Reviews by manonamora
concoursmoiki
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Superficial story about having faith, January 16, 2024With its minimalist prose, the story follows a woman with a heavy past who found solace in faith. This faith is tested when the woman meets a man with a questionable situation (mainly of loose morals and little virtue). Follows a series of moral choices in regards to the relationship with said man (like breaking off the friendship due to his work/actions, pressing him to stop and turn to faith, following him into this path of vice, etc...), whose consequences are only displayed vaguely - mainly linking it back to faith.
As there isn't a lot of text, and since that text is pretty vague in the descriptions of the woman's past or the man's actions, or consequences in general, I had a hard time connecting to the story or to the characters. The choices are often in clear opposition with one another, often to an extreme (all or nothing, virtue or vice, letting be or push for penitence). I found the whole quite superficial in its implementation - especially with how the good and bad endings were portrayed.
Can't spend your holiday in peace, can you?!?!, January 16, 2024What would you do if the goddess Hera came to spoil your much needed and chill holidays, meant for you to get over your ex? Well... not much, aside from agreeing to her demands - not like you could refuse her demands anyway.
So, you are forced/accept to participated in her schemes, which is to essentially mess with the eternal cheater of a husband: Zeus. You have little to form a plan, however, as you are immediately transported from the sunny and relaxing Greek beach (where you were having ouzo!) to the decadent party on Mount Olympus, to fulfil your mission.
Many paths are open to you, from drinking yourself silly to converse with other godly beings, or just choose to take a detour to refresh yourself for the final "showdown". The results of the path taken are heavily dependant on some of your firsts choices, some with very drastic results (it might be even Tough of Zarf's scale...). If you fail... you will face the wrath of the Goddess, and (Spoiler - click to show)share a similar fate to IO mooo.
It took me a while to get to an acceptable overall path. Granted, I did not choose what might have been a very obvious option at the start of the game.
The prose is fairly light-hearted and full of humour, mirroring what was supposed to be a chill and relaxing holiday - though it keeps the familiar and light tone still as the story gets down to business (hey! it's a party!). A fun game!
An adventure with more than it lets on., January 16, 2024Set in your run-of-the-mill fantasy setting, you are a newly made adventurer looking for quests and riches - a small search as a quest lands on your lap pretty quickly: you are tasked to retrieve a precious stone in a cave on a faraway island for a 100 gold.
Nice and easy right? Well...
Obviously, a precious stone in a cave *has* to bring troubles. Follows trials and tribulations for going against the gods/spirits guarding(?) the stone. Fights and wild seas render you momentarily stranded.
The story goes a long a fairly linear gauntlet style narrative, with endings (mainly failures) parsed throughout the game (I found 3 of them). However, depending on your choices, your adventure can be 1/3rd longer than the quest requires... though you can miss it completely if you didn't see the signs (and got a bit sneaky).
While I appreciated this "bonus" content (having missed it entirely the first time around - I thought we were going on another quest next), it made me wonder if there could be other ways to (Spoiler - click to show)deal with the nefarious individual: like forgoing the quest altogether and snitch on him, or maybe fight him because he caught you red handed?
Overall, it was cute.
A D&D adventure... without the wrath of the RNG god, January 16, 2024With its fantasy setting, based on Norse mythology, this textual adventure follows three characters looking for treasures: Sehlif, a charming rogue with slippery fingers, Freya, a powerful enchantress, and Nümgur, a cranky dwarf warrior. Their quest is not without tribulations however, as our protagonists find themselves running and fighting for their lives - having suffered the ire of the Gods.
I liked the D&D-like aspect of the game, with the characters getting special cards for a visual representation (an AI-generated MTG card), the balanced Rogue-Mage-Warrior team on a quest and using their skills to their respective advantages, as well as the different game mechanics (the puzzle, the escape, and the combat).
