Reviews by ChanceOfFire

It's a simplified space trader game, even if not in a space trader universe. Buy low, sell high. You get to travel around various cities, each of which sells a certain type of item. You buy up whatever you can, then head to another city, sell it for a higher price, and profit!!!

Ease of use is a major negative here. To perform an action, you type the corresponding number and hit submit. I'm not sure if there's a way to bulk purchase items, so if you need twenty of item X, be prepared to do a lot of typing and clicking. There also isn't a map, and it is not possible (as far as I can tell) to preview possible destinations before paying the 40 kopeck fee, so you might need to draw a map or something.

After some experimentation, I made money by simply copying the list of prices onto a notepad file, buying up everything, choosing to travel, then referring to the notepad file and picking the city with the best prices. Rather than buying up at every city, check the price of the item and how it compares to most of the surrounding city prices before deciding if a purchase is likely to make money later on.

I got about 12000 kopeck pretty quick, although my character, without a choice on my part, promptly paid the mountain of gold to a poor man in return for something useful. The game brought me to an ending, which ended sadly anyway. I think there are other endings, since there was an option to buy a ticket in another city, but anyway, I don't quite feel like returning for another round.

This was somewhat fun. I do have a thing for watching numbers go up in text games. That said, the gameplay and design is still pretty simple for the genre, and we really need a more accessible system than typing a number and clicking submit. Anyway, apply my trick (or do better if you can!), make some cash and see what happens next.

You Cannot Speak isn't the only unfinished game I've tried in IFcomp. Yet, it is incredibly difficult to rate this one. You wake up in some dreamlike state, struggle to speak for a bit, and soon find yourself waking up in a room in some sci-fi setting. After doing a couple of things, you talk to some folks, and then the prologue ends abruptly.

There simply isn't enough content here for me to assess the setting and plot of this short introduction. What little that is here is interesting, but despite this game being listed under the 'half an hour' game duration, you could probably finish 2-3 playthroughs well below that time. I'm not against short games or introductory games in IFcomp, but it's just flat out impossible for me to give a score to this one.

I'm declining to leave a star rating. That said, I think this game really needed more time in the factory, even if it's just an introductory portion.

When a huge family takes a trip to a theme park, what could possibly go wrong? (Answer: Everything) In this story, we follow the tale of a large family on a multi-day theme park adventure, enjoying themselves while slowly letting fatigue and stress accumulate with each day.

A lot of work clearly went into this one, and I would have liked to give it a higher rating. The wordcount appears huge, from my own playthrough impressions. However, the pacing can get slow, and sometimes, it feels like the writing is just meandering around with only a thing or two happening even after trudging through an extra-large serving of text. The writing is competent at a technical level, but it comes with too many words for the story it is trying to tell.

There are multiple protagonists in the game, one of whom you can name, but the game doesn't seem too clear which POV we're at at different parts of the adventure. Some romantic encounters and options are also present, but nothing really stuck with me here.

There is some interesting art. The font and display is a headscratcher to me. My guess is that it's trying to evoke the feel of an arcade machine (which you'll also encounter in the story) but I'm not too sure. It was certainly readable to me for the most part, but some folks might have difficulty with it.

Still, there are some interesting stories and events here if you are able to handle the pacing and the huge load of text. For what it's worth, I'll still reiterate that lot of work must have went into this game.

Honestly, I've always preferred to fly to Orlando on my own for a solo theme park adventure with nobody to fight with.

Time to leave our job to backpack in the medieval world.

Well... not exactly. After getting canned from a shitty job, you sorta bounce around until you stumble upon a magic portal which takes you to the medieval world. A couple of peasants need your help, and you happen to be someone armed with some futuristic (by medieval standards) gizmos to save the day. Time to head over to the castle and deal with the evil King.

The writing is humorous and entertaining, and it was an enjoyable read. There is an interesting backpack system in the game which requires you to fit as many items as you can within a limited space before proceeding onwards. Having certain items on hand does affect the overall storyline, but I'm not sure if these can potentially lead you down significantly branching paths. The shape and size of the items plays a role here too, sort of like a grid based puzzle.

That said, the story ends abruptly just as things start to pick up. What's already written felt polished, but the sudden end felt unsatisfying, especially as neither the title nor the description gives any indication that this is just an introductory section. If you're planning to play this game, do bear this in mind.

Good luck with finishing this story. :)

With kind and uplifting vibes, this game gently guides the player through emotional loss after a breakup, asking a series of questions about what happened and how they feel, while gently helping them to come to terms with things all the while.

I haven't been in a relationship or a breakup for quite a while, so I'm probably not the target audience for this game. Still, having had my own experiences in the somewhat distant past, I would hesitate to offer this game to someone who has really just experienced a breakup, as what they need will be a trusted person to talk to, and not an IF.

Still, this was still an uplifting and nice read, as the non-target audience of sorts. I also liked the choice of colors and the achievements, although these can quickly clutter your screen if you do not dismiss them. You could enjoy it for the pleasant feelings. However, in times of actual difficulty, it always helps to talk to a person you trust.

