Ratings and Reviews by ChanceOfFire

At over one million words, An Unexpectedly Green Journey has plenty of content which will keep you entertained for a long time. Unlike the traditional linear narratives, this game is more of an open exploration RPG in text form, although there is still something of an overarching plot and a big bad who roams the world.

The writing is smooth and does not get overly wordy, which I like. It packs plenty of action and some humor, although the latter is more of the dark kind and may not appeal to everyone. Your formative years in the game are a little more confined, as you build your stats while getting a slight taste of the world exploration in the game. However, once you grow older, you are ready to explore the world and what it has to offer, while slowly drifting towards a purpose, and maybe destiny. The game does a good job of progressively allowing you more exploration with each stage while slowly nudging you towards picking a path.

There are a few major paths in the game, from being a chieftain, being a shaman, an arena fighter and so on. Of course, you could simply pass the time doing unremarkable things in your orc home, which I suppose can be a valid path too. Some of these paths feel like entire games on their own, with an entire city management system in one of these paths. Still, for negatives, the arena fighter path has a very repetitive and tedious combat system, even with an interesting storyline behind it. My favorite is probably the chieftain path, with a good dose of story and management, right down to an ultimate confrontation with the big bad.

Another note, the game can get tough, in terms of difficulty, especially on first playthroughs. Still, there is a very generous checkpoint system here, which allows you to make saves at different points. Whether you die or reach a good ending, the game will always allow you to load a save. This is an absolute lifesaver, as the lack of saves in most choicescript games has been a source of frustration for me personally.

There were a good number of bugs in the original release, but quite a number have been fixed, and the author also added a substantial bit of extra content by later updates.

There is plenty to explore in this RPG IF, and multiple playthroughs are a must if you want to see most of it. I enjoyed the chieftain route, and I think this game is worth checking out. Still, bear in mind that the content can get dark, so it's not for everyone.

You are a Stelleria, with the power to transform yourself, wield magic and enter dreams. Still, all is not well. Nightmares, led by the Empress Nyx, prowl around people's dreams. Your task is to stop them. By the way, you are also an ordinary student, with the usual mundane duties of showing up in class and being a good member of your school club. Interestingly, another writer took over the game from the first one, but the overall story was smooth, and you could've convinced me that this was the work of a single writer if I didn't know.

The worldbuilding and lore is pretty interesting, and got me engaged. Polaris was an interesting animal companion to have, supporting the mc and being around with them to provide guidance. Polaris does remind me a little of (...digs through ancient memories...) Kero in the Cardcaptor Sakura anime, but perhaps with a bit more seriousness and less comic relief. (On another note, Sakura is one of the default names.)

The characters are also interesting. I went with romancing Kit on my first playthrough (something I decided on a whim) but I think the whole 'switch to good side' character arc was pretty good and tied in well with the romance. The game was also solid from a romance standpoint, with dances and flirting.

Gameplay is pretty much what you'd expect in a choicescript game. You try to build a couple of strong stats, and use them to deal with the challenges ahead. My first character was fairly diluted statwise (since I was bad at planning), but I largely focused on Eloquence and Magic, and was able to get through most of the checks with these two. There are a good number of interesting events as you investigate dreams, while being a dutiful member of your club and working on an upcoming festival. My club won the festival, and I managed to score a ride in a nice car, so that works for me. Of course, the bad guys rained on my parade right when things were looking good, but I managed to put a stop to them. (Interestingly, there was a choice to join the bad guys, but it was grayed out for me.)

That said... there is one substantial negative I'll bring up, although it's perhaps more of the YMMV variety. The game doesn't really have the anime vibe to me. At the end, the game felt a lot like an American High School modern fantasy story. The characters just didn't have the kind of cuteness, charm or silly humor you'd see in an anime inspired story. For example, I played The Witch's Bakery (a cancelled choicescript title), and I could really feel the JRPG vibe in the first few pages. I just didn't get it here. It's hard to describe, but there is a certain stiffness in the writing that didn't make it feel like an anime-inspired game.

