Ratings and Reviews by ChanceOfFire

This is it, the very end. The third entry is shorter but wider, presenting five options depicting the despairing and doomed ways your story ends. Multiple ways to leave the world in bitter defeat.

You could probably try out all the endings, to see the different ways it ends. As always, the art is great. I did like the pictures for each path.

The next entry in Compendium presents another tale of dark fantasy. Again, you get two stories, both highlighting a sense of despair and decline. One story actually has another choice within it, although, given the word count, again, it also ends quickly.

Again, the art was good and fit the vibe. I can still picture that dagger in the art, and in the scene.

The first entry in Compendium presents a short tale with evocative writing. A scene of upcoming destruction and a plea for mercy. There are two paths in this short title,but given the word limit, either one ends before you know it.

The art was good, and helped with the mystical fantasy vibe.

I first played Choice of the Vampire a long time ago, and was astounded by the sheer quantity of content on offer. With a large selection of character creation options, plenty of branching, and plenty of little secrets for players trying venture off the beaten path, it was an outstanding game for its time, and an experience which has still aged well.

Compared with its other early "Choice of" counterparts (Dragon, Broadsides, Romance, Zombies) it had much more in the way of stats, branching and overall content. The prose was much more heavy however, which makes it a little less suited to casual readers than the other games. Still, the writing here is solid and really conveys the historical setting.

In this game, you get to pick your background, your strong stats as well as language proficiency and literacy. I think this was a good touch, building the experience from a gameplay and storytelling perspective. It is certainly worth it to try out different character builds and see how things could turn out.

The game has two main branches for the first part, each packed with little nuggets of extras if you try to venture out. I was often finding new content on replays, and the work here is certainly impressive.

One thing I didn't quite like were the random stats. I would have preferred more control over my character build. Not to mention, this game can be pretty hard in terms of stat checks, even after some updates which have reduced the difficulty.

I bought this game and Fall of Memphis a long time ago. Still, I'll probably not be writing a review for the latter as the story and prose was much more heavy, and I had a harder time keeping up. Still, Choice of the Vampire was a great game for its time, and remains one today.

You're waiting for your friend. Is he going to show up? Held up at the office perhaps? No, not quite office stuff.

This small choicegame is largely a short conversation between two friends, after some waiting. Some story elements in the conversation are vaguely explained, but perhaps such vagueness was intentional. It was a somewhat entertaining conversation, although it ended quickly. While someone elsewhere apparently managed to find some interesting content by venturing off the beaten path, I was unable to find it.

The story makes use of a lot of colored text, as well as timed text and other simple effects, to tell the story. I liked the attempt at special effects, but some color options made the text harder to read. (Not the first time I'm saying this for this year's Spring Thing.)

It's short, but still good for a bit of entertainment.

The first thing which caught my attention was the prose. It was descriptive and vivid, conveying the feeling of being caught in a trap and the rush of feelings which flow through our vampire protagonist as they work a way out.

Radiance Inviolate is short, but there is some branching as you try to figure a way to free yourself before the sun comes for you. There are some flashback scenes which explore the setting and vampirism further. You might encounter someone who could help you, or you could try to force your way out.

I won't spoil anything, but from a visual standpoint, I did like the ending scenes.

I thought it was a good short read, worth a few playthroughs to try out the different choices.

Also, if you do play, don't forget, sometimes lying doesn't solve the problem.

This is another tough cookie, in terms of giving a star rating. Wayfarers combines strong and engaging writing which makes you think, along with a lengthy amount of content to explore the world it's built. On the other hand, this is also a very linear experience, and might have been a better traditional novel than game. (It's pretty close to the former.)

The game provides some commentary on war. You are a soldier, severely wounded and physically impaired as a result. Part of your therapy involves going through a video game world to build your memories. On your way, you work together with another player, who becomes a close companion of sorts while you are in the virtual world. There is an interesting reveal about said companion when all is over, and the game also does a good job of exploring the theme of the virtual world versus reality.

Still, to describe this game as linear would be an understatement. Most of the game presents just one choice to proceed, or some fake choices. (But even the fake choices are few and far between). There are some fairly important choices when you face the final boss, and I recommend reading all the branches, reloading if you need to. (Because it's a really good read to learn more about the story.) Otherwise, you won't get much in the way of real interactivity here.

There is a checkpoint save system in the game, although I had to close and open the game to load a save. I played the game on mobile, and it was definitely readable on my screen. (There is a mobile-friendly tag)

It's worth a read, although it can be a heavy read at times. Still, set your expectations as you would for a kinetic VN.

This choicegame is pretty short, with a few options. Picking the wrong options takes you to a bad endings, while picking the right options (the more peaceful or moral approaches) will take you to the good ending. If you hit a bad endings, you get the chance to try again.

You could probably finish this in ten minutes even if you were looking to find all the different outcomes. The writing is slightly rough. Still, I'll probably echo the other reviews about this being a solid first attempt and encourage the writer to keep going.

Our tale takes place in sunny Singapore. This is a story of loss and longing, with elements of dreaming, introspection and memory as the protagonist thinks over something they have lost. There are a few riddles at the start which ties into the protagonist's own train of thought, but most of these should be solvable either with google search or the hints provided in game.

That said, along with A Bottle from the Future, the presentation is hard on the eyes. The choice of colors, along with the sound, do a good job of conveying the melancholy vibes. Yet, it is just plain difficult to read. The choice of red and pale fonts do not look quite readable against the blue and white backgrounds, and the tiny size of the fonts does not help at all. As someone who has made his own bad art, I understand how difficult it can be to get this color contrast right. There was also one time where I quit the game early as I was just unable to see the link to continue.

The story was nice and the pictures fit the vibe. I just think that larger font against a solid background might have helped with readability.

Three-card reading is an entirely linear experience, with a conversation between three friends as they make some small talk and do some tarot readings. There is a big reveal down the line, but it could have used a bit more exploration. Maybe even the ability to ask questions would be nice.

There is some nice art here along with voice acting. Between that and the absence of choices, this reminded me a lot of a kinetic visual novel. It's good for a short bit of entertainment, but once you're done, there's little reason to return.

Giving this a star rating was tricky. I ultimately settled on three stars, but I would have placed this in the upper bound of the three star range, maybe just a little short of four.