stone

stone is a love (?) letter to a close friend, who is an aromantic student. Their incapability of infatuation and romantic love is viewed, in this world, as a sign of illness - of a stone heart, so to speak.

This is a work of interactive poetry, and in many respects is highly atypical. The kerning is uneven; the tone, conversational. The relationship between the two main characters is clothed in a magical setting where students build bestiaries and have to pass evoking exams. It is fitting, then, that the NPC's inability to feel romantic love is compared to a pathological calcification of the soul.

stone is affectionate, intimate, reassuring. The world building reminded me of Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, with its mix of sci-fi and high fantasy. stone, however, is almost its opposite. While Swanwick's novel heavily features sexual energy as a source of power, stone's magicians need not experience sexual attraction. The Iron Dragon's Daughter features an unforgiving, gritty world; stone depicts a tender, intimate moment between two friends. Recommended.

Stone is a beautiful, short, ambiguous game. Its blurb says its about aromanticism, but it could have many interpretations standing on its own.

It's a very short game, more of a poem than a story. A sentence is presented, and clicking on the few highlighted words will shuffle the text around, frequently leaving blank spaces to present staggered words in an unusual effect.

The tale presented is surprising, and, like I said, ambiguous, making it easy to apply it to yourself.

Very successful in what it attempts to be, a short poetic experience.