Reviews by manonamora
neotwinyjam
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The Enshittification of social media, visualised., August 21, 2023A conversation between two users start, as they meet once again after one of them left the social platform they connected. Thought this reconnection they discuss their experience of said platform and how changes have not gone over well, as well as the concept of anonymity through the ages.
The entry takes on multiple UIs through this conversation of different social media platforms, from the Tumblr DMs, Cohost posts, Twitter, Discord, Reddit, Youtube, and old Forum formats. It gives for a strange retrospective in parallel with the conversation, reminding us of what once was, and how those platforms (may) have changed over the years… often for the worst as they stop putting users first.
It is quite the relevant piece considering what has happened over the past years with Twitter, the past months with Reddit, or even more quietly with Tumblr…
Though, while our place on the internet may be temporary, the entry does give some hope that users who click will find each other elsewhere…
What’s the worst that could happen when missing your alarm? Here, being locked inside the hotel, after the owner has shut it down for the season. Without a phone to call for help, you are left to your devices to find a way out.
The puzzle is pretty simple (click on the correct links to progress), and quite reminiscent of parsers/text adventures (I would see this one as a pretty cute beginner entry imo).
Nice job!
This is what this entry feels like, a intro or teaser to a larger series about Dimensions Guardian, some sort of spy/agent team working to restore reality to its natural state, fighting the monster of the week! “In this week’s episode, The Typewriter!”
As expected from Sophia, themes of religion, celestial bodies, and trauma, will usually have an appearance in her writing. Again with this entry, from the allusion of a “guardian angel” looking over you, or the triple digits as some form of communication between heavenly bodies and humans (notice how 666 is missing…).
This guardian, however, has not the best intention at heart, as the descriptions (told from their perspective) of their actions seem to traumatise you, has they have done your father before, as they will do your daughter in the future. This fixation is hidden behind their love for you, as they had for your father, as they will your daughter…
Or… you could read something completely different…
The final note absolutely KILLED me.
While this is not the first entry of this jam to have an escape your nightmare concept, this one add an extra mechanic with the “Will to Live”. Depending on your actions, you may lose part of said will… and be consumed by the darkness. This was a neat little addition, giving more gravitas to the concept.
There is another layer to this nightmare, a reason for its existence in the first place. Thought you only discover it when you get closer to dispelling the nightmare…
Overall pretty neat and anxiety inducing game.
I liked the added illustrations too! And this was made in the Snowman format!
Or so Sartre says, in “No Exit”, the piece this entry is based on. In the play, three people are brought together to torture each other, including Inez, a woman who seduced her cousin’s wife and met her demise when the latter, filled with guilt, left the stove one while they slept (all this is referenced in the blurb/game).
Seemingly told from Inez’s perspective, this entry focuses on the burning love for a kept woman ended up burning her to the core. The entry sort of felt it was doing a one sided conversation with one of the other characters stuck with her…
A very interesting of a similarly poignant source!
This short quiz calling itself a time waster reminds us of two important things: taking breaks is important, especially if you’ve done a lot with your days, AND you often will find you’ve done more than you think. Either way, it is important to be kind to and take care of yourself.
Very sweet!~
What happened to the two frogs sent into space by NASA in the 70s? This is what this entry tried to envision in those 500 words. Did they ignore each other? Did they console each other? Did they drive each other crazy? We will never know… but isn’t it interesting to think about?
And end of an era is upon us when the last of the Heros returns on the brink of death. Who will be there to protect and care for the weak if no Hero is around? Who will fight for good and against evil marauders if not for a Hero?
The Hero provides an alternative (if you chose the correct path) of becoming the Warrior and Samaritan you look up to yourself…
And maybe, that is enough to survive the change…
But you weren’t before, to the exasperation of others around, deep in your mediation or memories of older times, snippets of moments who marked you, realisation that nothing will ever be the same. Yet you seem stuck in the past or dreams…
I was honestly a bit confused by this piece, with a lot being quite vague and some controls a bit wonky…
You are an assassin, interrupted in your job by a knife at your throat. Your next action will determine whether you live or die, or maybe walk away a bit worse for wear…
For all its violence and tension, I did giggle at some endings, as the writing has quite a bit of humour. Another was pretty hot as well.
A good bite-size thriller!
Esme is an up-and-comer entertainer, trying to claw her way to a position in court, using her wits but mainly her beauty to be remembered. At this point in time, she relies on her patron to secure her standing with the court, even if it pains her soul and pride.
