Reviews by ChanceOfFire

Back again with another itch game from the Interactive Bonbons writer.

This one is pretty simple gameplay-wise, but with the same technical wizardry from the last two games. Again, there is an interesting use of styles, custom layouts, sounds, emojis and so on. Interestingly, the shotgun uses a train emoji.

It's pretty simple. Here, you walk around a 2x2 room, scrounging, resting and eating while waiting for the zombies to show up. Once that happens, you can attack them.

It's a survival game with gameplay broken up into different waves. You'll simply have to beat the current wave of zombies to reach the next level. It's not a very deep game, but it's pretty good as a short proof of concept and also feels more polished than the farming sim.

But after playing two other games from this writer, it's perhaps harder to wow me with all that tech savvy now.

While snooping around itch, I found out that the Interactive Bonbons writer actually has a few choicescript games up there. Well, I’m off to take a look.

As with Interactive Bonbons, there is plenty of tech savvy here. This game was written in choicescript, but the use of custom styles, sounds, emojis and the overall display really shows how a choicescript game can look creative and great. Seriously… I might want to get my hands on whatever custom styles.css file this game used.

Unfortunately, the gameplay is just a grind. Day by day, I’m picking up feed from the barn, walking to my livestock and feeding them. If I forget to feed them, they fall sick and require medicine to get them back in health. Then, after feeding them, I butcher them one at a time, so that they can feed me instead.

After some time, the animals decided to spice up the party by breaking their own stalls, requiring me to spend time fixing them. Navigating the barn in choicescript is also pretty tricky, and a map could have helped.

I ended my playthrough stuck in an infinite loop, where I was unable to leave a stall. (All other options were disabled, and the ‘leave’ option returned me to the same screen.) Buutt… I got to enjoy the technical creativity on display so I guess that’s something. :)

Earth is a penal colony, where all sorts of aliens, or mythological creatures to us humans, are sent to serve their prison sentences. Honestly, with all that advanced technology, whatever alien government out there would be better served finding a barren planet out there to transform into a prison. Maybe with actual prison facilities, life support systems, or whatever.

You're a parole officer for these alien-monsters, making decisions on whether these monsters had been on their best behavior and deserve to go, or whether they need to spend more time in the slammer. Honestly, with tons of delicious humans right around the corner in this 'prison', it seems like a recipe for trouble. Life in a penal colony is probably pretty boring after all. I would be surprised if they weren't thinking of ways to handle the monotony.

To nobody's surprise, some of these monstrous folks are out there causing trouble on Earth, so it's up to you to deal with them.

Minus the absurd premise, the story and writing is pretty entertaining. There was one decently interesting RO who works with you on missions.

I messed up a ton of checks during the game, and got my clearance decreased until it became negative. Still, I managed to beat all the checks for the final battle, turning my fortunes around and ending the game as a top agent.

It's a fun adventure if you're able to get over the premise. Seriously, what makes you think these alien-monster-prisoners won't be tempted to cause trouble?

Dawnfall is pretty tough to rate. It features an interesting setting and somewhat strong writing. The ending scene explores some interesting themes of loyalty, betrayal and sacrifice.

However, the prose is as heavy as a tank, with a lot in the way of length and detail. There is plenty of lore, special terms and worldbuilding which the game wants to convey to you. But in this regard, the game basically throws you into the deep end from the start and keeps you submerged there for the entire story. I was pretty much running the CPU in my brain on overclock mode throughout the game, just to digest the thick and heavy prose as well as the content within. For casual readers or someone who wants an easy read, I can’t recommend this.

There are a couple of stats in the game. I was mostly sigils, sigils, sigils everytime I saw a stat check, and as far as I can tell, it seems to have worked.

Romances are a tricky thing. You can romance everyone, and there’s even an achievement for it. I got it on my first try simply by picking the romantic options whenever they came up. There is also a final romance scene where you have the option to talk with anyone (and everyone?) for a final romance scene, but I decided to stick with one person at that point. Some characters are in polygamous relationships and will insist on it if you try to suggest otherwise, but at least they’re upfront about it. (For the record, I’m not strictly opposed to poly relationships, just that it’s not my thing.)

Romance scenes appear to be mild for the most part. I always picked the “romance and sex” options, but didn’t see anything very explicit.

It’s a good title, but it feels really impenetrable to casual readers. As a romance game, I’d rate it as okay. The strength of the game comes from the worldbuilding, setting and storytelling. But you’ll probably need brains of steel for that part.

To the City of the Clouds is quite interesting and well written. The archeology genre is not very common, and you'll probably need to be a grad student or professor to get some of the writing and the jokes, but this was generally an easy and enjoyable read.

