Reviews by ChanceOfFire

I suspect folks who play this game will either love it or hate it. Mental health is a very complex matter and is a pretty difficult topic to handle in a game medium. For me, I suppose I’m in the category of those who liked this game, but I can understand why some would hate it. For the record, I have also struggled quite a bit with some of the things depicted in this game.

The game does not hold back in its depiction of matters like anxiety and depression, as well as associated issues. Still, it presents a few bright spots, such as a date with someone who cares after a previous episode of rejection. It will be a whirlwind of a weekend as you go through various ups and downs in your difficult mental state.

Generally speaking, the writing was technically solid. Still, some of the chapter headers had a very low res look to them, which was mildly grating.

I managed to get the best ending on my first attempt. I was definitely surprised, since quite a number of people appeared to have difficulty unlocking it even over multiple attempts. (Maybe the author updated the thresholds, or maybe I was just lucky.) Still, it was a good story of a protagonist who pushed back against the demons within. That works for me.

Tomb of the Khan is one tough game, in terms of difficulty. You will have to survive a gauntlet of choices with plenty of sudden dead ends. I can't remember how many times I replayed this, but eventually, I gave up and opened the code to read the ending. It was fairly interesting, and I was glad that I didn't have to throw myself at yet another possible bad end.

There are no checkpoints here, so prepare for lots of tedium if you're trying to work out the path to the good ending by trial and error.

The game is mostly well-written, depicting the historical khan with some sort of fantasy/sci-fi powers. There are also plenty of scares within. That said, the writing can go on for pages and pages before you finally get a choice, and the prose can also get heavy in some areas.

Go ahead and try this one out if you like. That said, if you find yourself in an early grave for the nth time, just do yourself a favor and read the code.

Another zombie game. Coming out during Stone Age CoG, it is hard to praise this title. It provides some mildly interesting choices and action scenes, with multiple endings, but the downsides are plenty. The writing is rough, the story and plot feel pretty flimsy and there are a good number of early dead ends. There is one ‘good’ ending which is another take on the ‘just a dream’ trope, but honestly, it’s as nonsensical as the rest of the story.

You get to choose a weapon at the start of the game, but as far as I can tell, it doesn’t have much of an impact on the rest of the game.

You will run into a few folks on this adventure, whom you can choose to join up with or go your separate ways. If you do join up with them, the game does give you a few choices to betray that alliance here and there. Reaching the ‘good’ ending required me to ‘recruit’ as many people as possible, but that ending was hardly more satisfying than the rest of the game.

You could try it for a bit of mild entertainment, but that’s all I can say for it.

Things have changed, and for the worse. Jobs are in short supply. Job interviews are gone, replaced by a violent trial, one which pits teamwork against expediency, if you want a job. Otherwise, it’s a life of near-slavery on the farm if you’re unable to beat the trial, secure a job or create your own startup.

The writing is fairly solid, although there were a couple of typos here and there. The game has a very straightforward stat-based system, where you pick the stat you are strong in and later pick all choices corresponding to that stat. Still, there were some times where I didn’t have the right stats to pass a check. There are some other characters you work with, although character development is still light at this stage of the story.

This game was clearly intended to have a sequel. Even the save import system had already been set up. That said, it is extremely unlikely we’ll be getting one, as it has been a decade since this title was released, with no word on any future work on this project. If you do decide to try the game out, just bear this in mind.

Another cutesy VN entry. You wake up, and fumble through your morning routine while preparing for your next appointment. The writing is sweet even if the story is the short and simple type, and there is plenty of nice art and music to go along with it.

As far as interactivity goes, you have a list of activities you can pick to perform in any order, with the occasional choice to go along with it. Replay value is light, as I think you'll need to do every activity to proceed, but one playthrough was already entertaining enough.

Note: There is quite a bit of coarse language in the game, despite the previously mentioned cute vibes.

Note 2: Self-control is important. Do not add too much butter when baking.

With strong writing, an interesting setting and plenty of content, Apex Patrol is another strong entry in the HG line. This title is one of the oldest games in the library (I remember when it was $1 on the iphone app store) but still remains a great game even by today's standards.

