Limen

Limen
by Elizabeth DeCoste profile

Surreal
2021

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A quick tour of liminal spaces that is itself somewhat a liminal space, August 31, 2021

by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

Liminal spaces are popular right now; my young son enjoys playing liminal spaces games on Roblox and I've seen bots about them on twitter.

Whatever the original definition of liminal spaces was, they are now dominated by endlessly repetitive/abandoned/mass-produced areas. The Backrooms is a classic example (an endless system of hallways with boring carpeting and yellow walls). Another common kind of liminal space is something designed for entertainment but which is now empty, or uncanny valley areas.

This game involves you travelling between several such regions. Interestingly, just like liminal spaces in popular culture are often worn down, this game is underimplemented, missing several exit lists and lacking custom responses for many things.

Here's my rating:
-Polish: The game is missing exit listings and just feels kind of undercooked.
-Descriptiveness: The areas that are described are evocative, but some are given just a single line that is rather unclear.
-Interactivity: I had to decompile to finish it.
+Emotional impact: It has the kind of liminal feeling that I assume it was designed to create.
+Would I play again?: Sure, why not. It's short and good at creating the feeling of low-key chills.

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Elizabeth DeCoste, September 2, 2021 - Reply
Thank you for your review! If you would, please elaborate on the places that lacked exit lists (apart from the beginning scene in the subway station). This game was made for an art installation in a night-time art festival called Nuit Blanche, and so was made with the consideration that most players would be unfamiliar with the IF format and tropes - It is a simple game but many were able to solve it at the festival in order to win! Definitely Italy not a masterpiece when it comes to the intricacies of many IF creations, but it functioned well in an art festival setting where visitors would play for around 30 minutes as they passed through the many installations! Overall, I am working as an IF writer to bring the medium into a more mainstream space, and am also working to create more intricate games myself, while learning the specifics of writing with Inform! Thanks again for your feedback :)

MathBrush, September 5, 2021 - Reply
I finally got around to making a transcript! Unfortunately I wasn't able to recreate the exact steps I had the first time I played.

Feel free to give me a way to contact you, or contact me at brushton84@gmail.com or as mathbrush on intfiction.org or twitter.

Elizabeth DeCoste, September 2, 2021 - Reply
If you are open to it, I would love to see a transcript of your game through to have e a point of reference for how you experience the game! Let me know and I can message you privately about how to send that over

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