Familiar Shadows

As it's title implies, Familiar Shadows is about making a house feel both safe and comforting, yet at the same time completely alien and unknown. In it, you return home from collage to the house that you grew up in. You're woken up in the middle of the night, and decide to investigate with nothing more that a pervading sense of wrongness moving you forward. Throughout the story, strange events reveal disturbing truths about yourself and your past.

The writing is flawless and evocative. Becky Carpenter dose an amazing job at making the house feel two completely different ways at the same time. Descriptions often include childhood memories and insights into the personalities of your family, giving warm cozy feelings that sharply contrast with the situation that you find yourself in. The effect is a deeply unsettling feeling that you don't know as much about your life as you should.

The puzzles are easy, but surprisingly varied for a Twine game. The game can be broken up into four different trials that you must pass, each of which utilize a different style of puzzle. The result is a showcase of what Twine as a technology can do. You can die throughout the game, and you probably will at least once, but you don't actually lose progress after "restarting"; any puzzles that were solved will stay solved until the game is complete.

If you're looking for a short, high-quality game that is more about exploration and imagery rather than hard puzzles, then Familiar Shadows is definitely worth a read.