Ratings and Reviews by ChanceOfFire

Our 40 year old protagonist meets his female college friend. After a series of events, he finds himself staying at her place without any plans to head home yet. Maybe during this time, some love can be rekindled?

Ok, there was a lot going through my mind after reading this, but let's get the technical stuff out of the way first. This is a kinetic VN. Basically no choices, and a straight path from the start to the finish line. I very much prefer having choices, but I do know that some VNs prefer to focus on the storytelling and effects, which is fine.

The UI has a name box, which makes it awkward when the narrator is speaking and the name box is blank. Backgrounds are photographic images with some filtering applied, although they retain the photographic look. Some pictures have people with faces visible in them, which is very jarring when the main RO is represented by an anime style sprite. Music works well for the most part.

As far as story and writing goes, the premise was interesting, but I couldn't quite say the same about the execution. The protag meets his old friend and goes for dinner. After getting a stomachache at the restaurant, he takes a car ride with his friend to her place to use the restroom and bathe. I don't know about you, but needing to use the toilet while trapped in a car isn't fun for me (I wish I wasn't speaking from personal experience) and my first instinct would have been to use the restroom at the restaurant. Anyway, you spend the night at her place, and for well... reasons, you spend the next few days living with her and taking trips out together.

There were also some parts which left me with a strained look on my face. At one point, the protag talks about relationship advice he gave to a female friend, who has difficulties with her husband. Ostensibly a relationship guru, he tells her that she has to know her worth and make herself look more beautiful and sexy. Her husband apparently likes girls with better armpits, and it is up to her to show him that her armpits are better. I don't know if it's just me, but I was like... what the bleep did I just read?

As someone who reads and enjoys romance VNs, I did like some of the flirting and socialization parts. That said, it ends with a bubble bath together with your RO, which does feel a little too intimate considering that you just ran into her only a few days ago. (Saying this as someone with very liberal views about romance and fanservice.) The whole thing ends with a confession which was kinda sweet, even if I felt like I had already seen a substantial share of weird at that point.

Well, the VN is free. You could always take a look to see if that's your thing.

This was a pretty short but entertaining yuri VN, with cozy and charming vibes before the action starts to heat up. You get a few mostly two choice options here, which branches down into different endings, both good and bad.

The writing was pretty solid and I enjoyed the read. Sound is only present at different parts of the VN, but it's also worth noting that the game has accessibility options like sound captions and image captions. Art and the UI was also well done.

Overall, this was good for a short read.

Behind the waterfall is structured a lot like a parser game, except that here, you get to click on conveniently placed hyperlinks to examine/interact with objects and move the story forward. Well, definitely works for me.

The game is pretty short, and with my ultra fast reading speed, I was able to finish this in three minutes or so, even though I tend to struggle a bit with puzzles in general. (Spoiler - click to show)All you need to do is place one item, activate another item, collect a third item and now you have what you need to win. Writing is competent and uses a minimal style, and while there isn't really much of a plot, or even context for the situation you find yourself in, but that's ok for a short puzzle game.

It's good for a short bit of entertainment, but once you get to the winning screen, there is little reason to head for another round.

A sweet and adorable game. You play as a dog, going out on all sorts of adventures.

The game makes use of mobile dimensions for the screen. It is definitely playable on a laptop, even it could be a slightly awkward view.

Rather creatively, the main menu screen is an interactive map of your house, where you can check stats, adjust settings and go on adventures. Out there, it is a pretty simple choice game where you are given mostly two-choice options, with a good bit of branching based on what you pick. What sort of adventures could a curious dog go on?

The art and writing was simple with a lot of charm. I did like the hand drawn feel of it. I managed to unlock about half the endings during my playthrough, and it was good for a relaxing read.

Good for a short bit of fun.

Despite the blurb and the warning, the writing in the game itself did give me the impression of a setting which doesn't take itself too seriously.

Welcome to Zaria, our usual knights-and-castles medieval fantasy setting. You get to order some spaghetti from the tavern, and buy cotton candy and turkey legs from the fair. You might stumble upon some thugs, armed with bats. Probably baseball players who couldn't find work at the local tournament. Anyway, check in with the receptionist who works there if you want a slice of the action.

Minus the anachronisms and some other out of place things, the writing is technically sound for the most part (I think this should have been copyedited). After a Dragon and its goblin soldiers smash up the town you're staying in, you set out on a quest to slay it. This adventure brings you up against other fantasy monsters like giant spiders, wyverns and trolls. In addition to beating up enemy monsters, there's also a mystery solving section, a puzzle and some plot twists. The final battle with the dragon also presents an interesting twist.

