Reviews by ChanceOfFire

You're waiting for your friend. Is he going to show up? Held up at the office perhaps? No, not quite office stuff.

This small choicegame is largely a short conversation between two friends, after some waiting. Some story elements in the conversation are vaguely explained, but perhaps such vagueness was intentional. It was a somewhat entertaining conversation, although it ended quickly. While someone elsewhere apparently managed to find some interesting content by venturing off the beaten path, I was unable to find it.

The story makes use of a lot of colored text, as well as timed text and other simple effects, to tell the story. I liked the attempt at special effects, but some color options made the text harder to read. (Not the first time I'm saying this for this year's Spring Thing.)

It's short, but still good for a bit of entertainment.

The first thing which caught my attention was the prose. It was descriptive and vivid, conveying the feeling of being caught in a trap and the rush of feelings which flow through our vampire protagonist as they work a way out.

Radiance Inviolate is short, but there is some branching as you try to figure a way to free yourself before the sun comes for you. There are some flashback scenes which explore the setting and vampirism further. You might encounter someone who could help you, or you could try to force your way out.

I won't spoil anything, but from a visual standpoint, I did like the ending scenes.

I thought it was a good short read, worth a few playthroughs to try out the different choices.

Also, if you do play, don't forget, sometimes lying doesn't solve the problem.

This is another tough cookie, in terms of giving a star rating. Wayfarers combines strong and engaging writing which makes you think, along with a lengthy amount of content to explore the world it's built. On the other hand, this is also a very linear experience, and might have been a better traditional novel than game. (It's pretty close to the former.)

The game provides some commentary on war. You are a soldier, severely wounded and physically impaired as a result. Part of your therapy involves going through a video game world to build your memories. On your way, you work together with another player, who becomes a close companion of sorts while you are in the virtual world. There is an interesting reveal about said companion when all is over, and the game also does a good job of exploring the theme of the virtual world versus reality.

Still, to describe this game as linear would be an understatement. Most of the game presents just one choice to proceed, or some fake choices. (But even the fake choices are few and far between). There are some fairly important choices when you face the final boss, and I recommend reading all the branches, reloading if you need to. (Because it's a really good read to learn more about the story.) Otherwise, you won't get much in the way of real interactivity here.

There is a checkpoint save system in the game, although I had to close and open the game to load a save. I played the game on mobile, and it was definitely readable on my screen. (There is a mobile-friendly tag)

It's worth a read, although it can be a heavy read at times. Still, set your expectations as you would for a kinetic VN.

This choicegame is pretty short, with a few options. Picking the wrong options takes you to a bad endings, while picking the right options (the more peaceful or moral approaches) will take you to the good ending. If you hit a bad endings, you get the chance to try again.

You could probably finish this in ten minutes even if you were looking to find all the different outcomes. The writing is slightly rough. Still, I'll probably echo the other reviews about this being a solid first attempt and encourage the writer to keep going.

Our tale takes place in sunny Singapore. This is a story of loss and longing, with elements of dreaming, introspection and memory as the protagonist thinks over something they have lost. There are a few riddles at the start which ties into the protagonist's own train of thought, but most of these should be solvable either with google search or the hints provided in game.

That said, along with A Bottle from the Future, the presentation is hard on the eyes. The choice of colors, along with the sound, do a good job of conveying the melancholy vibes. Yet, it is just plain difficult to read. The choice of red and pale fonts do not look quite readable against the blue and white backgrounds, and the tiny size of the fonts does not help at all. As someone who has made his own bad art, I understand how difficult it can be to get this color contrast right. There was also one time where I quit the game early as I was just unable to see the link to continue.

The story was nice and the pictures fit the vibe. I just think that larger font against a solid background might have helped with readability.

Three-card reading is an entirely linear experience, with a conversation between three friends as they make some small talk and do some tarot readings. There is a big reveal down the line, but it could have used a bit more exploration. Maybe even the ability to ask questions would be nice.

There is some nice art here along with voice acting. Between that and the absence of choices, this reminded me a lot of a kinetic visual novel. It's good for a short bit of entertainment, but once you're done, there's little reason to return.

Giving this a star rating was tricky. I ultimately settled on three stars, but I would have placed this in the upper bound of the three star range, maybe just a little short of four.

A simple choice game, where you head around a ship, picking stuff up. Navigating this ship via choices was pretty tricky at first, but I got the hang of it after a bit. After performing an action, you are still able to perform it again and again, with the exact same text. The game needs some way to acknowledge that you had already done it before.

