At the Strike of Twelve

At the Strike of Twelve is a short horror games made in Twine, where you explore a nightmare-like setting after waking up at midnight in a wet graveyard. Depending on your choices, you can reach one of 5 endings: two good ones (though one is pretty bad still), two neutrals (which might still be pretty bad), and one bad one.

The game includes a lot of horror/creepy elements, starting in the graveyard, the creepy random phonecall, the sense of dread from losing time, and, of course, the monsters. The focus on the senses, especially the sounds, with the recurring bells ringing, is a nice touch. As well, the shift in the story, where you suddenly become transported to a detective's office and (Spoiler - click to show)body, while it was still alive, really flips the game upside down and adds to the uneasy vibes.

I think the text would profit from a touch more formatting to help the player digest the conveyed information along. Like paragraphs breaking longer passages into smaller section (helping the player breathe a bit) or page breaks (have two regular passages instead of one, can help build tension). More interactive options can also be considered, such as timed text (in moderation) to delay the inevitable, or click-reveal elements to give the player a bit more agency/control (even if they don't really).

Still, for a limit of 4h, it's pretty effective in creating a creepy and unsettling/dark atmosphere. My favourite ending is probably the earliest achievable one (which is a good one, of course), with the other good ending being 2nd best (it's way more creepy/gruesome than you'd expect).

I believe this is an extended game that is part of the same group of students that produced the game Hotel Halloween, but this story is much longer than those (although still completable in under 15 minutes).

In this story, a visit to a graveyard takes your mind to a different time and a different place, where you are tasked with finding out exactly what is going on.

The game has several surprises, and the writing has touches of emotion and descriptiveness. There are a variety of endings. I felt like its plot arc had a good resolution by the end. One thing that could be improved is better spacing of the paragraphs in the text (just adding another blank line between them would work, I think).