That said, the writing didn't feel very engaging, and the prose-heavy design of the game didn't help. Ingrid, your brash and sassy sidekick, was an interesting companion to have, minus some modern talking styles at times. That said, I had some difficulty with her romance.

There were a few small quality of life things which I liked, such as the game notifying you when you gain/lose gold or health.

Overall, I think this game might provide a fair bit of enjoyment, although I found it to be on the rougher side. If you're looking for a medieval fantasy story which doesn't take itself too seriously, you might find it here. Even then, it can still feel like a rough experience.

By the way, apples and bananas don't grow in the same place.

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

To Ashes You Shall Return breaks many 'rules' of making a choicescript game. You play as a fixed character with a fixed RO, in a F/F relationship. There are no stats, save one which you can't control and is largely a progress meter of sorts. The overall story, while having some choices, is largely linear and converges on a single ending.

Well, it's not in itself, a bad thing. Honestly, I'm a little tired of the unwritten rules of writing 'good' choicescript games. The game reminds me a lot of a Yuri VN, minus the lack of visuals.

Story and writing are the game's strong points. You die and are raised as an undead creature with your wife's magic. Much of the game then revolves around spending time with your wife while feeling your undead body slowly withering away. The game gives you a strong sense that you are on borrowed time, and slowly losing experiences and feelings which matter to you. This part was surprisingly good, and I liked it.

That said, the game is largely linear with a single ending, and while there are choices, I did feel like I was reading a pseudo-kinetic visual novel rather than playing a choicegame. None of the choices felt weighty even on a blind playthrough, and behind the curtain, none of them were. You could enjoy it once for the story, but you probably won't get much out of additional playthroughs.

Anyway, it's free to win on Hosted Games, so might as well give it a shot if you want a melancholy and light read.

In the Halls of Asgard takes you to a setting heavily inspired by Old Norse religion and mythology. You play as one of the many Gods in Asgard, perpetually embroiled in all sort of quarrels and conflicts, sometimes within, and sometimes with other factions like the giants.

Given the substantial word count, I was actually expecting something wordy, but to my surprise, the prose felt just right, being well-written while using just the right amount of text to tell a story. The story and setting is pretty interesting, although the chapters and plot feel a little disconnected as a whole.

You create a gender-ambigious character, choosing their name and domain, along with setting up your stats with some early choices. Afterwards, it's off to put these selections to the test, as your fellow gods find themselves in trouble (or start the trouble), leaving you to help them out (or not).

The gameplay design is pretty straightforward, using the time-tested system of specifying your strong stats and putting them through a gauntlet of stat checks. That said, this game can get tough, and I was constantly failing stat checks and dying. (The game does give you a fair warning at the start.) You have the option to restart the chapter if you die, although there were a small number of times where I found my character simply unable to handle most of the choices without dying, and having to opt for the 'walk away' choices to live to see another chapter.

I tried the game with two builds, a magic-warrior type build and a diplomat build. Still, I got myself killed quite a bit with both characters, although reaching the end isn't difficult since you can still retry the chapter until you find a way through, now matter how narrow the path is. The final event was pretty epic, and felt like a good way to cap it all off.

Overall, it's a fairly enjoyable read, if the setting interests you, although the gameplay might not be to everyone's liking.

In World War II: Armored Recon, you play as the commander of a Stuart Tank. Unlike other war genre games in the HG library, this game has you playing as an NCO rather than an officer, placed in charge of your enlisted crew.

At 900k words, this game is built like a tank, although the prose feels a lot more concise (positive!) than the gigantic Tin Star despite the considerable word count. The game is generally well written, conveying the harsh realities of war and the constant battle against scarce resources. You have a limited amount of fuel and ammo in the game, and will need to carefully keep track of your usage if you don't plan on ending up in a sticky situation. Oftentimes, you'd have to scavenge wrecks for resources, or beg/borrow/steal them from others, further conveying the sense of scarcity when fighting the war.

There is something of a turn based battle system here, similar to the one in Tin Star, where you can pick a movement or combat action each turn, and keep doing so until all enemies are down. It's pretty solid and also ties in well with the stat system and resource levels. That said, the Rule of Cool also seems to apply here, as you'll be fighting and (hopefully) blowing up Panzer IV tanks and the fearsome Tiger tank in open combat, tanks which would have otherwise made short work of a Stuart tank in real life.

