Busy month, barely got to review anything! But I’ve still got a lot of games I want to play and review, so my reviews may lead into the month May. Congratulations to all of the new and returning authors, I hope this year’s SpringThing went well for you. 
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[SPOILERS AHEAD]
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Current Reviews
The Case of the Solitary Resident
A Dream of Silence
First up, The Case of the Solitary Resident
Plot Deconstruction: You are a detective sent to investigate the death of a woman found decomposing in her apartment. Question all the available suspects as clues come in from left and right throwing off the path. Sniff out the right deductions through the traps and figure out what happened to this multifaceted woman.
Positives: I loved playing this. It was short, but succinct. Every time I suspected a new person, the game would throw in a different clue with new analyses that came back to the case file and effectively threw my impressions off. I really thought Ethan scheduled a hit on his own mother using the Lantana! And that’s my favorite thing about stories like these, you can’t trust every piece of evidence you see no matter how glaringly it points you to a suspect. I liked the twist at the end and I felt very smart, putting down the answers I surmised and getting it right. I would recommend this to anyone, even those who aren’t great at solving mysteries, because the built-in hint system is great at keeping you on the right track. I only had to use it to figure out how to contact a certain suspect, but perusing over it afterwards showed me that a lot of care was put into helping first-timers keep their footing.
My Questions/Notes:
Here are some random thoughts that arose during my playthrough
Criticisms: None! It was a great game and the hints were well-placed and kind when I got stuck on how to contact James after putting his name in the textbox 20 different times. Though if I had to recommend something, I really think that some expressive writing that adds more personality to each character would make for a much more compelling narrative.
Overall Impression: I loved this! Whodunnits are some of my favorite stories to watch and complete so understanding exactly how it happened despite the red herrings was incredibly satisfying. I’m just upset I had to use a hint to figure out how to contact James Cody when I had it all figured out by the end haha.
Next up, A Dream Of Silence
Plot Deconstruction: The game probably does it better than I could, but you are a friend of an elf who is going through a terrible slumber. Can you help this friend find their way out of the chambers of their mind?
Positives: This game is beautifully stylized. I like the inspiration it pulls from Baldur’s Gate. Although I have never played it, it was easy to jump in with the knowledge that the short summary provided. Talking to Astarion and watching his slow descent into madness all while trying to keep him sane as an incorporeal ghost was an interesting dynamic. It was incredibly immersive and the character-writing was on par with professionals. Overall, I enjoyed seeing this world through this fangame’s lens and overall it was a very positive experience.
My Questions/Notes:
Here are some random thoughts that arose during my playthrough
Criticisms: The game was great and has incredible potential, however I believe that Balanced mode was more of a hard mode than it was “normal” difficulty. (At least before I understood the goal) After my first run, I realized that one of the easiest ways to keep Astarion alive was through talking to him and touching him, however I thought that the game needed him to open the main door so I focused on touching him and prodding him towards it after I removed the plank. Because I wasn’t sure what the narrative was actually waiting for/building up to, I would bombard him after maxing out my Touch stats to open the door to which he would get close before refusing to move any further. And spending that time trying to figure out how to convince him left me running out of time as he eventually loses all his health and dies. Finally, I gave up and tried the Explorer mode instead and I realized, after getting it done on my first try, that the goal was to wait for a certain day so that a scripted event could happen. Now I realized that before I wasted my energy points trying to get him to open the unlocked door when I should have focused on keeping him alive. I tried Balanced mode again and got through on the first try now that I knew the objective. Making that goal clear from the get-go would have saved me a lot of time, (unless there was an easier way to go I missed that didn’t involve maxing out Touch and Speech) I would recommend having a clearer set goal so that first time players aren’t thrown in completely blind as to what they should be trying to do.
Overall Impression: I loved playing this and slowly getting Astarion to open up. He was very well-written and I’m excited to see Act 2 and 3 in the future. This game has incredible potential and I hope that the author takes it farther.
Thank you for your review and feedback! From the game developer’s pov, I like your “random thoughts” section very much. To see my players experience the Eureka moment as they investigate the mystery is more than I could’ve ever asked for, and I’m glad you had that in this piece. Thought it was only fair to allow players to accuse only when they have sufficient clues to do so 
Kudos to you for solving the case!
Thank you! I hope to play another one of your pieces in the future.