The writing does a wonderful job at burning the rage Esme feels, and how dedicated she is to achieve her goals, on the page. Almost in an animalistic way…
The tale of the Betrayer of the Son of God, whom a kiss dooms mankind to suffering, is recalled from the perspective of the sinner in this entry. Going through the multitudes of feelings held in Judas’s heart, one discovers his resentment towards his pre-determined fate.
There is a hint of homoeroticism between Judas and Jesus, and I’ve been wondering if that was meant from the beginning, or I am just reading into it…
I am not well versed in details of the catholic mythos and believes to pick up on all the details included in this entry…
An alarm awaken you, warning you of a breach in your ship. Tasked to investigate, you come across a group of strangers… and an orb, which you had never seen before and which disappears when you try to touch it.
Unfortunately, there is not more to it, as bugs seem to have removed potential actions (and reached the 3 locked endings). Aside from dying or killing the intruders, there is not much to speak of…
Locked in a dungeon, you find company in a Knight, who may or may not help you find your freedom (or something else…)… if you manage to escape the dungeon’s guardian, that is.
The UI of this entry is impeccable, with its little gif-sprites representing the player, changing at random at every start of the game, and its background moving with the mouse.
This is really a well thought-out and executed entry!
Naming the game as a Chore on itch is very fitting, as filling out applications for a resume often, if not always feels like an absolute chore. The choice of using Texture for this was the correct one, as the click/drag on desktop reeeaaaaally adds to the chore-like feeling of this task.
The player gets to edit an application for a job, expanding, rephrasing, deleting or submitting at will the different parts. Through the writing, it is obvious the player character is frustrated with the task (and who isn’t, filling those applications are The Worst). Every action has quite a bit of humour in it, especially when expending on some sections.
Good vibes, not good times…
Son of Helios hurtling towards the ground, as his lover Cygnus cannot take her eyes away from the body about to disappear. After abandoning her kingdom for the one she loved, she is now abandoned herself… But the fates or the gods have other plans for her…
It would have been nice to have a clearer indication the story ended. Because of how the previous passages were formatted, I was expecting a delayed text to appear…
Using snippets and illustrations of the novel “Journeys to the Planet Mars” (1903), the author created a sort of database/paper on the ecology of a certain region of Mars. This entry is more of a muted one compared to the other submitted one, but it is quite beautiful in the way it has been formatted and edited.
As a villain, you have a reputation to uphold, one of being defeated only by a Hero. How embarrassing it would be if someone knew every morning a Cat. But today…
Oh today, you will defeat it!
The game is adorably delightful, and has the right amount of humour to make the nonsensical situation “normal”. The addition of the Cat’s illustration was so so very cute!
Imagine an adventure text coupled with old timey sound effect. Now remove all words but 5, and make all of those except one choices. This is essentially this entry.
Going from a slice-of-life to absurd to fantasy adventure to easter eggs (the eagles xD), the entry if filled with hilarious moments (even with the limited amount of words on the page). I was giggling through and through while playing!
A very light and lovely addition to the jam!!
It is a human trait to compare one’s self to others. To see how we fare as a person, as a member of a community, as a skilled individual. While the act of comparing is a neutral one as is, the feeling that follows might not be. One can feel pride of having accomplished more than others, or envy for still not having achieved the success other have…
This entry is an autobiographical depiction of the latter, as a personal response to having creative endeavours received by an audience differently to other works. It also brings forward an interesting point about (para)social relationships with stranger on the internet and expectations through these creative endeavours.
Who hasn’t been tempted to scroll through their phone endlessly instead of doing what they are supposed to do? Or having to wake up early the day after but your phone is right there, tempting you? Sure, you could go to sleep and be fine the in the morning, but you will miss on the fun content if you do…
The entry had some lovely illustrations too!
Unable to sleep, you lie awake. Prisoner to your thoughts, fears, and worries. Spiralling and thinking about the worst, with no way out. Wanting to be seen, but afraid of reaction. Wanting to live as your authentic self, but worrying/knowing acceptance won’t be given. It is hard to find sleep when you mind is filled with thoughts…
After losing touch for so long, you find your next target to be an old friend. Though they are not that friendly anymore… This entry does a nice job of showing the conflicting feelings of the main character.
When in need to reassurance, different people find different venues. Here, it is a tarot reading, answering one’s doubt of being able to endure. Through the cards, the person find meaning, and solace.
Shot off to space to fight aliens, this kinetic piece describes one last fight, the one to end all fight. Geared up to the teeth, you are ready to destroy the ship that killed your friends. I like the hue choice in the background.
