It Was 3 PM

This is one of those autobiographical Twine games: a series of short vignettes about the author's life in various psych wards, and similar institutions, while homeless. There's only one ending, and each choice seems to affect nothing besides the passage directly after it, after which you're put back into the main story.

I've played My Pseudo-Dementia Exhibition, which has a similar premise, though it's much longer. But where My Pseudo-Dementia Exhibition takes an ambivalent view of psych wards and associated institutions, this one focuses on the negative side. It felt like being in a conversation with the author while he told me about all kinds of insane and shitty things that happened to him in the years he spent on the streets after leaving his family. And they're seriously shitty.

The vignettes aren't covered in much detail, and I was often left wondering about the greater context and wanting more details on what the people involved were like. But that's how a conversation is, sometimes. Someone relays a story that's bizarre or shocking or horrifying, but you don't have time to ask more or react fully before the subject moves on. You'll never know the complete story.

I'm very curious about the ending, where the author reveals he returned to his family and is no longer homeless. The last two lines are: "I write this from my grandparent's house. I knew I had to tell this story, so here it is. / After multiple suicide attempts and hellholes, I'm finally home." This makes the family seem pleasant, and nothing is said about why the author left in the first place. I can guess that the family was much shittier than it appears, or the author wouldn't have left, but I can't know for sure.

Either way, this was a short and interesting experience.