The Night Ferry

Nice contemplative, descriptive piece with memorable imagery including frozen blood and running from your own body. Choose-your-own-adventure in the hybrid choice/roleplaying sense where you're encouraged to reflect on and decide what sort of character you are, that most of the backstory that contextualises the events is playing out in your mind, bringing up your own memories. You're given a little more to work with than some stuff I've played in that vein which makes it work quite well I feel. It's more about the other characters, but they're there to give you space to think about why you might want to run away to an island. The horror comes more in the nightmarish imagery that haunts conversations and the insomniac air - or I guess to bring it all together, the horror is in the past and we're (avoiding) recollecting what we're running from.

This is a short, atmospheric game about a ferry at night with surreal overtones. It reminds me a bit of the game Cactus Blue Motel, with a magical world of horror mingled with wonder. This game tones down the wonder and cranks up the horror and wistfulness.

You are on a ferry, and it’s mostly abandoned. A series of unattended but distubring cars is near you. You can wander around, but the only people you meet are also alone, and are uniformly described as a ‘stranger’, which I found effective at setting the tone.

I felt like I had a lot of choices. There were many places to navigate to and people to talk to; there were cycling choices letting you create your own backstory with real differences (like, you could want to be a shaved-head punk or a braided-hair linen-sewing person). And there were things you could learn about or do in one spot and have it referenced later. Finally, there were multiple ending choices. So this game is actually fantastic in the variety of interactivity it offers, in addition to the creepy atmosphere.