What would you give to be reunited with a dead lover? Their car? Your memories of them? The last years of your life? All of this to be able to once again laugh and dance with them… This is a very spooky and trippy retelling of the crossroad devil theme….
Between a mix of a love letter and a happier-ending retelling of the myth of Eurydice, this entry shows the yearning for a significant other’s love and attention, even if they give their entire life to them. In recognising one’s flaws and the other’s acts of love, one might brush away built-up resentment of missed opportunities.
Lovely entry!
How awkward it is to meet an old acquaintance… worse even when that person is your ex. And even though you “moved on”, it does not make it easier to see her face again. Though you are warned about the unbearable awkwardness this meeting is, it really does not compare to the actual thing…
This made me feel like I was watching one of those pretty bad C-list series where the acting is way too toned down and over the top and the mixing is not quite right, and the writing is just soooo cringe. 10/01 would cringe again,
You flee a party, where you know few attendants and are not around the ones you do, unnoticed. In the elevator to escape, something strange happens. The stops between the floor of the party and the building’s door are… not what’d you expect.
Still, in a stranger even turn of even, you don’t seem to care… you even rejoice in these unusual refuges (haha title). If you chose to stay on the elevator, things get even weirder, as you seem to be talking to someone (who? the narrator? yourself? someone else? I think they had a physical presence?). It is even unclear whether we even left the elevator at all.
I got to wondering: did something happen to us at the party that made us experience these peculiar events (are we high?)? Are those rooms metaphors/twisted imageries for real life (a walk in the park, going to bed next to someone, being alone…)? Are we maybe dead and living through our personal hell?
With the timed fade-in of the text and the many non-choice screens, it would have been nice if we could to back to the last choice in the Restart, rather than having to go through all of this again…
Being kind to oneself is a struggle, especially when things are tough, when you don’t like yourself, when the changes you make in your life/yourself do not pan out the way you want.
Even so, compassion is what makes us heal, what makes us stronger. For without it, we let ourselves be consumed and blinder by pain and self loathing.
The simplicity and writing of the imagery in this entry is quite painful… but so well done.
This is essentially the moral of this short horror game, as answering the messages will send you into very wild conversations. Depending on your answers, you may find someone accusing you of stalking, someone informing they have kidnapped your brother, someone threatening you to kill you…
It reminded me of Please Answer Carefully …
In May of 1998 1 , riots erupted in Jakarta, resulting in of the diaspora of Chinese Indonesians towards, among others, Australia. This is an important context to understand the situation of the main character and her family.
As the broken family settles in their new home, a strange dynamic forms, leaving the main character in a sort of emotional limbo state, avoiding acts that could tip the balance of this fragile situation the wrong way.
It is heartbreaking.
Eat, sleep, drink some water, clean yourself, and look for your human. This is the sweet, sweet, life that Puck, the cute little rat, lives. Though it might feel quickly monotonous - there is only so much a rodent can do - the game invites you to try different combinations of actions to fill in the achievement list. A really cute game indeed!
In a mix between retrospection and conversation, this entry shows that no matter how dull work can be, a friend can make up for it. Even if you never met face to face. Or their handle changes every day. But nothing matter in this corrupted document shared with that one special person, who you know so much of and yet so little.
I like the eeriness of the setting (what if they are not as friendly? what if you are being tricked) and the writing made me chuckle too. The UI also was spot on!
While this could be a metaphor for how grueling and monotonous life could be, this entry takes instead inspiration from a familiar Greek myth. Forced to complete this Sysiphian task, memories from a former life, a previous time, start to pique your mind. You slowly uncover the mystery, pushing the boulder, again, and again, fighting the pull of the great stone or complying to its wished.
Really good!
This whimsical entry, filled with dreamy illustrations, awards you three gifts, which you must choose from 11, to lessen the hardship of life. From doors to other worlds, food you can pay with memories, a pool with always the perfect temperature, to a literal slice of paradise, the hardest thing in this entry is both choose… and realise this will never happen in real life.
But one can dream…
In this small puzzle-y entry, you are faced with a tomb (which you may or may not manage to enter) and the memories of the man buried there. Memories you thought you buried as well…
I liked the puzzle quite a bit~
While working on samples, you notice strange things happening around you: misplaced test tubes, foul smell, unusual behaviour… Depending on the choice you’ve made, you may encounter one of four endings, each creepier than the last.
The entry is very atmospheric and the bareness in writing (in work notes) convey a lot more about the setting than it looks.
Really enjoyed this one!
While you can skip the typed text animation, the options are stuck being a timed, making you wait anyway. Changing the timed into a typed would be much nicer for replay value!
