General Recommendation: Honestly I don’t think there’s any way to tell in advance whether or not you’ll like this game. The warnings are NOT exaggerating, but it’s got a surprising amount of humor and character mixed in with the debauchery. Consult with your doctor prior to reading if you have any heart conditions.
Preview: Can you make your anniversary with your sister extra special?
=SPOILERS BELOW=
General notes:
Huh. Well, I enjoyed this more than I expected.
I was expecting something a bit like the more extreme parts of Trash or Basement Dwellers, but this story has a very different tone. It’s tough to say what exactly is different. I think it has to do with the perspective mostly. Rather than being narrated by a pathetic unmotivated character who gets beaten down, it’s narrated by a character who is pathetic in completely different ways and beats others down. This shifts the tone of the humor in a subtle, but important way.
I think the short length of this game really helps, it’s a simple concept, and trying to turn it into something longer would probably just result in it overstaying its welcome. As it is, the reader is quickly and violently thrust into an extreme situation, and thrust out of it just as quickly, before they really have a chance to orient themselves or decide how to feel about it. There’s no wallowing, no drawing out of the action. It’s all presented very quickly and neatly.
Gower put it best when he said this story is an experiment poking at the boundaries of what is acceptable. Just how many different forms of violence and degeneracy can be fit into a single game? Apparently, quite a lot.
Speaking of Gower’s comment, I also want to reiterate his assertion that this game can be seen as a CYS tolerance test. If you can read this game and laugh it off, then you’ve got the right attitude to prosper at CYS. This meta aspect of the game boosts its rating for me, since it feels like it’s got a wider purpose than simple shock.
This game does exactly what it set out to do, and it does it very efficiently. Like many of EndMaster’s games, I find this story stands alone, almost as its own unique genre. Any attempt to replicate it would be futile and pointless, as it perfectly occupies its own special niche on the site, and the world of storygames at large.
Specific notes:
-Well, as far as first lines go, this one’s certainly a grabber.
-“What rhymes with disembowel” lol
-Lol, “I thought you guys were against assisted suicide?” “That’s catholics!”
-Lol, “What? You think I do this for fun?”
-“Extrapolate” rhymes with “decapitate”.
Grammar:
Generally alright.
Mastery of Language:
Eh, could be better.
Branching:
There’s a lot of different choices the player can make, but they all end up pretty much the same way.
Player Options/fair choice:
Each actions represents accurately its outcome. That said, there’s not a lot of variety.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
I usually don’t like stories that exist for the violence and nothing else, but this one had a lot of additional humor thrown in, which made it an enjoyable read.
CONCLUSION: I really don’t know WHAT to conclude. Readers will have to make up their own minds about where this game fits into the world of storygames.