Dry Winter Alpha 1.0

The game starts with an intro that explains the post-apocalyptic circumstances. In 2017 a short global war turned the planet into a wasteland. More than a century later in 2163 survivors have managed to pull together communities. However, controversy and strife remain. You live in a village called Mountain Mission which is under threat of being attacked by a clan called the Alpha Revolution. This section of the game has a cool map that shows the location of Mountain Mission in relation to its surrounding areas, giving it a survival-like edge. Your village is about to be attacked and how you respond is up to you.

The main gameplay begins in your shack in Mountain Mission. You have some money and some weaponry. Your only choice is to go out. Once outside you can go to the market, the barracks, or decide to leave the village. No matter what you choose you (Spoiler - click to show) always end up at a gate with attackers on the other side. You have two choices: defend or hide. The game immediately ends soon after. Here is an example of a sequence, starting outside of your shack: Go to the barracks > Hide > Stay hidden. Then the game suddenly says, "Thank you for playing Alpha 1.0!" Beneath it is a link saying to restart. It was the ultimately feeling of "that's it?" I feel that the author could have at least add more of a transition between the player choosing their final action and the game ending. Choosing to defend stretches out the gameplay because you can choose how you fight although it too ends in the same way.

Like the gameplay, the story has yet to develop beyond the intro. The game hints at letting the player dabble with moral choices. How do you respond to newly sprung conflict amid a post-apocalyptic setting where daily life is still fragile? Unfortunately, the game ends before these choices can be explored.

The game may be incomplete, but the author says that they plan to update it. I am not sure if that will happen, but I hope that happens since apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic themes in interactive fiction can be a draw for players. And if it does happen, I will definitely revisit this.