However, the game's main problem is the rocket-boosted pacing. The game darts from scene to scene, spending little time on each before jumping onto the next. When you finally reach the fabled City of the Clouds, you'll only be spending a few scenes there before you're out.

The game does branch quite a bit, especially given the low wordcount, which might give you an idea of how quickly everything needs to run.

There were also some questions on gender and romantic preferences in the starting chapters, but I don't think I saw much of romance in this game.

If you're the grad student type, or if archeology is your thing, you might enjoy this.

Before this review, the lowest rating I gave to any game on this website was three stars.

You play as a ‘Headcrusher’ for a powerful crime lord, tasked with sending messages through some particularly unspeakable means. My guess is that it takes place in 1950s New Orleans, going by the initial setting description and the fact that this game calls itself a noir thriller. However, some references to Disney’s imagineers and Donkey Kong broke the immersion. Unfortunately, the problems were just getting started.

The plot makes no sense and seemingly jumps from one point to another without coherence. At one point, your character can encounter robot animals and become some kind of sci-fi cyborg. Nothing in this game indicates that it’s supposed to be a parody of some sort, so all I can do is go “whaaaattt????”

There is also plenty of blood and gore in this game, but much of it felt like the game trying too hard to be dark and gritty. Minus everything I’ve said above, the prose is okay, but nothing which can salvage the many issues I see.

I managed to get a pretty good ending in the game, where I defeated the bad guy and saved the love interest. Yet, it was hard to feel satisfied.

With genuinely snarky and humorous writing, this game is a pretty entertaining read.

Without spoiling too much, you’re working as a real estate agent for your unreasonable and tyrannical boss. One day, she sets a challenge to deal with ‘overstaffing’ issues. You are given an awkward property to add to your portfolio, and you’ll have to try to make as much as you can from it. Fail to meet the cut, and you get the sack.

Most of the game is centered around making money off your property. It starts off pretty innocently as you struggle helplessly to rent the house to all manner of problematic tenants, before finding out some… supernatural… means to bring in the bacon with your haunted house.

Unfortunately, at its core, this is largely a simplified business sim, where you make decisions to maximize the money the house makes for you. There is little in the way of exploring relationships with other characters, save a rival whom you try to screw with on a few occasions. You do make a few slice of life type decisions here and there, but otherwise, the game is largely centered around the main goal of driving up that dollar number. It’s not strictly a bad thing, but I felt there was more that the game could’ve explored.

It’s a solid short story, and probably recommended for an easy and funny read.

The game felt promising initially. The prose, writing and setting carried a lot of charm and cuteness. I liked the premise and felt that this could be a pretty good kids game.

However, much of your search for the elusive mermaids takes place over a series of scenes which do not feel very well connected. I got a pretty negative ending in this game which also felt sudden and confusing. I think this game has multiple endings, but I didn’t feel like returning for another round.

You can romance your patron in this game. I managed to accomplish my romance, but it felt really forgettable.

I liked the genuinely sweet and charming vibes in the game. However, the story and plot didn’t quite do it for me.

Joining a crew of space pirates and working together on missions to steal treasure. The premise works, but the execution has no shortage of problems.

Starting with the minor issues, there are unexplained pronoun changes in the game, sometimes on the same page. There is an inventory system, but it’s heavily underused. I bought almost everything in the shop on the first time I had access to it, but found limited opportunities to use those items. Character relationships are measured with opposing stats. (why??)

Most of the missions are ‘room puzzles’ where the game allows you to walk between different rooms, solving puzzles to move on to the next stage. Sometimes, you’ll need to unlock something in one room to unlock the other. This can be tough to pull off in the choicescript engine, and it’s actually quite well done here. Unfortunately, that’s the biggest praise I can offer.

At the ending battle, I chose to openly betray a certain group of people. Yet, in the ending mission, they were treating me as a hero, without much explanation as to why they had decided to forgive and forget. Another character was working to rescue someone who had been imprisoned, yet does not follow up on this after successfully defeating the imprisoned character’s jailor. The ending just didn’t make sense and felt rushed.

It’s not a bad game. Maybe it’s worth your time for a small bit of entertainment. But it could use some work.

My first playthrough didn’t exactly go smoothly. I failed to romance the character I liked (I did carelessly mess up a few choices there) and my special project with my kids didn’t go all too well. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the playthrough and left with a good impression.

You are a single mother, caring for six children with werewolf powers while trying to manage your day job. You’ll also meet a few interesting characters, go on dates with them and perhaps win the game of romance. This is largely a slice of life game, although there are plenty of interesting events to keep the story going.

The prose can feel kind of rambling at times, although it’s mostly well written. The ROs also have fairly interesting personalities, and I ultimately went with the schoolteacher.

It’s a short but solid title, with a good dose of romance and parenting.