Adapted from an IFCOMP24 Review
A click-select exploration adventure, I’m going to say with echoes of parser DNA, but well short of a true Twinesformer. You are a petty crook doing ‘one last job’ when it goes horribly awry. As you explore the makeshift prison you find yourself in, you must assemble clues to escape. Along the way, flashbacks fill in the gaps in your relationship and heist setup that inform both the situation, and your finale options. Feels pretty familiar, summarized like that, no?
The mood of the piece is its greatest strength. The graphical layout conspires with photographic prompts to create a legitimately creepy, if not altogether novel, prison to explore. There is a soundtrack that further enhances the proceedings nicely, including the wonderful touch of obscured dialogue that feels just OFF in a very evocative way. There are graphical flourishes cuing different flashbacks and plot developments that are simple enough, but super effective and underutilized as a authoring tool across similar IF. I found the marriage of form and function really well done here. The piece has the chutzpah to engage the dreaded timed text, but between its terseness and delivery speed is far less onerous than these things can be. I am likely in the minority on this, but do think its employment here enhanced more than detracted (at least on first play).
The fetch quest gameplay is pretty straightforward. The game cues its puzzles strongly, both in text, and in the relative terseness of its prose which brings details to fore in high relief, practically neon-lit. Even with its mostly puzzle-driven geography, the work still makes time for creepy and offputting details, which was a nice, welcome touch. But the geography was pretty spare and the chrome could not conceal what was at core pretty mechanical circling until closure.
The story, similarly, was pretty stripped down and functional. The beats are there, but none escape the timeworn tropes they are inspired from. Sure, there is some frisson to the setup of (Spoiler - click to show)Coen Brothers present SAW but other than the fact of it, doesn’t achieve escape velocity. It’s worth remembering that petty criminals are not fire fighters. They don’t AUTOMATICALLY get audience sympathy, it has to be earned. (Wild how twenty-five years ago I might have said ‘cops’ but boy has their stock fallen. I think they are the Intel of professions.) Sense of humor, weirdness, comical venality, tragic backstory, there are lots of effective tools out there at the prospective author’s disposal to finesse sympathy. I mean the Coen Bros ouvre’ is practically an encyclopedia of such tools. None were really employed here, and in IF where you ARE the protag, it is especially critical to drive player engagement.
Short all those things, I’m afraid I found the character and plot beats as mechanical as the puzzles. I do think this effort has a lot going for it, and look forward to seeing more from these authors, especially if they continue to integrate these effective graphical and aural flourishes in their work.
Played: 9/9/24
Playtime: 20min, 4 endings
Artistic/Technical ratings: Mechanical/Seamless
Would Play Again?: No, experience feels complete
Artistic scale: Bouncy, Mechanical, Sparks of Joy, Engaging, Transcendent
Technical scale: Unplayable, Intrusive, Notable (Bugginess), Mostly Seamless, Seamless