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Review
Adapted from an IFCOMP24 Review
It’s always a bit of a risk to draw a throughline in Comp Zeitgeist. A risk, and an inevitability, given our evolution-granted pattern recognition brains. It feels to me like I’ve seen a lot of Twinesformers (link-select UI married to parser style gameplay) this Comp. And a lot of them seem to truck in IF fantasy tropes. Neither of those are automatic hits for me, but hey, I’m game.
DoSM didn’t really cut any new ground in either dimension for me. Its UI was serviceable, definitely aided by its tight scope - it was uncommon to have more than a few objects to juggle at any moment, and navigation was as clear as these things get. That simplicity of design should not be overlooked in its facilitating of player experience. The setup: a magic-user pressed into service to rescue mine workers and deal with a creature infestation, was similarly economical and serviceable. It had all the makings of a Mechanical exercise - not too challenging, not too fiddly, not too engrossing but certainly competent enough.
Where it sparked, for me, was in the writing. The work did not take itself too seriously, but neither did it undermine itself. It marveled at unlikely turns of events with just the right sly tone, letting the player know yes it was in on the joke but no, the joke was not on the player. Every time I could feel myself pulling a little bit away, at a mechanical bit of object manipulation or goal-oriented NPC interaction, some wry bit of writing twisted things just enough to keep things peppy. I think the moment that drove this home for me was a wonderful twist on the “What goes on four legs in the morning…?” riddle that I laughed right out loud at. Ok, the work was not aiming to revolutionize the genre or medium. I don’t think I ever breached into outright Engagement in the proceedings. But it was willing to playfully and warmly josh around a bit, and that was enough to maintain the Sparks to the end.
Not everything need be revolutionary transformations of form. That would be exhausting! Sometimes, a short encounter with an amiable friend is just what the doctor ordered.
Played: 10/3/24
Playtime: 30m, finished
Artistic/Technical ratings: Sparks of Joy/Seamless
Would Play Again?: No, experience feels complete
Artistic scale: Bouncy, Mechanical, Sparks of Joy, Engaging, Transcendent
Technical scale: Unplayable, Intrusive, Notable (Bugginess), Mostly Seamless, Seamless