This short entry looks at the early stages of the lifecycle of a frog, from the moment they are spawned into the pond, to the day they leave it. You play as one of them, eating, wondering about your state, or wiggling around the muddy waters. As you grow, the season changes, and so are the dangers.
The entry is awfully sweet and delightful.
With the current ecological state of the world, it is hard not to feel hopeless for future generations. It is also quite normal to turn towards science/speculative-fiction to imagine a world in the far future where Nature has taken a priority, and technology can do wonders to protect it. Like a soothing balm, reminding us that things might work out after all…
This is this kind of hope that this entry is bringing forward.
Unprepared and inexperienced, yet tasked to engage in negotiations with a man who seems to have all and requires little from you.
You will need a few tries to find the right combination of choices to appease the Viper. Some are hidden at first… Choose the wrong one, and die(?). Take too long, and die(?)…
I really liked how the game was constructed. It was fun (in a bit of a stressful way). Though the ending page arrived just a second or two too early…
… is the “kindness of the vampire”.
Spared from the release of death, a vampire transforms you into her kind, no matter your protest. Forced to live as an undead, forgetting what it meant to be alive, human, despair takes a hold of you. Until you repay your Maker her kindness…
The imagery from the prose is delectable. A succulent and dark short piece.
This entry does exactly what the title implies. It is a simulator of battles between spaceships, seemingly infinite… well, unless you fail… which will happen (I have yet to win the game…).
Similar to Rogue-likes, ISBS requires some strategy in the actions you perform. Do you get closer to have a more accurate shot or evade to lower the chance of you getting shot? Do you deploy drones or shoot until you die?
You are also forced to choose which upgrade to prioritise when you do manage to shoot down an enemy, though you are limited…
Aside from the gameplay/mechanic, which is impressive in an of itself, the story hints at something maybe more sinister? You are told this is a simulation, and though you feel(?) pain, you supposedly do not sustain actual damage. Is this part of a larger experiment? What is that experiment for? A training for a future space war?
There is definitely more than the author lets on…
A Happiness jar is a fun concept, and can help give you a different outlook on life or remember the good times (like a time capsule). But the entry recalls some less fun things about the happiness jar, like delving into it too early, or recording ghosts versions of themselves, or plainly stopping adding to it.
The entry does an interesting job with the interactivity, adding more to the story, left in between the lines…
…or the humourous(?) adventures of Buck Rockford.
Bored out of his mind, Buck heads West in hopes to find fulfilment and meaning for his life. Though he has quite a few options on what to become, Buck never seems to find luck with any of those new position. Instead he job hops, hoping the next one will strike gold…
The entry is very anchored in the western tropes, and even through some of the underlying sadness, there is quite a bit of delighting humour. The twists made me giggle quite a bit.
In 5 small acts, the narrator describe its life from its creation, the first of its kind; its education, with questions about morals; its labour, surpassed by its children until discarded when useless; its retirement, passing in a blink of an eye; to its death, remembered or maybe forgotten.
It is an odd entry about the human condition…
Like Andrew’s previous entry in the jam, this one is again about you being a fan of a game, and wanting your team to do well in the tournament. You get to pick your rituals before the season starts and pray to the Basketball gods the RNG is on your side.
Then starts a lot of clicking, to go through each result of games your team plays in the knock-off stages. Even if the title of the entry warns you, it is still a bit tedious… I think a one passage per season, where each game result appears one below the other, with a timer, would have been a bit nicer?
I did like the name of the college team you are following (which is randomly assigned at the start of the game) and the strange rituals and superstitions from your eating habits to your cleaning schedule. Quite humourous!
A personal piece about depression, told from the perspective of the beast and the victim. Each POV have a choice between two actions, each affecting the other, before another day begin and the struggle starts anew.
“is it an argument if no one wins?” is what the entry asks before the game. In this text exchange spanning a few weeks, frustrations and insecurities lead this argument to both parties’ defeat. The jabs are meant to hurt, not really to solve the issue at hand.
It feels real… and quite sad.
Sprinkepills! is an absurd entry, where you are trying to sway investors to invest in your product: the Sprinklepills! or sprinkles for on the go. It is a very long shot - your product is not quite conventional - but you give it your all. You believe in it with all of your might, even if you do not always find the words to express yourself…
The desperation in the character has the meeting continues was a bit heartbreaking…
Still, this might be the most absurd business pitch I’ve ever encountered.
This is the story of three people - a mother, a daughter, and that daughter's sister - each feeling happy, sad, and angry following an undescribed event that changed the dynamics between those three individuals. In so little words, the author manages to paint quite the picture...
