Three-Card Reading

Adapted from a SpringThing25 Review

Played: 4/7/25
Playtime: 15m

Over the last few Comp cycles, Bez has treated us to a few works marrying art, voice and narrative IF. Each of them has had its own personality, its own quirks and fascinations. In terms of raw presentation, it feels like things are creatively cresting into a very next-level appealing package. The artwork here, combinations of hand drawn characters and scene setting background is immediately compelling, and laid out terrifically against the text space to make for an inviting interface.

Even more noteworthy than the graphical package was the voice acting. Bez has employed this in the past, to mixed success to my ears. There are a couple things here that really work though. First and foremost, the script really aids this iteration. When voice acting is less successful, it represents a drag on things. We read the text, then wait for the voice actor to catch up, repeat. Here, with really only one or two notable exceptions, the dialog is natural, but bounded. Relatively short observations, answers, then next prompt. This flows very naturally, and not for nothing doesn’t give us opportunity to get ahead and have to wait for the game. In particular, the Mack character chose a delivery that was rapid but natural and really kept things bubbling along. The other characters were not quite so economical, and Yancy had an extended monologue at one point that DID drag, but I find it noteworthy that that was the exception in this work. Otherwise it was quite tight, and made for an enjoyable time.

Now the function all this form was in service of. The work is a lazy afternoon with friends doing Tarot readings, as catalyst to have some friendly conversations about their friendship, including some mild tension around one of them harboring a secret. These characters have a history here, in a work I consider a unique combination of compelling thematic genius and biting family tragedy, swimming in a crowded sea of less successful dramatic elements. The friendship at the center of this work is one of the latter. If, however, I divorce the characters’ history from their presents, it is kind of sweet and amiable.

Up to the point of the plot twist. It’s…BIG, this twist. So big, it challenges the natural, friendly vibe.. no that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, it’s so big it SHOULD challenge that vibe and doesn’t. The LACK of incredulity, followon questions, other explanations in the face of unquestioning acceptance, PARTICULARLY when the foundation was already some suspicion of deception, did not ring true, not for this quiet afternoon.

So now I’m off balance, trying to figure out how we got here and where its going to tumble, and then it ended. Hm. Ok. Maybe I was a bit hasty. The revelation was huge, kind of bonkers huge, but we are talking about a world of animal-people. Oh, did I not say that? Yeah, these friends are all ani-people. In THIS world, which the narrative tells us nothing about, maybe this wild revelation is not as strange as it reads to boring people-people? Certainly the overriding takeaway of this work was as an interlude, some connective narrative bridging the previous work and leaning into a followon. I assume. It certainly plays like that. If so, on the strength of the artistic growth and next level voice work, count me in! I mean, how do I NOT hear how this bonkers development gets resolved???

Horror Icon: Carrie
Vibe: Afternoon Hang
Polish: Smooth
Gimme the Wheel! : If this were my work, I might take a look at the revelation’s reception, make sure it is playing out precisely the way the next work needs it to. Ensuring the jarring effect on the reader is deliberate. (There is a good chance it already is!)

Polish scale: Gleaming, Smooth, Textured, Rough, Distressed
Gimme the Wheel: What I would do next, if it were my project.