All in all, I would still recommend this on the basis of the story, characters and writing. Still, if you were hunting for an anime novel, this might not be it.

A short story of a friend (or maybe not) who has trapped you and plans to sell you. Still, he seems to have some regrets... maybe. I mean, times are tough, and he is also planning to save you later (he says).

You get one choice with two options here, broadly described as deciding that he is still yours, and deciding that you hate him. Won't spoil any further details, but it was a fairly interesting short read. Trying out both options should take you five to ten minutes at most, and thankfully, there is text rollback here.

The art is good, and the music was also pretty nice to listen to, although I'm a little mixed as to how much it fits the mood of the game, where you're getting sold and all. Being able to play this without a download is another plus. I could recommend this for a short bit of entertainment.

The third game I'm reviewing from the writer. The first two were really heavy in sexual content. This one however, is a vastly lighter experience in the sexual content department. Actually, it doesn't have much of that stuff at all, instead carrying a melancholy tone while exploring a few thought-provoking concepts of being reunited with a loved one, along with life and the afterlife.

Your wife dies before you does. Nevertheless, you still see her somehow. In dreams or imagination, maybe? However, when your time on the planet finally ends, you find yourself reunited with her. It did explore quite a number of interesting themes around the experience and the rush of feelings when it is all ready to end, as well as the question of whether you were actually ready. Despite the melancholy tones, there is a bit of humor in one part too, which is a nice touch. It was a read which I enjoyed, and which also left me thinking for a while.

This was submitted for the single-choice jam. Still, as far as I can tell, this was an entirely linear read, and I don't recall any choices, even fake ones. Nevertheless, the single-choice rule is probably a maximum, so I guess this passes. Plus, it's a solid read.

Anyway, if you read the writer's other two IFDB entries before coming here, let's just say that this is a totally different ball game. Go on, have a look and enjoy the read.

This might be the most unorthodox IF idea I've ever seen. About as unorthodox as someone who applies for a job by delivering a cake to the office with their resume printed on it, while singing a song about how they are the best candidate for the job.

Ok, so this is an IF game formatted to look like a reddit page. Someone has been in a turbulent relationship with a friend and needs some advice. The long version is in the in-game reddit post. I'm probably not the right guy to offer advice on this sort of thing, so I'll decline to do so here. (Note: I did read through everything.)

As for the single choice you get, that appears to be a Google form at the end of the reddit post, once you've clicked through everything and clicked the help button. That form knows my Gmail account... so I'm guessing it's a legit Google form and not a fake page. You can offer advice if you like, but always remember be careful of any form you see over the internet, and remember that this may not be simply trash talking to an itch game.

Good luck. (Unfortunately, I don't think I've good advice to give here.)

Turn on the radio, listen to a song and take a look around your room. The protagonist talks about their own experiences in this game, thinking through the various ups and downs (but much more of the latter) which life has put them through, including their pet, job hunting, their game dev career and so on.

One thing I liked was the hand drawn art style along with the muted choice of colors. It helped to convey the melancholy mood of the writing. There's also an interesting song playing in the background.

Gameplay consists of going around a house, navigating by arrow keys and interacting with different items on screen. Each item leads to the protagonist talking about their own experiences and memories. I'm not sure if the game has an ending, for as far as I can tell, I could continue exploring the house and interacting with the objects even after (I think) activating everything available in game.

Another difficult question is whether this fits the single choice requirement. I suppose we could treat the entire room exploration segment as a single choice, although that would be a very liberal (but probably still somewhat reasonable) interpretation of the rules. Anyway, I'm not sure where the precise lines are drawn, so I'll leave it as that.

It was an interesting read, especially given that I could also relate to some of the things mentioned in the game. It might not be the best example of a single choice game, but I'd still say it's worth a read.

Note: I played this on my phone. You could play this on your desktop, but the screen dimensions might make things hard.