Most of the game is centered around combat missions, with breaks and possible misadventures when resting in towns. There is one exploratory search section which breaks up the repetition, but otherwise, the story feels very heavy on the combat aspects.

You'll also have some crew members, with a skill and XP system which allows you to build up each one, along with other supporting characters. They have some fairly interesting conversations to offer, although the game still places more emphasis on the combat rather than social elements. Also, before you ask, there's no romance here.

It's a solid game with a strong mix of resource management and combat, backed by strong writing and a tankload of content. If this genre interests you, I think it's worth trying out.

Don't forget, gasoline is precious.

Violent Delight reminds me of Disneyland. Not because it tries to be creepy (although there is that) but because you've got plenty of waiting in line (enough to make a person insane) before you actually get to go on the rides.

Sitting at home, you bid for a creepy video game cartridge and wait for it to arrive. Yes, I meant 'wait' literally. You'll have to wait an absurdly long time (in real time) before the cartridge arrives, although you can also try to hurry the delivery up (to no useful effect).

Once it arrives, you mess with the cartridge and try out different levels. In between, you can mess with the cartridge to unlock more and more scary levels, with some crudely drawn pictures which supposedly get more horrifying, as well as some text making references to going on. By the way, there're also plenty of wait times here once you mess with the cartridge and prepare for your next romp. Of course, as you descend even further down the levels, you might find yourself breaking something, before the whole world goes to oblivion.

There are some geniunely good ideas and scares here, although the crude art struggles to convey the horror aspects. The ending portion where you end up breaking the cartridge as you continue to mess with it, before watching your existence blow up in your face, was pretty good.

That said, the whole wait time thing feels very excessive, to the point of being obnoxious. Yeah, I get it, the game is trying to convey an idea through the wait times, but there really should have been a less obnoxious way to do this. All I did was open up my own projects to do my own writing in between the wait times, which certainly detracted from the gaming and horror experience. I put my IFcomp two hour playthrough timer on hold while tabbing away to do something else, but I just can't walk away without criticizing this aspect of the game. After the ending scares, the first thing that came to my mind was simply 'glad all the waiting's over.'

Anyway, grab a cup of soda and watch some anime while waiting. It might detract from those scares, but there's no reason you should be staring at a load screen till the end of the world.

The Promises of Mars is another difficult one to rate. From a technical standpoint, it is competently designed with great ease-of-use and an interesting choice of colors for the UI. However, the gameplay gets tedious and minus the atmospheric writing, the story and character elements feel very barebones.

The Promises of Mars is a lot like Dead Sea in terms of gameplay. Find item A, bring it to location B, get item C, and the game moves forward. There are some quality of life features here, such as an interactive map you can click on to instantly travel to any accessible location, as well as the game highlighting usable items at each location. Still, a highlighted item may not always solve the problem, and sometimes, you will need to figure out which of the eligible items you should use to get past your next obstacle. There are some puzzles which break up the repetition of the usual itemfinding, but none were too difficult. The orange and black color scheme is also pretty fitting.

Unfortunately, it felt tedious after a while, and the story and writing just wasn't able to hold it up. There is strong atmosphere in the writing, particularly in the earlier chapters as you look at the ruins and think to a life before, but this started to wear off as I approached the final chapter. The plot is pretty much just navigating your way to a reactor, and there is little character writing as the female protagonist robotically clears one section after another in this drawn out IF obstacle course.

Towards the end, I felt like I was playing a fallout game and trying to clear some overcomplicated puzzle in a maze-like vault which had long overstayed its welcome. When you finally get to the ending portion, you are given a choice regarding that reactor you worked so hard to reach, but the ending scenes are brief and leave a lot to the player's imagination.

I wasn't able to obtain a key item at the start of the game, and spent a good bit of time running around randomly and hitting the same location again and again without effect, before restarting the game and somehow being able to obtain the key item on my next attempt. I also encountered a buggy message during the game, although it didn't prevent me from finishing it. Otherwise, I didn't find any other bugs.

It's not a bad game, but I think the plot, writing and gameplay really needed more variety to support a game of this length. It was good at first but started to feel draggy towards the end. This is another game where I was also just struggling to decide between three or four stars. This would have been a 3.5 if IFDB allowed it, but I'll round it up.