Quackpond

Quackpond is an early-2000s website forum/community simulator that's about playing with cute ducks. But just like a smoothly swimming duck, there's more going on beneath the surface of the pond. (Spoiler - click to show)(the story involves an abusive relationship playing out through forum posts)

The aesthetic is 100% what it should be, down to the table-based layout (which makes me cry as a person who does web design sometimes, but is very appropriate for this game). And the story is well-handled and engaging.

Where the game didn't quite work for me is its mechanics. Every time you navigate to the "play with your duck" link, new forum posts or responses appear. You can respond to these, but it doesn't affect anything beyond the post in response to yours. After a couple of days, the story proper starts and after a few more it ends—(Spoiler - click to show)and so does the game. You will abruptly see a mocked-up "permanently closed" error after navigating to your duck after the final forum post appears.

Overall, playing this left me with the feeling that I was on the outside of things, watching total strangers interact and ignore me. Considering both the aesthetic and the story, this is probably by design! But as a game, it left me wanting just a little bit more.

I should acknowledge that I played this as part of IFComp, so I was expecting a bit more trickery behind the scenes. (e.g. the "rules" page warns you not to try hacking or accessing secret things and I was like "Aha! That Is A Clue!" but it was not.) Outside of that context, I think I would have had a different set of expectations and a different gameplay experience.