A Thursday, in space, and you have a delivery to make. Along the way, your ship is forced to stop a handful of time, during which a choice must be made. You may stay lawfully good or more of a chaotic mess. The result maaaaay affect future employment, though…
I really liked the added images to the page!
Told from the perspective of a cat this entry describe the cat’s owner going through the steps of grief with snippets, spanning multiple months, from losing… said cat. It is quite sad, but also lovely to read.
Inescapable nightmare, leaving you in sweat drenched sheets in the morning - this is what this entry embodies. From the seemingly unescapable groundhog-day like cycle, to the body horror or plain trippy horror descriptions, you must try your best to find the exit…
… and wake up.
I managed to solve the puzzle at the end… but it took me a while :stuck_out_tongue:
This entry shows three snapshots of a birthday, from a birth, to a fun 9th birthday’s party, to a lonely one at 40. The end is very much an emotional whiplash…
I liked the change of colours in the background depending on the passage you were.
When one’s future is bleak, it is hard to look at it in a positive manner. When one’s present is filled with anxiety about what could be done instead, it is hard to do things. And when one’s past is full of regrets or embarrassment, it fills the brain with what ifs.
All you can do is pet your cat…
A personal piece about not finding yourself (or anyone else) watching your face in the mirror. From the features you wish you had, to the wish to connect to the stranger who gave you the features you have, this entry yearns for connection (from one specific person) and finding identity.
Brought to face council for the murder/drowning of a boy, you are asked to answer those accusations. You have but little words in replies, always leading (it seemed) to your demise.
I think the interactivity aspect of the entry (hover-disappear + fake parser) overshined the story.
Unable to sleep, you visit this strange website, one you’ve been visiting quite often lately. For what the purpose of this website does, the URL is the giveaway (don’t worry the girl is not real).
It is gruesome, it is strange, it is trippy. Also reminded me of Flash games (RIP Flash…)
Kuddos on the very killer UI and visuals!
From a simple addressing mistake, a stranger sends you letters about mundane things happening to them, their worries, and hopes. Like some sort of bizarre one-way pen-pal, the stranger tries to reach out to you, a shut-in, or maybe just finds comfort in the knowledge that maybe someone sees them.
Inspired by Ancient Greek Epics, this interactive poems brings you the tale of Sparticus, a lover, an artist, a fighter, a hero… or is he all these things? The entry takes on a quite humourous approach to storytelling and myths recounting, where the hero can fail embarrassingly or depressingly.
As a small negative, I thought the images detracted from the text. Were they maybe more homogenised in style/colours, it might not have been an issue, but I don’t think they did much to help.
Your team lost key players and were beaten down to shame, regardless of the kids talents. But it does not matter, because you, the fan, get to control the outcome this time around! You get to choose how the team will do during the season. But one caveat: you can’t go unbeaten.
In some strange twist of Fuck Marry Kill gameplay, you have to choose the level of the team’s performance during three part of the season, giving you six possible endings. I wish things could be that easy…
Something happened before this entry, but it is not completely clear what. A child seemingly important. Lovers doomed to part ways. Religion at the centre of it all. And an uncertain and dangerous future. Thought the child’s name inspires brightness, there are dark warnings on the wall, rendering the piece quite melancholic for the mundanity of the moment (looking after a child and sharing a kiss). The attention to small details and sensations makes the story quite vibrant still.
Within this less-than-500-words poem, the author describes so vividly and beautifully a drunken attraction between two individuals at a party, soon moving to religious-like pleasures. The written imagery paired with the spiritual angle is quite exquisite. Very steamy…
...boobs.
Imagine a stranger accosting you to talk about wanting to fondle someone’s boobs.The piece is as bizarre as the situation portrayed. A bit strange, kinda creepy, totally unserious and silly.
You are a doll, held by strings, forced to dance, even if it break you apart. Let your strings take you and the dance will start again. Resits and… I liked the creepy setting, and the writing around the doll’s yearning for freedom and control over its body.
A very personal piece about finding comfort in the idea of celestial bodies when life is cruel, and when refusing to comply or escaping seems impossible. Still, like the stars, the piece provides a hopeful future, describing a better path shining ahead.
Baron, a half-tiger half-dinosaur who struggles with his identity and not being able to fit in either groups, decides to find his father for some answers. Even with an intriguing setting and clear themes, this piece felt either like a rushed story or a prologue where all these themes would be explored… Some passages were a tad confusing on where they were going.
