Reviews by manonamora
barebonesjam
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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.
This was a fairly basic adventure game, with a combat/inventory/market system. You fight "monsters", get coins, try to balance your health/hunger, and if you're lucky, get to the finish line (or you die). Coded in python, the game uses numbers as inputs rather than your typical parser commands.
Though the fights are randomly generated (in the name of the "monster", attacks felt, and rewards), it becomes repetitive quite quickly. After a dozen of fight, seeing the retro ASCII art bud swing its sword... eh.
I died before reaching the required 100 fights, but didn't feel the need nor want to try to beat the game.
Would be the nice base for a larger project though. The mechanic itself works fine.
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.
Definitely a nightmare, November 11, 2023Forenote: 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!
Twisted and graphic take on horror, November 11, 2023This was one twisted story. Starting already strange becomes bleaker with each passage, as you get deeper inside the man's values, morals, and outlook on life/society.
Though well written, this was far from easy to read, due to the implicit and explicit violence depicted in the text. While the main body gives some indication of what is happening outside of the man's thoughts and spoken words, it is brought even further through the list of choices. It is subtle enough to give you pause, as well as showing how insane all of it is...
I know there are multiple endings to this game, some of them "better" than others, but I didn't have the stomach to hunt them all down...
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