Ratings and Reviews by ChanceOfFire

Let Me Play feels less like a choice based IF and more like an idea. You watch a play and are presented with choices... except that you can't really pick something. The game takes agency away from the player, picking choices for you instead.

Still, towards the end, you might get a choice which allows you to regain some of that player agency, and pick again. Basically, this game is a pretty unusual commentary on player agency.

You could play through once to amuse yourself, but I was pretty much done at the end. The art and sound is pretty nice. The timed text is a pain, however, and the game doesn't give you any skip or back buttons. (But given the lack of player agency, what did you expect, eh?) Just do your playthough, see the idea the game is putting forward, and call it a day.

You play as an employee in a waste management job, in some sci-fi setting which involves spaceships and different planets. Unfortunately, it was pretty tough to get immersed in this one for reasons which have nothing to do with text.

You pick a partner to travel with you. There are two people you can choose from, with wildly different personalities and backstories, and the choice of each partner brings you down a totally different route in the game. The writing was fairly solid, although I didn't feel particularly attached to either character. If you want to see most of the content, you'll want to play at least twice, one with each character.

As far as VNs go, you get a good bit of choices, mainly around choosing what sort of garbage artifact you want to pick up and bring back (that's your job), as well as some dialogue options around your partner. According to the walkthrough, picking different garbage options may affect the outcome of the story, although this wasn't very well-advertised in the game, and I was largely picking space junk at random on a blind playthrough.

A more glaring issue was the art. This is a VN... so I guess it's fair to talk about this. The game uses photographic images for backgrounds, and a lot of them are easily recognizable as pictures from modern day earth. Some pictures even have people going about. The picture of the spaceship interior appears to be that of a modern aircraft cockpit (with the control stick and flight screens). It was hard to imagine myself visiting planets in a spaceship when the game was showing something which looked like the busy mall near my house. Additionally, the character art and character cards also looked really out of place against the photographic backgrounds, even if it was in itself pretty solid for a free VN.

I get that it's hard to get good art, and I also strongly appreciate the effort which went into collecting all these art assets to make a VN-entry. Still, I do think my immersion in the game really suffered heavily for it.

It can provide a good bit of entertainment if you're willing to give it a shot. There's lots of content here. Still, try to suspend your disbelief when you see all those people in the background.

Ok, so you're struggling with your homework. You ask the AI to do it for you. It spits out an essay. You get an A+. Win.

I'm sure AI-reliance plays out differently for different people, but our protagonist here is quick to thank AI profusely for its assistance, before going on to depend on it for emotional counselling and support. The story goes on and branches, where the protagonist can decide to start doing their homework with their organic brain again, or remain reliant on AI. (it does not end well)

There is an undo button. That said, using it a bit too much caused a code error to appear.

This take on AI-reliance just felt... mehh. There's plenty to talk about for this topic, but after playing through this game, I was like... does that actually happen? Don't get me wrong, being over-reliant on AI comes with a host of problems, some of which would be interesting to explore, but I'm not sure if this game really nailed those down.

You could give it a read, I suppose. That said, in Real Life, don't expect an A+ just for tossing your entire assignment at an AI and blindly handing the output to your professor. The tech isn't that good yet. When it is, that's when we're going to have to panic.

A simple but endearing game. You play as a member of a flock... I mean murder of crows, and you spend the day doing simple crow stuff.

It's probably the crow-equivalent of a slice of life game, where you do all manner of unremarkable but fun things without much of an overarching plot or goal. Crows are pretty cute animals here, going on adventures, picking up shiny things and playing with non-feathered creatures like dogs and humans. The premise could make for some light hearted fun.

Still, this game is rough. I ran into some bugs, like a dead end and an error message telling me that some code broke down. There were a few typos, and spacings between paragraphs weren't always consistent.

It's a short game and can be a pretty rough experience. Still, it might be worth it for some light-hearted reading.

Our story begins with some slow moving timed text. Thankfully, this doesn't carry over completely to the rest of the game. Still, you'd probably want to make a save once you get past it, if you're planning to play more than once. The game does recommend making a save sometime after the introduction... for a different reason.

From what I can tell, there is no undo option, although there is a save system.

Anyway, you're off to a shady place to meet with someone (didn't say human) whom you're supposed to well... do some business with. Nevertheless, you do have the option to talk with him, learn more about him and find out if he is really the creature of darkness he seems to be. (Still, some parts on vegetarianism and compassion in feeding did feel a little awkward.)

The writing is mostly solid, although the game's length didn't quite allow for a deep exploration of the characters and the story. There is a simple stat system, but it didn't work on my mobile browser for some reason, and I had to switch to another phone to see the little stat popups. There is also a good bit of conversational branching, so multiple playthroughs might be necessary to see more of the content. Having played through about three times, I managed to unlock two different endings, although I didn't feel like going back for yet another round.

Overall, it's a fairly solid short read. I would give 3.5 stars, but I'll round that off to 4 stars for this review. (Don't get me wrong, the timed text is still a pain.)

A troll game! Awesome.

I was deciding whether to give 5 stars or -1 stars for this game. That said, I've seen better trolling efforts on reddit, so I'll go with -1 stars.

Come to think of it, I spent more time writing this review than playing the game, and this is coming from the guy who reviewed a ton of Neo-twiny jam games this year. An extra star for that.

Also, this game doesn't seem to be affected by the geoblock rule in the UK. (Like me) A bonus star for that.

Ok, that adds up to one star out of five. Thank you, folks. Have a nice day.

I downloaded this game, read through the readme and tried to run it. There was an interesting bit of starting text and a character creation system.

Nevertheless, I was unable to proceed beyond the introduction. I typed a command and the game threw up an error, something about being unable to connect to the server. I am leaving this game unrated as I am unable to provide a proper assessment of the game in its current state.

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.