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Review
Style: Choice-select
Played : 7/15/25
Playtime: 7m both endings
An honorary entry in the "Penny Pinching Parity" review sub-series. This JAM entry limits word count to a full 1k. Thankfully the author declines to provide their actual word count, freeing me from the conceit of matching it in review length. That particular fancy was FAR funnier in my head than in practice, and was running real danger of taking over this review season.
HC presents as an older school - pixel font/square nav button/90’s browser kind of feel game. As a newly awakened denizen of some unknown space (the blurb claims it to be a wandering fortress, though the text of the game does not establish that with any certainty), you explore and decide to escape or not. The exploration space was uneven, I found. One location was imminently interesting and engaging, while the others were far more functional. I get it, word constraints were a real pressure. Even so, the work would be much better served, I think, by putting all locations on equal footing, especially in a map this tight. To the point, one fewer location could free up word count for the ones that remain without really losing anything.
The central question is foregrounded pretty effectively by player exploration, camouflaging what is essentially a one-choice work behind a veneer of agency. That sounds negative, but I don’t mean it that way. By giving the player exploration agency, the choice feels organic and seamless rather than an atypical agency in an otherwise linear narrative. That said, the choice does not feel particularly HARD. The nature of the choice is presented pretty dispassionately in both cases. Thing is, absent contextual text of some sort trying to SELL the inferior option, it seems pretty clearly a resignation rather than a legitimately attractive choice. Meaning, I am at a loss to figure out who would choose it over the other.
So I didn’t, and got an ending that was reasonably satisfying for its modest investment. Then I went back and chose the other and got another ending. In a longer work, I don’t think these would have satisfied much. Which I don’t think is a useful observation, as a longer work would have had more word count to explore, paint the environment and engage the player. As a short work, we have established that artist voice is a wonderful thing to experience, warts and all. I definitely left with that here. HC’s idiosyncrasies were modest but nevertheless engaging in this short dose.