The game also includes QTE elements for two parts of the story (the escape and combat), with its quite short timer adding a much needed tension to the story (especially the cave!). It still stayed quite accessible, with the text emphasizing on the required action to advance the story
I think my favourite bit of the game was with the enigma/puzzle in the temple. It took me a while to understand the order of things, but it all clicked when linking the code to the story as a whole. Very thematic.
Will you save humanity?, January 16, 2024Thrown without warning in the midst of a trial for humanity, you find yourself before a handful of gods, ready to make their judgement, using you as humanity's intermediary. Answer their question and hope to bring the gods to your side... for the good of humanity... or not.
Le Procès de l'humanité is a fairly short game, that includes multiple endings (at least 3 I am sure, having found B and C). The ending is somewhat tied to the trial, though it has a little twist. I saw it coming a bit, but it was still nicely done.
The setting reminded me a bit of the anime Record of Ragnarok, in which humanity must fight the gods to ensure their survival, though the literal physical fight is replaced with exchanges of arguments here. The choice of gods included in the game, from their name to their visual representation, reminded me of American Gods, especially POP.
(Spoiler - click to show)LOL at one of the visual representation with Captain America Trump showing up on the screen
There is an interesting mechanic in the game, in how you answer the gods' questions: with different kinds of approaches (from convincing to joking, or even going full on conspiracy) - with the last option being specific to the god you chose to represent you. Each option will have different effect on the god criticising you, the consequences then neatly represented with stats bar on top of the page.
On the interface aspect, there were a bit of friction with the text display or clicking on available argument options - though the first could be fixed by simply zooming out, and the second becoming clear after clicking on one of the option.
I did like the different screens, their palettes and animations (with SFX!). It gave more character to the... characters, and helped differentiate between each of them.
Do you truly want to learn why?, September 6, 2023Edenia is a dry sci-fi game, set on some strange planet, where you play some sort of humanoid character afflicted with strange reoccurring dreams. Aside from your tumultuous sleep, your life is pretty mundane and calm... unless your path takes you somewhere else...
Built in a Gauntlet-style, Edenia offers multiple paths to reach the many different proposed endings. Set to undergo a routine scan, with an eerie timing around your dreams, you get multiple opportunities along the way to cure your ailments and go back to your life, or dig deeper into those strange occurrences - maybe even uncovering secrets.
Though it is easy to "call yourself to order", especially at the start of the story, the game makes it obvious the path to take, the "winning" state, is the one where you question your ailments and look into the mystery of those dreams. Something is wrong with you, but why? (Spoiler - click to show)Some medical staff urges you into procedures without much explanations, but for what reason? Other brush off your concerns or try to move you out of the way, but why? It becomes quite transparent you are not supposed to have those dreams, and your changing condition will make it hard for the authority to control.
Still, it was not an easy game to get into, as you are thrown into this world with alien concepts and names without much explanation. The writing itself was quite dry. It was frankly at time disorienting - I wasn't sure if I misread something at the start or whether I was supposed to have played another game before this one. While it does add to the distress you are supposed to feel as this character with out-of-the-ordinary dreams and build on the suspense, it also felt at times tedious to go through.
It was nice the game allowed you to return to a previous choice block if you arrived at an end rather than having the play the whole thing back. It made checking the other options much easier.
An adventure of a lifetime (literally), September 6, 2023Filled with cat-puns and light humour, Capitaine Chavire ships you on an adventure of a lifetime (potentially literally). After setting up a small crew you sail the Milk Sea in search of treasures, food, and companions. Along the way, you may encounter other ships you can fight against or negotiate with, deserted islands where you can pick up lone crew members or find extra food, and mystical creatures to face.
If you manage to keep enough crew and food, navigating the tempestuous sea for long enough, the game will abruptly call the final trial*. Depending on the crew aboard your ship, you may manage to pass it and fulfilling your dream. I have yet to beat the requirements, always missing something by the end.
*I think you need to have clicked on a specific cardinal direction a certain number of times?
