Reviews by manonamora
partim500
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It's not easy to be a chimneysweeper, February 11, 2024In this tiny game, you play a child chimneysweeper on the first day of their job. You'd expect the chimney to go straight up to the top, but... multiple paths strangely lay ahead of you: take one and find yourself in a strange world, the other takes a more creepy and suffocating approach.
You never know what's around the corner...
Why bother with the philosophical questions when you could just make the trolley dilemma a humorous light-hearted murder-fest? Yes, you read this right. With a plethora of endings, from not even starting the trolley to just roll over absolutely everyone, this is a truly absurd take on the dilemma.
The writing is minimal, but to the point and poking fun at many things. It shouldn't be taken seriously...
There are many branches, some even looping, to lead you one of seven endings - some more funny than others, some more satisfying than others too.
In this micro CYOA booklet, you play as Aoda, a hotel accountant prone to falling asleep, dreaming of other worlds. Sectioned in small paragraph (about a sentence), the story takes you on a seemingly cyclical journey where you travel from dreamworld to dreamworld, only to be awaken in burst... and falling back into the arms of Morpheus.
The prose is incredibly dreamy and poetic.
There are no other word to explain it, it's just beautiful.
I also found the mechanic quite playful, with the tiny subtle enigma (which may or may not lead you to a secret ending). It will push you to go into the cycle again and again, making the story feel much longer than just 500 words.
In the formatting, the game forgoes the use of numbers for each passage, like you'd expect in a CYOA book, but words representing the section - which you can click like you would a hypertext game. This little subversion adds to the dream-like ambiance of the game.
The Emoji Interactive Fiction, January 19, 2024😱🔤😱 is a short and wordless interactive game, that relies only on emojis to tell a story. What story? Well, it is for you to figure it out!
Because I certainly didn't...
There is something so interesting about using a "language" that is know to all (emoji), but used so differently depending on people. Is 🔣 unknown words or insults? What does 🔤 mean to you? Is 💨a wind, a sigh, a fart???
When combined in a string, how do you decipher it into a proper sentence? When a whole page is full of them, how to you turn it into a coherent sentence?
As a whole it's a very fun puzzle! A very confusing one, and a very novel way to tell a story.
Deux ans. follows a conversation between a man and emergency services after an intrusion at the former's home - where he currently is. You play as the emergency responder, trying to diffuse the situation and help the man.
The game is full of tension from the first second of the "call", with a bit of a twist when the intruder can finally be "heard". With vague unsaid, you can imagine what happened two years ago (title of the game) - though it will never be explicitly revealed in the story. There are three endings - one I found more satisfying than the others (and which I got first!).
The game takes advantage of images to visualise the different callers, as well as uncomfortable background sound, to create a captivating and chilly ambiance.
In this mini-entry, you play as Artour, an elf taking part of a protest because the King is at it again with his shenanigans. People are angry, walking towards the castle for (I guess) reparation. You must watch out for the "vouivres" (winged police?), or you'll end up burning to ashes.
Following the Partim500's theme, you can take a little detour and get into some shenanigans yourself. Whatever you do, however, the end is the same.
The writing style is incredible silly and je-m'en-fous-tist - the description of the game does warn you of what is ahead - and includes very unusual words (still unsure if they are part of the "youth" dialect or just made up for the game).
Still, with a good dose of French tradition (protesting and walking to the king's castle for demands) and a fantasy setting, you end up with a pretty funny entry.
As a tiny Choose-Your-Own-Adventure booklet, based on the 1958 of the same name, you play as a young child playing with your friends. The game: throwing pebbles at passers-by.
Pebble in hands, target acquired, you must roll some dices to determine your chances at a hit. You are then met with a choice: wait a bit longer (the target is not close) or throw it now - sending you towards one of two different endings.
The writing style of the game is very playful, almost childishly so, which works so well since you are a child doing childish things. It is also very visual in the limited descriptions - especially with its even-numbered passages.
A cute thing to play for a five-minute break!
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