The writing is strong, providing interesting descriptions of the sci-fi world and raising the suspense and thrill during missions. Unfortunately, like Tin Star, the prose can get very heavy at times, but this isn't something I'll take a star off for.

There is also a pretty solid stat system where you decide your ship's upgrades and so on. The stat screen is a bit messy to look at, being all text, but again, this wasn't too big of an issue.

I did pretty well on my first run, completing most missions successfully and defeating the main villain right at the end. In sum, this was definitely a fun adventure, and one worth taking a look at.

Silent Gear is a mixed bag. There were some parts which I think were good. The missions, skill checks and ability to select loadouts. This part was pretty fun. Failure is possible in missions, but the game thankfully has a checkpoint system to prevent lost progress.

That said, the writing is very rough, and while the story is fairly interesting at first, it later goes off the rails, and the ending just felt unsatisfying. I'm also wondering if the final parts were rushed, since it's heavy on choiceless pages of text without the usual action gameplay.

There are a couple of minigames, some of which are optional time-wasters and the rest being combat sequences. These are mostly ok, although the combat minigame feels very luck dependent.

The first few missions provide a solid gameplay experience, with the ability to make tense choices and item decisions. That said, the story starts breaking apart towards the end, and the writing is another issue. Still, it's a free title, so you might want to give it a try if it appears to be your thing.

Imagine you’re playing a choicescript game as well… some elite spy. While walking around your spy headquarters, you find a computer terminal and use it. You have the option to look up different email messages on the terminal, shown as choice options. Now imagine if you took out that inbox surfing segment and turned it into a full blown choicescript game. That’s one way I’d describe this game in terms of design.

The Spy and the Labyrinth is not your usual choicescript title. In this game, the story is largely told through a series of documents. There are choices, but all these are simply choices of which document you’d read next. Things will tense up towards the end, but the ending itself feels very abrupt.

I’m really not sure how I should be rating this. I’m all for trying new ideas, but this is one idea which just didn’t fly for me. Reading a story told through a bunch of documents just wasn’t fun, and a game where every choice is to select the next document you read isn’t my idea of a fun choice. The game is certainly more well written and competently coded than many shovelware HG titles, but this is one of those titles which (I suspect) will satisfy its intended audience but leave everyone else scratching their heads.

Honestly, the first few pages will give you a good idea of what you can expect for the rest of the game. You can always give the first few parts a go and decide if that’s your thing.

I'm still giving this a four star rating, but of the four books by the writer, I think this is the one I liked the least. IFDB should allow users to award 3.5 stars or something.

Mage Elite takes place in a setting which blends fantasy and sci-fi elements. The main enemy is established pretty early in the game. As with other titles by the writer, this has some management elements, including a turn based system where you decide what activities you'll undertake for the day. There are also a couple of optional minigames, although those didn't appeal to me as much. (One minigame from the Grand Casino of Fortune makes a return.)

Stats use an opposed system (which I dislike), although I was still able to clear most checks. The writing and lore are both solid, although the plot gets messy at times. There are also some cool maps, but the little details are harder to see on an iphone screen.

I still liked this game, just not as much as the other short titles by the writer. If you'd like to try a sci-fi game, this is perhaps still worth a look.

A short quest to find treasure in a forbidden city, with an array of riddles standing between you and your final goal.

Well, you'll get two types of challenges here. Some are riddles, which can range from easy to fiendish. Others are dice rolls or coin flips. Still, how this works is that the game allows you to input a dice roll number or coin flip outcome of your choice. That said, don't rush to type a six on that dice roll just yet. Bigger numbers don't always mean success, so you might as well leave it to chance. The stat screen has a dice roll and coin flip function if you need it, but using it is optional.

It took me a couple of tries to beat this, and the lack of a save system or checkpoints means that you'll have to start over if you hit a bad end. Still, this was pretty fun.

The writing was fairly good, even if the game was short in terms of a single playthrough.

Hints for the last two puzzles: (Spoiler - click to show)If that last riddle is giving you trouble, think of something with nine lives. Remember, *knowledge* is important.