As per the rules of the jam, you can only have one choice per playthrough. However, looping back to the title screen or creating a fake title screen is one accepted way (confirmed by the organizer) to work around this limit.

July 21st puts an interesting spin on the idea. You play as a character with time travelling powers. Each time the playthough ends, you return to the title screen, but you can use your time travel powers (woven into the new game plus option) to go back and try to do things differently. To see all the content and endings, you will need to activate new game plus again, repeating history once more, just a little differently, until you find that sweet spot where you change the course of history.

The idea is solid, and the story and writing is fairly good too. The art is simple, but works. That said, each playthrough is a linear kinetic VN experience, so it's not really using up that one choice limit, unless you count the title screen as a choice.

It's a straightforward but solid read with an interesting idea behind it.

This brings back interesting memories. I am former military, and coincidentally, I did an internship at a fashion company back in college. Fun times.

Anyway, it's time for day one at work. Your boss asks you for your name (I won't count that as a choice) and gives you a couple of rules before you start. Remember, do not hesitate.

As you are taken around, the game appears to be a largely linear IF. Still, like some other games I have played in the jam, the choices come from timed decisions. At some points in the game, you can agree to something, or you can... hesitate. If you hesitate, that option is lost, and a new option opens up instead.

Notice that I said 'points' earlier. After playing through a few times and unlocking all four endings, I'll mention that there are three points in the game where you can make a choice, either by clicking the option or letting the timer run out. (You hesitated!) You will see two of these on a single playthrough, as the first 'choice' takes you down one of a two-branch path with another choice each. The single choice rule of the jam is (to me) open to interpretation, so never say never. Still, I'm declining to leave a star rating as I'm not entirely sure if this fits.

The writing was solid and interesting, bringing back some old memories at the fashion company I worked in. Still, there were a couple of typos which I spotted in the game. You could probably finish all four endings in ten minutes or so once you know where the hesitation points are. It was an interesting read for me.

It's 2023. Society has crawled and spluttered to the end of the Covid pandemic and all those restrictions. The always online world of Covid, while it lasted, brought about new opportunities in school, mainly increased online gaming opportunities and the opportunity to... refer to special materials in online exams. Now, it's over.

The game went through a pretty thought provoking topic, bringing back old memories of the pandemic situation and how it rewrote our lives. On another note, I have never used Covid to cheat in online exams (since I had already graduated from college anyway) but I do admit to zoning out during work meetings behind the cover of a computer screen. (Turn off the camera first.)

The player here now looks through the pieces of the online world which have now been shattered by the end of social distancing measures. But suddenly, you realize that you have an exam coming. Now, you gotta make a choice on how to deal with it. Sigh... You get three choices, with three different endings. I simply recalled the time when I wrote a 2000 word essay twelve hours before the deadline as I realized that the deadline was tomorrow right before I was about to sleep, and made a choice based on that. Fun times. :(

It is a read which really got me thinking, about my life during both college and Covid. As with the vtuber game in the Neo Twiny jam, I was thinking of giving five stars because of that. Ultimately, I'm giving four. Still, go read it. It gets my recommendation.

I'm a little iffy about the idea of a single choice jam. I personally feel that having a single choice in an IF game is kind of restrictive and takes away the fun. Still, this game provides another interesting take on the single choice idea.

You receive a message, informing you of the end of everything. You have one final chance to say your goodbyes. The message (and the overall writing in the game) was actually pretty strong, and moved me and got me thinking. I'm trying not to spoil too many details here, but go ahead and play the game for yourself.

Your single choice here is an open text option where you can type in something and say your goodbyes. Gameplay wise, it is sort of like Home from the Neo Twiny Jam. There are multiple fields in the form, with a pretty omnious timer on top. Write whatever you want. (As with Home, well... nothing is stopping you from typing something like 'giddafsdahjgfjw'. Another note, the game won't let you proceed if you leave the fields blank.) That said, if you let the timer run out without typing anything, it just shows a blank output on the next page. An alternate ending would have been cool.

It's a short bit of strong writing, so go ahead and give this a try.