Ratings and Reviews by ChanceOfFire

I think I read Anne of Green Gables a really long time ago, like when I was really young, when my parents were trying to get my younger self to develop an appreciation for reading books. That said, I remember the plot and the characters very vaguely at best.

Anyway, this game take the public domain story and reimagines it in a futuristic setting. You know, with fancy machines, vtubers and VR. Things you'd be hard pressed to find in 19th century Canada. I can't say how true this story is to the original, but I can offer my thoughts.

The game is largely linear with mostly two choice options. You'll have to read through a lot of text each time in between each choice. While the prose is solid, it also feels pretty heavy at times, with plenty of text to get through before you finally have a choice.

From what I can tell, many choices do not change the game significantly, and there is even one pair of choices where you are expected to pick one choice. If you pick the other, the game flat out tells you that Anne does not have the character to do that, then brings you to the 'correct' choice instead.

The writing is strong and the futuristic elements are woven into the story in an interesting manner. Still, with the lack of choices, this is a better game for people who prefer heavy reading over more interactivity.

There is also an interesting puzzle at the end, but you might have difficulty with it if you had been playing on a mobile screen all along. Still, it's skippable. I sped through the game on my laptop later just to try it.

Deciding on a rating was tough. I was constantly going back and forth between three and four stars. This is a game which I didn't personally enjoy but still felt was good. Anyway, four stars.

Third and final game from the dev which I'll be playing for IFcomp. Unlike the map exploration we had in Sylvan Gardens or the mystery solving at the Opera,this is a much more straightforward fantasy adventure story.

We're off to see a solar eclipse. You get a choice of classes, which could open up unique options later on. Additionally you can invite a couple of folks to join you. I pretty much gave everyone I met an open invitation, so I'm not sure if the game branches significantly if you choose otherwise.

As with the other games from the dev, the writing is solid, the art and interface is nice, and the game has a beautiful and charming vibe. There is another interesting cast of characters, along with romances. I picked Tula for this one, and she was a pretty interesting character with an intriguing backstory and powers.

Gameplay wise, it's a lot more straightforward than the other IFcomp games from the dev. You make your journey through a fantasy landscape, talking with your companions and dealing with various encounters along the way. There are some puzzle sections later on, but none are too difficult, and you could probably brute force the choices if you're really stuck.

All and all, it's an adventure with the usual sweetness and charm I saw in the other games by the dev, and probably more suited for a casual and relaxing experience without running around and trying to find things.

An anonymous informant leaves a tip about an upcoming crime which will take place at an opera house. You have been brought in to investigate. Furthermore, an appearance of normalcy must be maintained, so simply trying to cancel the show is not an option.

As with Sylvan Gardens, the production values here are top notch, although I think there isn't sound in this one. The art is nice, the interface is well-designed and professional looking, characters are interesting and you get a good mix of choices. There is a simple stat system which can be used to glean additional clues, but the use of RNG for some of these checks adds a bit of luck to the mix.

Sadly, I was unable to solve the mystery on my first attempt, although I had some of the pieces from reading the clues and trying to figure out which names showed up a little more often. The game gives you a hint if you are unable to solve it, and also gives you the entire solution if you really can't solve it, although your (perhaps unimportant) game score will take a hit. That said, even after having the mystery revealed to me, I was still struggling to make sense of the evil plot.

Spoilers follow from here. You were warned.

This was the plot. (Spoiler - click to show)Lord Vulpetti is plotting to rob the audience using the cornetto (or the aria), and he's motivated by his desire for revenge against Angelo.

Now, I have some questions. Spoilers here too. You were warned.

1.(Spoiler - click to show)Why did Lord Vulpetti order the flowers and the taunting message IN PERSON at the florist? Even if the crime was carried out successfully, the not-so-subtle message card could easily be traced back to him. The florist knew him, and his name was on the buyer records. Even a semi-competent criminal should have known to use a proxy or a fake identity to buy those flowers and make the delivery.

2.(Spoiler - click to show)The note on the bouquet ostensibly hints that Lord Vulpetti plans to rob the audience, but this seems like a huge leap of logic to make. Maybe there is evidence elsewhere which I missed, but this doesn't seem like much to go on.

3.(Spoiler - click to show)The lyrics make reference to a horn and a magic note, but it also seems like a huge leap of logic to infer that Lord Vulpetti plans to enchant the cornetto with this. Not to mention, the magic in the horn could be detected by the other characters (evidenced later on) and could easily be traced back to Lord Vulpetti even if the crime was successful.

4.(Spoiler - click to show)If all Lord Vulpetti wanted to do was to humiliate Angelo, why work with thieves to rob the audience? He didn't want money. Putting everyone to sleep would already have achieved that goal. The thieves don't seem to have contributed anything to preparing the plan and would likely have been happy to backstab him if the relationship went south. A mass robbery would only result in more serious investigations and place needlessly greater heat on Lord Vulpetti.

Anyway, after completing the mystery, you have the option to dance with someone and romance them. It feels like something added on later, but I actually liked it. The ending sequences were a nice way to wrap up the investigation. This game still has the charm and sweetness of Sylvan Gardens.

Despite all I've said, I'm still giving four stars, as there were many parts of this game which I liked.

As far as production values go, the Secrets of Sylvan Gardens probably has the best I’ve seen in IFcomp so far, although I’ve yet to finish the other two entries by the developer, as of this review. With beautifully drawn art, nice sound and aesthetically well-designed interface, this is one game which could pass for a professional product.

The writing and story is pretty strong, as you find yourself suffering from a strange condition, and being drawn to the place. There, you run into four other characters, each with their own secrets and also suffering from their own conditions. These characters have interesting backstories, and I also enjoyed learning more about them over time.

Gameplay largely consists of exploring the gardens and clearing every activity/conversation you can find. Once you’ve cleared a prerequisite set of activities for the day, the story allows you to move on to the next day. The puzzles, from what I’ve seen, are pretty straightforward for the most part. That said, the harder part comes from exploring every nook and cranny of the garden, trying to find some conversation or activity you haven’t cleared yet, so that you can advance to the next day. This part can get tedious, and the fact that there are multiple days also multiplies this frustration.

I was unable to finish this title under IFcomp’s mandatory two hour limit as I got stuck on day five. That wasn’t fun. I spent probably about a dozen attempts combing the entire map, turning over every single stone to find the one thing (maybe more?) which was keeping me from advancing to the next day. I could have continued playing beyond two hours for the purposes of this review, but I was simply tired and gave up. I’m not sure if I was really missing something, or ran into a showstopper bug. Either way, I think it would be helpful if a player could request a direct hint from the game on where to go next if they are hopelessly stuck. (I tried looking at the walkthrough, but the instructions were vague, and I couldn’t pin down what exactly I was missing, if it was even in the walkthrough at all.)

(Update: I communicated with the writer privately and they described what I was missing to advance the story. It seems that I missed something, rather than it being a bug. Still, the rating and my playthrough stands as I had already spent the max two hours on the game when I first wrote the review. Nevertheless, I appreciate the active communication.)

All in all, I still had fun with it. The production values were good, the story and writing was solid, puzzles were pretty fun even when they’re easy and the game has a lot of cozy and charming feelings in it. However, combing the gardens for everything you need to advance the story can feel tedious at times. Maybe I’ll come back and finish this one day. Anyway, I’m off to see the other games by this developer.

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.