Childbirth can be both a wonderful and traumatic experience, and the following period is no better. Nell gives a very personal and raw account of the anxiety, worries, feelings of not being enough, not having done enough, and struggles with one’s body not responding the way you wish it to. The use of the textboxes added onto the layers of those feelings, as they pile up on top of one another without a way to process them fully.
It is also a wonderful love letter to her newborn, a love pouring through those words, unending and unwavering through it all. It takes a lot of courage to be this vulnerable.
LttPR is a half-sequel to Litteraly Watch the Paint Dry (a meta Idle Clicker), during which you are looking forward to the weekend and hanging out with a friend. Through the limited options, neither answering the phone at first, you find out whether your friends are still truly your friends…* This short slice-of-life felt a bit too tell-instead-of-show for my taste… But I found the topic of friendship while being true to yourself had an interesting start.
*both friend appear in LWPD though they weren’t named at that point.
Trapped outside, a vampire is unable to find shelter moments before the sunrise. At the brink of perishing, they reminisce on their past, envy the birds able to fly away from this situation, and ultimately choose to resign themselves (or not) to their death. The writing paints a colourful tableau between the pain of the injured character unable to save themselves, and the beauty of a simple sunrise, welcomed by the songs of birds. The writing was also quite dynamic and fun, considering the situation.
On the surface, SOL is a prose poem of a benign conversation between friends about the sun, as they partake in sharing a joint on a summer evening, with the writing moving from concrete description to what could be interpreted as hallucinations. But, below, hiding under a mouseover macro, is hidden a secret message, unsaid words, repressed feelings. The descriptions of movements and bodies balance between a loving gaze to an almost obsessive and carnal survey through the narrator’s eyes. The writing is intoxicating…
the ride home does a great job at encapsulating the anxiety of a first time driver, realising how cars are essentially killing machines and bodies are just squishy flesh. This is enhanced by the author’s use of animated and timed text and through the formatting (moving from white to red was a good choice).
This piece has an intriguing premise, wherein a child sees (hallucinate?) their (dead? never existed?) brother when the latter cannot be perceived by anyone else. Feelings, sounds, and touches are only experienced by this child, creating an eerie dissonance that sends chills up a spine. The more I read this the less I was sure whether it was about grief or a hallucination through a horror lens… Either way, it works!
Moving on is hard, and harder still when you cannot forget their touch, when you keep remembering their voice, when you keep dreaming about being with them, when they keep coming back to your door… This piece portrays the ache the heart feels about break ups, the guilt of letting yourself down when you succumb to your desires, or the agony when you try doing the right thing, pretty well.
I liked the formatting of the text, with the fading-in giving some dream-like experience or the shaking of the word when your hands tremble. The choice to colour the words spoken was also a nice touch. Having to click after almost ever sentence to reveal another added to the excruciating experience shown in the words.
Trying to enter a palazzo at the dead of night is not an easy feat. Less so when you start from a gondola and there are no clear way to break in. Maybe that door or the window would do? I really liked the interactivity of the game, and how the puzzle is quite simple… if you examine your environment properly. I would play a longer version of this game in a heartbeat!
This piece engage with conflicts in a group chat in a very humorous manner. Through the limited word count, we get to learn bits of the characters and their relationship between one another. I laughed a lot while playing it.
Allocate your brain space to some themes, so the universe can hear a poem. Rinse and repeat to find all possible poem combination (and get the highest score? - I got 23…)
I didn’t really vibe with it personally but the mechanic behind it seems interesting.
Seated inside a train (going nowhere?), you reminisce about your childhood and how you realised who you were and who you were not. Through a smart change of background, or the animation of the text, this piece takes a humourous and maybe a bit self-deprecating approach to dealing with uncomfortable memories…
In a vibrant green, this small piece about love, care, and artichoke is light and adorable. I especially liked the writing depicting a very strange but comforting fever dream. It was very cute!
A tragic (and well executed) allegory for substance abuse, and incidentally generational trauma, depict dark and visceral thoughts of someone trying to fight their personal monster. But those monsters rarely die…
The use of shaky text and change of background were a nice touch!
Creation and destruction. Opposite forces fighting to prove the other wrong. Creating civilisations in hopes that one sticks around, but doomed are they all, never surviving under your hand. Yet the other continues this Sisyphean tasks, unbothered, uncaring. A civilisation will be born anew, and so will continue the cycle. Unchanged…
As people change, so do relationships. While you might get closer with old friends, you might also drift away. Sometimes, a friendship is like a revolving door, here when you need it and gone the next. Sometimes, it’s a reminder of who you (do not) want to be. Always, you hurt.
