one single thing can represent widely different concepts.
While it is already pretty entertaining (and with an impressive count of over 900 screens), I wished we could have had more during the downtime. You are able to interact with elements around the house, though it is sparse and does not change much between periods. You can always take the same shower, reel in some water from the well, pick up some dried meat, and look yourself in the mirror or at you sparse house décor. And when you do, the text seems to be the same (or fairly similar).
It would have been interesting to maybe do some activities to spruce up the hut, like gardening or fixing the roof, remark upgrades done by the Fédération after you complain about things, picking up a hobby…
And, being able to wait for time to pass in other spots than your bed, like at the desk doing some writing or doodling, or sitting by the fire, and when during the spring/summer, maybe waiting outside on a log enjoying the nice weather.
The game page indicates further updates, which would include missing chapters and other types of gameplay, are to be expected. I’m looking forward to those.
Les Trois-cités : les préludes d’une odyssée is an incomplete RPG game made in Twine, wherein you play as a dwarf looking to save their brother from a magical mushroom-related illness. The game based on CYOA gamebooks with dice-gameplay elements, with options to choose your class, getting equipment and potions, and levelling up your stats. RNG will be your best friend and greatest enemy here.
There is a lot you can do here. Along your main fetch-quest to find the required ingredients to save your brother, you will quickly stumble upon other side-quests – exploration of the city and interaction with other NPCs being necessary to get the ingredients. As in any fantasy setting, quests will range from finding missing characters, fighting brigands and thieves, resolving arguments, helping the less-than-fortunate, and even levying the taxes.
Though it is not in its complete form, you will easily spend a handful of hours to get through what is currently there: three cities are mentioned, two being accessible, and one being complete with dozens of neighbourhoods.
While maps are provided, showing where you are on the page and a couple of the available locations, you cannot click on it to move to other place – only adjacent spots are selectable through a list of links (no teleporting or fast travel unfortunately, it’s a bit annoying when going from one end to the city to the other).
It is obvious there was a lot of work put into the game, and even if I think I found myself stuck in an impossible place, it was pretty neat. If the other cities end up becoming as thought out and detailed as the starting one, it would make for a pretty epic adventure.
Immobilistes is a micro interactive piece made in Decker, where you are tasked to determine the danger/risk level of a radical group called "les immobilistes". You are given instructions and a database of elements to analyse and render judgement (not dangerous, maybe a bit, suuuuper dangerous). That is... if you find how to access the database: (Spoiler - click to show)in the textbox, press the letters very slowly, there's a delay between you entering a letter and the game reacting.
The documents are fantastic to go through. Between pictures, exchanges between the characters, transcriptions of journals, formal interview... everything creates a strange and almost conspirational web around the two instigators. The political and judicial climate of the game feels extremely real and topical. It is both chilling and strangely hopeful, in some way? Having to make the decision at the end is hard, no matter how you read the file...
ha, 42
Though short, the game is very intriguing, whether it is the lore or the setting, or even the reasons for you to investigate the group, forcing you to fill in the blanks at times. It is becoming a trend with game from the author (which I really like, all the unsaid and mystery).
I would be *very* interested to play an extremely long version of this game where you also to the investigating... or having to deal with the consequences of your judgement.
And please, let us (Spoiler - click to show)search that database at least!
Decker is a very fun system but also finicky...
Larme à gauche is a slice-of-life game made in Twine, when you play as Gloria, a young woman living in Brussels, who drove down with her partner Lucy to the Pyrenees for the funeral of her grand-father, a former general in Franco’s army. She had not seen her grand-father since she was very young, as well as most of the family will may be meeting today.
Don’t speak ill of the dead. Family must stick together. Family above all. These were the perfidious sayings that kept crossing my mind as I was going through the different paths and learning about the different characters and their relationships. Sayings written white on black on the screen, said even by some of the characters, as Gloria struggles to find her place in the matter. Between her grand-father who committed atrocities, a father who could not see the truth, and other family members who didn’t seem to care much about her, what is she left with…
The game deals with difficult topics, uncomfortable ones. But does so with a strong and touching story.
Yorouba Un prince venu d’ailleurs is a kinetic Twine story about a non-human being (re)incarnated as a man, and the mysticism around him. Part of the story in the human world is set in and around Gombe, a commune of the DRC.
Due to the writing style, it is quite hard to get into the story. With the peculiar and unusual syntax, the prose will often go from one topic to the next with barely a punctuation mark or a return to the line. Often, characters will change name, going from to the other without much of an explanation (I think they are the same people, just a different way of writing the name).
I did struggle to try to find sense in this story, which was not helped by the way it was structure on the page and from one page to the next either. The game starts with Episode 1, moving then to Episode 7, then coming back to a different Episode 1, which was followed on the same page with Episode 2 and 3. Where were the other Episodes? Were they locked behind the unselectable choices? (A closer look a the file shows that they are nowhere to be found.) Am I missed something?
Trying to piece out the elements to make something cohesive proved difficult. I think I left the game more confused than when I got in…
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