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Review
You are the Editor-In-Chief (EIC) for NATIONALNEWS.web, the most popular source of news for a nation called "Meadowland." Such a large audience wields a degree of social and political influence. As EIC, you have the power to shape this.
Made for inkJam 2025.
Gameplay
Gameplay spans over a week. Every day you decide what gets published on the front page: Top Story headline, Editorial headline, Secondary headline, and a puzzle.
Meadowland is split into two groups, Gen-Star and Gen-Flower, that prioritize different values. What gets published affects the social and political attitudes of readers. Inevitably, content is going to be "Gen-Star leaning" or "Gen-Flower leaning." Or maybe an oddball third party. It's up to you to decide which ones get the spotlight.
The impact of your choices is summarized through Action Reports made available at the start of each day, allowing you to track reader metrics.
Gen–Flower:
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ ➹8
Topics: ❲precision❳ ❲neighbors❳
At the end of the week, you leave on vacation. When you get back, (Spoiler - click to show)you will discover that NATIONALNEWS.web has fallen under new leadership, of which depends on the faction you most aligned with in the gameplay.
Story
The game begins on the cusp of the "Festival," a major political event where tensions can run high. That's about the only thing about the story I can say with certainty.
Even after multiple replays, I still don’t fully understand the events that unfold over the week. This vagueness isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it prevents the short gameplay from being weighed down by details. Nonetheless, I felt like a distant spectator of the game’s quirky world.
(Spoiler - click to show)Things that stood out to me… When people get angry, they throw paper ribbons at government buildings. Giants were once buried and are now being dug up again. People take the daily puzzle seriously…
Missing Sharpstory Sodality Head Found, Head Missing - Or Wun Press Agents
…so seriously that someone gets beheaded. Also, I kept reading Orter as Otter. So, I don’t know. There’s a lot going on.
I am curious as to why Julian's ending is the "secret ending." I figured it would apply to the scissor ending since it was the toughest one to find.
YOU GOT THE SCISSOR [✂] ENDING
And what does this mean for Meadowland?
Visuals
The visuals are simple but excellent. First of all, it's easy to forget that this game is made with Ink. When I think of Ink games, I think of a black or white screen with plain text and links at the bottom. And every time you make a choice, the page scrolls down to more text. Editor-In-Chief completely breaks from this.
The game's layout consists of a white panel that uses pop-up boxes instead of a scrollbar. Text is black with a "newsprint" font. Links are blue. The black and white colour scheme is mixed with bright red accents that pop against the screen. Different shapes, lines, and symbols are also used.
Reminds me of freshly printed paper and ink. Even if it is a news website.
Final thoughts
In terms of ratings, it's definitely a strong three stars, though not quite enough to tip the scale for me to make it four. I like the game as a demonstration of what is possible with the Ink system both visually- especially the visuals- and implementation-wise. As for everything else, I just didn’t feel invested. But if you’re in the mood to step into the shoes of an EIC, give this game a try.
