Ratings and Reviews by ChanceOfFire

I played this game on my laptop, as per the instructions.

You are shown a desktop web browser screen, with a search tab and an email tab. The search tab shows a few autofill suggestions when you click on the box, but otherwise doesn't seem to do anything even if you type something in the search bar and push enter. The next tab is an email page with two emails, none of which have any controls. One has an .exe file (in game) which you can click to play a maze game. After some stumbling around, I found (Spoiler - click to show)the prize - a string of characters. To find out what this means, look up Base64 decoding. The game doesn't give you any hints on this. It really should have.

If you have difficulty with copy/paste, the characters are (Spoiler - click to show) Q29uZ3JhdCwgeW91IGZpbmlzaGVkIHRoZSBkZW1vIG9mIExpbWLDtCE .

Honestly, the maze controls feel pretty clunky, and I got stuck once when trying to drag the ingame window, where my mouse refused to let it go. It's one of the more interesting things I've seen for the Neo Twiny Jam, although classifying this as IF is pretty tricky.

Honestly, the writing in this game is really rough. This should have necessitated a lower rating. But... I noticed that this game was also entered into the REALLY BOOGALOO BAD IF jam, where the point is to make a bad IF game. Well... mission accomplished, I guess. Full marks. (sigh)

Anyways, you're invited to take part in an experiment, where you can be a bird for some time. Just sign here, here and here. Still, you have the option to go along with it and be free as a bird, or chicken out. You get a few choices in the game, but only one choice really affects the ending.

The visual design is simple, although there are some photos to go along with it. It shouldn't take too long to finish the story even if you're trying out all the options. Just make sure that you aren't turned into a birbbrain at the end of it.

An earthquake strikes your village, leaving a strange cave in its wake. What do you do? Go inside, of course! Perhaps you’ll find yourself with mysterious powers when you emerge.

The Nascent Cave is pretty minimal on the visuals and design front, although the color selection makes for an easy read. It’s mostly linear, with one important choice you can make towards the end, which affects the ending you get. It’s not a long game and feels like the start of a bigger adventure we may or may not be getting, but it’s still a pretty interesting read.

The protagonist is going through the motions in his very ordinary life and thinking about a certain someone. But soon, things go downhill as he notices the beginning of a zombie apocalypse taking place right before his eyes.

The black and white color scheme works, but the red arrows which function as ‘next’ buttons (and the red choice text) were pretty hard to see on my phone screen. The story is largely linear, but you get a little choice at the very end as the reality of the zombie situation quickly bears down on you. You do meet up with your certain someone and try to stick together and survive, but there is little interaction with him during the plot, which is probably understandable given the 500 word limit.

It’s okay for a short read. Still, it feels just like the start of a story which just got cut off.

A Neo Twiny Jam game with 160 words and ten endings? Hmm…

Here, you are shown a word, and are offered a choice of words which… you pick the one which relates to you most? I’m not too sure. With each choice, you get another choice of words and so on. After some time, you reach the end, which is another collection of single words depending on your choices. Some of the pages (not all) have some art to accompany them, and what is there is pretty nice.

I’m guessing that this game was supposed to evoke some kind of numinous or otherworldly vibe. Given the dark background and font choice (great selection by the way), I think that was the idea. Still, after playing though a few times, I still had that “I don’t think I get it” thought swirling around in my head. I’m not sure what to make of this one. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I do.

On this floating city, people just seem to fall off and disappear somewhere without warning. It’s part of life here. Just like that time when I played Mass Effect and found myself falling into some void on the Citadel space station probably because there was a hidden hole somewhere on the floor.

Meanwhile, someone you know disappears. But well… accidents happen, right? It’s the official story. The official story is always right. Right???

People Fall is a linear choicegame, with a small choice at the end, where you can decide how to react to something which just happened. Otherwise, the game is linear. On the visual front, the game does not have a lot, but the writing should be sufficient to entertain.

There doesn’t seem to be a restart button at the end, so you’ll have to mash that undo button or reload the game if you want to read again. Still, a bonus point for the undo button.

Out in nature. Rain is coming. It falls on your skin. Sensations and thoughts run through you. It has an almost mystical feel to it.

This game is a visual IF of sorts, if that's the best way to describe it. You click on individual raindrop icons, revealing a word and a short passage describing the feelings of being out in the rain within the lap of nature. With the writing, art and design combined, the end result was a surprisingly evocative experince which allowed me to feel myself feeling those raindrops while out in nature.

The art is pretty nice and fit the theme. Also, I can't believe I am saying this, but I think well-picked sounds and background music could have made this experience much more immersive. Still, I think what we have here is pretty good. Just relax, and feel the raindrops all around you.

I'm pretty prone to overthinking. If my life were a choicegame, the only option present most of the time would be to let thoughts run wild. Anyway, right here, we have a relaxing walk in the beauty of nature. You can choose to take a pause, keep walking, or let your thoughts run wild (like I do). Still, this adventure ends happily either way as you arrive at your destination.

Minus the choices, it is largely a straight road. You have the option of overthinking or doing something besides that. Your thoughts will run wild in another scene if you choose the former, although either way, you'll wind up at the next scene. This game is appears to be linear, and no matter what you pick, you'll still head down the same path where you're eventually too tired to overthink, and enjoy the scenery before you.

Still, it is an interesting read, exploring the idea of overthinking and how to resist it during beautiful moments in nature. I believe the art is mostly photographic images with a filter applied, which is good for consistency and effect. If you're feeling up to it, take a walk and try not to think too much, although nothing really bad happens if you do over here.

Once you start this game, prepare to be bombarded by flashing colors and loud arcade music. You are given a pixel character to control, with basic 2D movement controls, and will have to navigate this flashing landscape, picking up some odd objects (leaves?) which will reveal a line of a poem each time.

The poem makes some references to the strobe effects and the constant bombardment on the senses. Still, I wouldn't blame you if you were too distracted by the flashing colors and blaring sounds to take in those words. The description talks about wanting to explore the themes of bombardment/spectacle/hypernormalisation, and it was certainly done here. Be warned, your eyes and ears might not thank you for it.

It's a game with a message, told to you via an indirect message with a blaring loudspeaker at full power. You can give this a go if you like, but please close the game if your eyes start to hurt, or you might be seeing strange colors even after you're done playing.

Prepper van might be the longest playthrough-wise and most gameplay-heavy title I've tried in the Neo-Twiny Jam thus far. With a simple looping gameplay system, along with an inventory system and stats, it does a lot with that word limit.

Disaster strikes. Sitting in your van, you have a choice of things to pick up, a choice of things to buy and a choice of a place to stay before the game tests those choices and what you have accumulated with a disaster. Your end objective here is to get a job before disaster consumes you.

Pretty early in the game, my parents threw me out for being a jobless bum. Still, all you need to do is work out how to survive day by day, accumulating as many survival items as you can, and eventually wait for your lucky break. After taking some time to work out the gameplay, and going through countless loops, I managed to get a job, thus saving myself from the disaster cycle. Maybe I'll be able to stay under my parents' roof now.

The art is mostly hand drawn sketches, but I did like the simple feel. This game does a lot with that 500 word limit, so I think that's something I can give a top rating for.