While the resource management gameplay is fun, I found the humourous writing to be the highlight of the game. Everything in the game is cat-related. You barter in kibbles, recruit crew whose name will start with Cha/Chat, sail the literal Milk Sea... (Spoiler - click to show)all to fight a mystical fish. Even replaying was entertaining, as locations and names were randomised at every turn.
(Spoiler - click to show)Speaking of the fish, it reminded me of the Rainbow Fish children's book, with... well... it's rainbow scales. Cute throwback!
Either I'm bad at resource management, or I didn't explore enough, or I just have bad luck, but not reaching a positive end has made me wonder if there is a winnable state with the game or if it is possible to reach it at all. The title of the game, and of your name, Chavire, implies something to capsize. While this could refer to the consequences of the trial if you fail, or the treacherous seas, it could also imply your ship will always capsize no matter what you do.
On day, I'll try to get on this milky sea and try my luck again...
There is always something you forget to do before a storm, September 5, 2023A powerful storm is coming, and you might not have forgotten to fully prepare for it. You expect some damage, but can you avoid it?
You know there is a storm coming, and, while your abode has withstood harsher weather, you hope to find little damage the day after. Unfortunately for you, the preparation you made were not enough, as disturbing sounds alert you of broken things around the house. Saddened by the realisation of how much must be replaced when surveying the day after and the little care you put in preparing for the storm, you think hard about what you could have done instead and...
(Spoiler - click to show)...you are sent right back to the beginning of the game. Thanks to some sort of time-travelling powers, you are able to correct your mistakes, and securing better your property. The storm comes and goes, before you will have to inspect the potential damages again.
(Spoiler - click to show)This looping gameplay will repeat, introducing different element around the house that the storm will target, forcing you to check its condition and prepare for the oncoming storm in the following loop. A few screens will have a timer, choosing the first listed option if the timer runs out. As far as I could tell, there was no failure ending, as the game will continue to restart until all elements are taken care of. It is very merciful game on the player, allowing them ample space for mistake and correcting them.
The UI is made of three different screens: before, during and after the storm, each with its respective colour palettes to align with the background. The background looked strangely pixelated or had a low resolution. The nicest to the eye was the after the storm screens.
The Consequences of Your Past Actions..., September 4, 2023Following a mundane incident, revolts have spurred around the land. Previous action on your part having failed, they are now marching towards the castle to demand retribution. As Lord of the land, you must ensure the safety of your subjects as well as bringing peace back. Seeking council from your advisors, the Intendant and the Chef des Guardes, you may find things aren't quite as they seem...
Behind the literary prose, the game is more layered than it lets on at first. It is not just the safety of your subject that should matter to you, but your standing with them, and how far they could go to regain some sort of peace. You will need to play through the story a few times to get the whole picture - two playthroughs at least.
If not just to find all endings, the intrigue itself left me wanting to know what was going on. After all, time is pressing, and you have little to interrogates those around you for information (assuming you don't already know).
Though the game is fairly linear, with certain events being unavoidable, the game offers enough choices to avoid feeling being dragged along by the story. One of the major choice branches the story in two separate, yet fairly similar paths. There is some interesting investigative interactivity in each path, uncovering quite the secrets, albeit short depending on the sequence of action.
The game has a simple UI, with a single colour background, a few lines of descriptions or dialogue, and a list of choice or arrow to continue. To differentiate between orators and internal thoughts, the game will change the colour of the background, adding sometimes inconsistently a portrait of the relevant orator above their title.
While the main story was quite rounded, I found the final section confusing. Doubling down in the fantastical, the game introduced a new character to set the ending. I thought this was a detriment to the rest of the game, as few to no hints were included ahead. It is still unclear whether the end could be a cliffhanger to a future project or if I just missed something crucial in previous passages. I think the game could have worked just fine without.
Still, Ending A felt more thematically on point than Ending B, the latter being the more confusing out of the two.
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