I really liked the formatting of the text, and how it appeared. I slightly with the dialog boxes would fit the formatting of the rest of the game, but that’s minor.
“You will fail.” “Inevitable.”
The game tells you from the start you will not succeed. No matter your questions, no matter you determination, no matter… You will fail. It is inevitable.
This retelling through a minimalist and almost sci-fi formatting adds onto the tragic myth of Icarus. Really well done.
A personal piece about the yearning to talk to others about one's past and trauma without receiving judgement or pity from the listener. But it is also about wanting to feel seen without having others making a big deal out of those things (even if rationally those things could be a big deal).
Your friend has been plagued by a recurring nightmare, and you are given the choice to pull the information out of him or speak to a (his?) support robot. Either choice brings more questions than answers… This felt like a good beginning to a mystery, maybe an investigative one.
It has some potential. But I did find the formatting and prose hindering my enjoyment of the story…
In this endless game, you play an unnamed goldfish, waking up doing some activities (from a choice of 4), having dinner, and doing it all over again the day after. But doing the same thing again and again does not always yield the same result… It was simple, short (at least when I played), and quite fun!
A slick, simple and futuristic design, a life-or-death (well, more like almost-death) situation, and a comedic robot… that’s what this entry is offering. Through its shortness, and the grim setting, there are some funny moments, some frightening moments, and some touching moments. The two endings hit a nice punch.
Pretending to be anything else but a human and looking at human nature is always a trip. And this entry is just that. From its bright funky colours, to the strange backgrounds and icon, JNH takes you on a strange ride of looking at the strange creatures that are humans. It is done humorously (with some good-old self-deprecation, and physical comedy) and very funkily.
Creaking doors, muffled steps, tired sighs, accompanying an understated and bare dialogue between two individuals (former/current lovers?) going through the same conversation, a cycle unending. The rawness of the words, enhanced by the formatting and timing of its appearance, packs a very emotional punch.
In the vibes of 80-90s video games, with tv effects, this binksi entry spans a short time, just enough to share a drink and catching up. The mundanity of the discussion coupled with the bright art is strangely nostalgic and warm. And the end is so very lovely… reminding us that life is too short, that we should enjoy the present, and that we should do things that make us happy…
A cyclical poem of trying to read/understand a note written in Romanian(?) - using links to reveal its translation. There is a strange air to this entry, a lot of unsaid and hints…
You are supposedly content with the work…
…and I was left confused…
Very much Kit's brand of trippy!
Through its soft but uncomfortable sound and its bare description, this entries does a good job of building and eerie atmosphere. You are truly alone there, and you should probably leave, but you find yourself questioning if you should maybe stay…
A short story in two acts: during your teenage years, when an older student gives you some advice, and later as an adult, meeting with that now-adult student and catching up. Strange form of prose. Confused thoughts during reading.
A strange take on “The Diamond Necklace” (“La Parure” - Maupassant)…
… and kind of meets Pokemon too.
CozmoPets is short and simple. Care for your pet, watch it grow, play some games, and get an ending. There are four pets to find and three endings to get, which depend on your actions. (I think the mini-games are random? Whether you win or not is by chance?)
The graphics and animations are sincerely delightful! I starved my pet, gave it unhealthy food, destroyed its psyche…
Overall, had a fun time!
This is a dungeon crawl, very similar to what you’d find in parsers, but made in Twine. You are a Barbarian, ready to do go on an adventure (or just hitting people…). If you manage not to die, you could solve the puzzles and maybe… open a shiny chest?
The writing of this entry is hilarious, taking the tropes of a barbarian character in your run-of-the-mill fantasy setting, and cranking up to dumb. The endings were very much to the tune of ‘Dumb ways to Die’…
Great job!
A snippet of a conversation between you and a fae, where the latter really wants your name. You can give it some push back (names are important), but the snippet ends before the conversation is concluded. Leaving to wonder whether we succumbed to the fae’s demands…
“Last week, under inauspicious stars, Jacob fell from the Ceiling to his death.”
And with this killer hook comes three distinctive short stories linked to one of Jacob’s body parts: his bones, his blood, and his flesh. All of which are gruesome, and sad, and strange. But the writing is so enticing, you HAVE to know what happened to Jacob’s body!
And what a quest this game is.
After finding the key ingredient to your breakfast is missing, you must leave the comfort of your abode and go to the nearest store. Unfortunately, you have to pick one between an indecently wide array of choice AND converse with the cashier. Will you fail or succeed? It’s very cute and sweet, and one ending made me giggle.
I also quite liked the little visuals added to the page. It was neat!