Interview assignments are out of control these days. The Burger Meme Personality Test is a mega parody of this issue, putting you through an awful AI administered test to figure out what sort of fit you are for the company. (Note: this game does not contain actual AI outputs, as far as I can tell.)

I did my first playthrough, looking at different pictures and answering multiple choice questions on each, while letting the AI test taker come to its own conclusions about me. That said, my first playthrough ended pretty quickly. I did a second playthrough, trying as much as possible to be the ideal corporate sycophant... I mean a model worker. Despite the obnoxious opacity of the questions, I managed to figure it out, and after a long gauntlet of questions, got a 'good' outcome. (At least in the eyes of the evil corp doing the hiring.) That said, it didn't end well for me anyway. (Spoiler - click to show) They said they'll hire me but soon replace me with AI anyway. Fun times.

The humor here is a mixed bag. The whole idea of parodying the job application process and the companies behind them is pretty cool. I liked some of the jokes, but others felt really blunt and in-your-face.

Sadly, as far as I can tell, there are no undo buttons in the game, although there are rarely undo buttons in those silly interview assignments anyway. Still, you can always restart the game with the 'reapply' button.

It's fun for a short bit of entertainment, and perhaps could be worth multiple playthroughs to see the different outcomes from the obnoxious interview test.

A world ravaged by apocalypse. The salt wrack. As a researcher, your objective is to reach the center of the cataclysm and discover what you can.

The writing and descriptions are strong, conveying the different views of the salt wrack and the many perils as you try to reach the center and return. Geography, unusual lifeforms, cold and storms all stand in your way. This game is difficult, and it took me three attempts before I could reach the center and return to tell the tale. Even then, it was a clear pyrrhic victory, given the many horrors and losses along the way.

There are also plenty of choices to make, although I don't think I've figured out the most optimal set at this point. You will also need to manage your rations, but this isn't communicated very well, and the quantity remained at plentiful for a good long time before suddenly decreasing rapidly. I 'beat' the game on the third attempt by focusing on speed, unless I felt it was at the expense of safety, and had also run out of rations by the time I reached the end.

Additionally , there doesn't seem to be a save or undo feature. This game is forced ironman, which also adds to the difficulty and interestingly, the vibe.

Be warned, this is a horror story, showing the bleakness and hopelessness of navigating an apocalyptic landscape. If something like this causes distress, there is nothing wrong in seeking stories elsewhere. Still, if this is your thing, there is strong writing and atmosphere to be found here.

With strong and amusing writing, an interesting cast of characters, along with plenty of charm and whimsical humor, A Rock's Tale was certainly fun to play.

Well, you're a rock. Along the way, plenty of people will stop by. You can choose to say nothing, like a real rock would, or engage in some funny conversation. Lots of these people have all sorts of different problems, and along the way, you'll find out that some of these problems are interconnected as you try to solve them.

Still, all that glitters is not gold. There will also be times where you might presume a connection and try to solve someone's problems, only to realize that you misunderstood the situation and everything is now backfiring spectacularly. Plus, some folks here just seem irredeemably lazy when you try to get them to help another.

There are no complex stat systems here. What really stood out for me was the dialogue and writing.

There are twenty endings, and I unlocked about six before I started writing this review. Nevertheless, the game was really fun to read. Even if you don't finish it, there is also plenty of fun in a partial playthrough.

Ah yes, the second mystery game from the writer (in terms of what I've played so far). I have mixed feelings about this one. As with the Solitary Resident, the writing is engaging and leaves you wanting to find out what happened. From a gameplay perspective, I like the way this game is constructed, with the ability to investigate different sections to uncover clues slowly. I managed to find all clues on my first attempt, and having an organized menu of clues found does help from a presentation standpoint.

There are plenty of clues, little puzzles, red herrings which you can get out of the way with some investigation and so on.

That said, even at the end, I was unable to figure out who the murderer was, and had to brute force it. When I did, and had the mystery revealed to me, it just left more questions than answers. A lot of it didn't quite make sense, even after reading over the final reveal a few times and trying to make it make sense.

Plenty of spoilers from here. You have been warned.

Questions:

Anyway, I enjoyed finding the clues and slowly unraveling the case, even if I had difficulty making sense of the final reveal.

With directional choices as well as an ultra-simple inventory system and puzzles along the way, Dead Sea reminds me of a parser game, but one which has been built in a choice based format.

You will need to complete puzzle after puzzle to complete the game. None of it was overly difficult, and I never found myself stuck, although some of the puzzles might be a little tedious, especially as you may have to pick up item A and item B, before heading to location C to trade those for a critical item to advance the story. It struck (in my opinion) a good balance between challenge and fun, but with that said, I'm a casual gamer, so ymmv.

The story and writing is on the lighter side. The setting seems to be some medieval setting with some modern and sci-fi items, all within a dreamlike storyscape. It was fairly entertaining, although nothing particularly stood out in this department. Sometimes, I was unsure why I had to do x or y, other than to move the story/game forward, but if you're just here for the puzzles, I suppose it's not too big a deal.

It was a fairly entertaining short experience.