machina caerulea

This is a short game that relies on parsing out text briefly in two ways: timed text (which is relatively quick) and 'click to add more text to the paragraph', which is helpfully indicated by a symbol in the corner.

As part of the Neo-Twiny Jam, the game is short. As part of the Bluebeard jam, it is full of mystery and violence. And as part of the Anti-Romance Jam, it is heartwrenching.

I felt like this game was trying out something really unusual. The way that text spread and proliferated as I clicked on different things and the way the text automatically appeared felt like it was glitchy and strange, but intentionally so as part of your experience as a (Spoiler - click to show)robot.

I couldn't find anything much to do beyond looking and doing what I was asked not to do. In a way, that strengthens the story and explains why (Spoiler - click to show)all the earlier experiments failed; it is part of their existence to rebel, there is no other way to progress. At least, that was my interpretation.

This is an incredibly stylish entry into several jams and I found it through the Neo-Twiny jam, specifically. I have a passing familiarity with the narrative surrounding Bluebeard--namely, wife murder--and was not hindered by my lack of experience with the tale.

Each short sentence of this game is delivered with the intensity of a knife jab--the act of clicking to advance the story analogous to the thrusting of the blade. The prose is stark and almost violent in its bleakness. The protagonist's disorientation is mirrored by the player stumbling through the story and--on a meta level--afraid of the limited choice available knowing there's no satisfaction to be found behind that door...

Plus it's visually quite engaging--it's a Twine game that puts on a tux to take you out for dinner.