That Sinister Self

by Astrid Dalmady profile

Horror
2015

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Number of Ratings: 13
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1-13 of 13


- Cerfeuil (*Teleports Behind You* Nothing Personnel, Kid), October 11, 2022

- kierlani, April 2, 2020

- Wanderlust, December 23, 2017

- doodlelogic, July 17, 2017

- Brendan Patrick Hennessy (Toronto, Ontario), April 6, 2016

- hoopla, November 28, 2015

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Emotional landscapes of a high-schooler, August 25, 2015
by verityvirtue (London)

You're a girl on her first day of high school, but you've got a problem greater than friends or horrible teachers on your hands: your reflection in the mirror is threatening mutiny.

The first thing that strikes me is that it's a very aesthetically pleasing game. Visual elements are used to great effect. The evil mirror-self is shown in the reflected text which changes, not very subtly, to insert negative thoughts about a situation; the text changes when you click through links to reflect what is presumably the PC's insecurity and anxiety about her new situation. There’s a whole lot of clicking through, though, not all of which I thought was strictly necessary.

The content - family life, high-school social minefields - is very much the stuff of many teen fiction novels, and what should have made it impactful would be the presentation of the evil mirror-self, but the goal of the game was probably nothing overtly spooky. Rather, it was more about the internal emotional conflict of the PC.

So far I've found two endings, (Spoiler - click to show)the triumphant and doppelganger one. I found the confrontation well-written and personally it struck a chord with me, though there was little to build up to this. The endgame could have been much stronger if the PC had been less generic. If we understood a bit more about her fears and personality, then it might have made the triumph feel more like one. That said, I enjoyed the sly ending (though really nothing surprising to one who reads horror fiction so often).

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- Ramona G, August 10, 2015

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Another good game by Astrid Dalmady, July 11, 2015
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

That sinister self is a great, linear, short-to-mid length twine game dealing with body image. Like Astrid's other stories, I found my heart racing a bit.

There are multiple endings and some mild language.

The game incorporates some special effects which lend it much of its appeal.

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- piefan, June 13, 2015

- BlitzWithGuns, June 11, 2015

- Sobol (Russia), June 10, 2015

- CMG (NYC), June 10, 2015


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