Have you ever gotten a custom Rolex as a gift at random in a supermarket for no reason? Me either. But wouldn’t it be weird? Wouldn’t you need to talk about it to someone afterwards? This is the premise of this entry. A silly conversation about a strange event.
Quite absurd!
I liked the formatting of the link, when the next page had previously been visited. It made replaying the different paths quite easy.
Being in love with someone can be so wonderful and so fulfilling, but it can also be draining, to the point of losing oneself. Waiting for your lover, or a word from them, you read almost macabre description of your environment, mirroring the anxiousness you are feeling.
This entry raises the question: do you stay and wait, potentially destroying your wellbeing in the process, or move on from the person who does not respect your time, but go through this heartbreak.…
2020 was a weird time. Stuck at home, with only a routine to keep us sane (did it tho?), many of us essentially went through a Groundhog Day period. Feeling like we were stuck in an endless loop, unable to break out (especially, since we couldn’t go out).
This entry does a really good job at harnessing that weird time.
A childhood friend disappeared, but you will never stop trying to find some answers. A meeting has been set between you and a thing, which may have some answers. But you are not there yet…
The descriptions in this entry are very vivid and coarse, very much like the setting of the story. I also liked the use of the mouseover to change some aspects of the story.
Live or die. This is not a choice you are facing every day, but it might if you are stationed in an extreme environment. Live or die. There are morals that bind us together, but do they matter when one’s survival is at stake? Live or die… But you will always remember…
I will just say this: that choice… DAMN!
You know when you look out the window and you have a random thought about a thing you notice happening outside, and instead of moving on with your day you just continue thinking about it, making up scenarios and answering hypothetical questions...
This is what this game is: a sort of wild tangent about postal workers and what they do while delivery mail (especially what they talk about and who they talk to). It is somewhat absurd, quite comical, and lovely in its mundanity.
The formatting and UI of the piece (shaped like an envelop, filled with all the required stamps, and sometimes extra stickers) propose a fun way to interact with the piece (and mimic how non-sensical/linear those wild thoughts can become). I really enjoyed clicking on the different postal-related images, to move the story forward or cycle through options.
A very fun way of using the medium!
Quite a sad piece about the end of things (life), and the lack of acceptance. No matter your choices, the outcome stays the same - the end does not wait for an eleven-hour miracle. But you know that already. You know everything was doomed from the start. Yet, through the tragic end, there is a promise of never-ending love, of hope, and of meeting again...
A really great take on the 500 words restrictions by removing all words except the subject and the verb. Coupled with some fun formatting and animation of the text, you get a very entertaining short game about a bird wanting a snack.
The game has a handful of varied and fun endings to collect, making any new playthrough feel fresh!
Theo is a short cyclical piece about falling in and out of love, and doomed relationships. I honestly forgot one-two passages in that you were supposed to be in a dream, and thought I was stuck in a loop - surprisingly, either interpretation worked!
I really liked the way the text was formatted in the passages, like pushing the eyes into a funnel (though a bit more contrast in the links would have helped extra).
Sidenote: It really had Goncharov vibes, in the doomed love/relationship or running after an impossible goal…
This was a tragic and visceral piece, and still strangely beautiful in its violence. The small details, like the barista looking away or the brush of the fingers, are simple but convey more than meet the eyes.
A really nice touch…
This epistolary three part-er recounts the shared moments between two people through the point of view of your partner, their hopes and regrets as life moves on. It is quite bittersweet and beautifully written.
Two short puzzles taking on different definitions of virus (computer/biological), where you play as an investigator (hacker?). The puzzles felt quite reminiscing of the ones you'd find in an escape room. A neat idea in 500 words or less.
Through a fantasy setting, a fairy describes his experience of finding and accepting their identity in the face of adversity. It is quite emotional and raw.
As a short prototype, this piece manages to tell just enough to hook the reader, and very little that it leaves you wanting more. From is ominous title to the tense descriptions, the writing manages to leave you with too many questions, and wanting to find those answers. It would be interesting to see where the author takes the story…
Also Armstead is a great name for a knight!
This very creepy and dark short piece has a killer hook and has as killer of an ending. The colour combinations for the theme and the unsettling music really adds to the macabre setting of the story.
While it is already satisfying as a short read, a longer version would be very intriguing indeed…
A very graphic and erotic description of two bodies coming together. The writing, as always, is excellent.
The use of a mouse over macro (to reveal hidden words) is akin to the hands discovering new skin and crease of a body, making the interactivity even more topical.
Really enjoyed this short piece.
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