Before the End of the World

I first saw this enjoyable shortish Twine game when another reviewer brought it to my attention. You visit your childhood village, where you explore the home of your own family and that of a childhood friend.

There is some kind of unspoken disaster about to occur, giving you a sense of urgency mixed with hopelessness. You discover that you and your friend had a highly unusual relationship.

The writing is evocative and breathless. The story is unfolded as you examine objects in burned-out shells of houses. I never really listen to music, but I had left the volume on as I played, and the music that came contributed significantly to the mood.

This game is both incredibly intimate and yet evokes a feeling of the sort of distance the protagonist has always seemed to have felt with live. This combined with the surreal and fantastical elements of the world's end creates a surreal landscape where the impossible is not terrifying but awe inspiring. The best way I can describe it is the descriptions of the world remind one of standing at the edge of a cliff into an impossibly black hole in the middle of a desert. Everything is at the brink, the end is accepted and known, but even still it is terrifying. This feeling is the undercurrent of the story, but the heart of it is a yearning for the past and regret at losing a close connection to someone dear to you.

That theme is evident in how various objects remind the protagonist of different memories of how their life unfolded. Every object that leads to a new passage is important and lends a greater understanding of who You are, who You were, how You saw and currently see the world, and yourself. Those memories and thoughts make the experience intensely intimate in a way few IF stories have really accomplished.

This IF includes some music, which deepened my experience, personally. It adds to it by basically helping isolate you from the world outside your screen, and also putting you in the right head space. It isn't a gimmick, but a very enjoyable enhancement to an already enjoyable story.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable short fiction operating in a cool surrealist landscape. It combines the supernatural, romantic, and surreal elements beautifully. It is truly worth your time.