I managed to find two endings, both of the fantastical and otherworldly sort. I won’t spoil anything, but to give you an idea of what I’m talking around, imagine I’m riding my horse in my shining armor across Middle Earth, and suddenly, a shuttle comes down with Darth Vader, inviting me to his Death Star. That’s sort of one of the endings. It’s outta this world.

I’m scratching my head. Smiling a bit too.

You chance upon a bottle, one which carries an important message about a city which destroyed itself.

A Bottle from the Future is a game with an environmental message. You have plenty of choices, from ignoring warnings given to trying to pursue them, which in fact reflects the decisions we can make in real life with regards to the coming environmental crisis. There is a good amount of branching, and also a quiz, a puzzle which I brute forced, a link to a carbon footprint calculator and so on. Ultimately, it carries some important messages about learning from the past and deciding between action and inaction.

That said, I’m taking off a star due to the game’s presentation style. Some of the text is overlaid against a colorful picture, which looks pretty from a distance but make the text really painful to read. At some parts, boxes are put behind the text to improve readability, but some of the selections for color contrast really hurt my eyes. I appreciate the design work, and I personally understand (from making my own crappy art) how hard it is to balance colors with readability at times. Still, I think even taking away that massive picture and using something more low key for a background would have been better.

There is a fair bit of replayability with different options and branching. The game also does a good job of conveying its message. Still, some parts can be pretty tough on the eyes.

Full Disclosure: I am a credited beta tester for this game.

First Bull Run is on the shorter side in terms of wordcount, but still provides a pretty enjoyable experience with content for multiple playthroughs.

One of the first things I’ll mention is that this game is an absolute masterclass for folks who want to have plenty of pictures in an IF game with limited art skills. The game has plenty of pictures from the public domain, allowing you to pick your own character portrait and also allowing you to see various other commanders on the field. Army maps are also provided in game, which while simple in design and not complicated to make, helped to convey the situation on the battlefield. It has the military vibe too. Plus, you can see your character’s name on those maps too.

The writing is solid, and helps to convey the intensity of battle. There are no traditional choicescript stats here, so you will need to read through the text carefully to decide what could give you the best outcome. I’m still having a bit of difficulty with that Gold Medal, but I’ll get it at some point.

The game doesn’t take too long to finish, although it’s still worth a replay to see how things could have turned out differently.

I’d definitely recommend this if the genre is your thing.

Ever since the first book, I had always felt that Choice of the Consort or Choice of Court Intrigues would have been a better name for this game. There is technically romance here, but it's just not very romantic.

As the son/daughter of an impoverished noble family, it's up to you to find a wealthy suitor to bring your family to a better financial place. Like Choice of Broadsides, you have four major stats, and can pick your strongest and weakest ones.

Still, you have a choice of three suitors, broadly described as another impoverished noble who wants love, a wealthy merchant who wants a spouse, and the ruling monarch who is married but is looking for affections elsewhere.

I didn't like the first character at all, and she reminded me a lot of that forced RO in the original Heroes Rise. She was clearly meant to be the 'true love' character, but I didn't feel that way about her at all.

The second character is actually more interesting, and has some surprising depth to her. On the surface, she is trading her wealth for your influence, but you find that she's affectionate and wants to love you as well, just that she isn't quite good at doing it. Still, if you pick this route, the ending scenes are adamant that you have traded happiness for money and thus suffer for it.

Being in some kind of relationship with the third character is necessary to advance beyond the first book. Otherwise, the story is considered 'finished'. This route does bring in some elements of thrill from doing something illicit, and is an interesting depiction of how one trades away principles and propriety for power (and maybe love?) If you survive to the end of the first book, the next parts of the adventure are about navigating court intrigue and power struggles.

The game is well written in general, but the main problem is that each RO is broken down into a different type of objective and motivation. A true romance game would have had three characters with three different types of personalities which make them stand out in their own way, but here, it's all about the mechanical motives for marriage. The game also is quite forceful about the outcomes of each RO choice, without really letting you explore whether you could have made that relationship different. (It was supposed a practical marriage, but maybe you could have found love in it?)

If you want a game about court intrigue and power struggles rather than romance, this is it.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking there should be other ways to help my impoverished noble family. Maybe by joining the army as an officer, being a merchant, getting a job as an academic or something. I mean, why not? I have the stats for it. But for now, marriage is the only option.