Since the comp is almost over and I foresee myself having very little free time between now and then, I figure I’ll close out my thread this year with brief remarks on some of the many games I played but won’t be able to properly review, at least until some indeterminate point in the future.
The Apothecary's Assistant
I was delighted to inhabit this game’s vision of a fantasy world: a place where you have no living expenses, can easily find employment and earn disposable income, work whenever you want to, and it’s no big deal if you mess something up.
The Bat
Magnifique. Never shall I look at a moose’s antlers the same way again. The ending did leave me scratching my head, though. Our old chap went through quite a lot just to walk out when it seemed like his greatest trials were already behind him.
The Killings in Wasacona
I enjoyed this immensely, but I did so because of its strong flavor and engaging mystery, and despite its mechanics. The marriage of RPG stats and a murder mystery game seems like an odd one to me. It’s functional, but in an ideal world, it would be the successful player who is perceptive and intuitive, not the successfully-built player character.
I remember seeing a few people talk about where Wasacona might be located. Might as well throw my hat into the ring and say that when I played the game, I imagined it was in one of the Dakotas.
Winter-Over
I’m not necessarily saying this is my favorite game of the comp, but it does have my favorite scene of the ones I’ve played. The image of the protagonist finally confronting their enemy by banging their crowbar on the floor because they’re too injured to yell at him is just perfect, exactly the kind of tension and menace I was hoping to see at this climactic moment.
Both the investigative gameplay and the increasingly high-stakes, danger-filled story were wonderfully done. I did notice one thing that I thought was probably a bug or omission, though: examining the security camera footage reveals some important points in time which, unlike other important points in time, are not added to your in-game notes.
And that’s all from me for now! Thank you to all the organizers, authors, playtesters, judges, reviewers, players, benefactors, etc., for the latest in a long line of vibrant IFComps.