Manon's Reviews Rewind: Ectocomp [31/Back!], Partim500 [DONE*],

Many thanks for your review!

1 Like

Contaminated Space, by Kanderwund

Play the game - Twine (Snowman)
La Petite Mort

Contaminated Space is a short sci-fi horror-y Twine piece, where you embody a lone(ly) spaceman, dealing with the consequences of entering a contaminated space. In this lonely trip, taken as a break from reality, moving further and further away from home (escaping? fleeing?), silence and space are your only companion. Perfection found in quiet, cleanliness, and simpleness (like the overall formatting).

All contrasted with the contaminated space, quarantined sections of the universe due to their potential danger, horrors that could infect and destroy worlds. None who enter are allowed to leave. Careless with your safety in your goal to reach an impossible unsullied state, you miss every warning sign… until it is much too late.

In your wish to be alone, you are taken over by a whole. In rejecting your personhood, turning into a husk of yourself, you become a host, a filled shell for another. In your aimless journey, a purpose is forced upon you. In your deliberate want to be unbothered, you are disturbed.

This was disturbing to read (in all the best ways). The glitchy-ness of the text, jumbled/broken thoughts, the back and forth between the entities, made all the wrongs so wrong, but all so good too.

3 Likes

YARRY, by Zachary Dillon

Play the Game - ChoiceScript
La Petite Mort - also submitted to the BareBones Jam

YARRY is a short psychological horror choice game made in ChoiceScript, in which you play as young parent named Larry, whose two-year-old has decided to call him by the titular ‘Yarry’. While one could brush it off as a toddler learning how to speak (yet able to pronounce complex sounds), the game takes a more unsettling approach: the child doesn’t just misname you, he is suddenly repelled by you.

From loving parent, you are, for no clear reason, relegated to a stranger by your own flesh and blood. Worse still, it seems that people don’t seem to care or mind about your discomfort (your wife even shows to know more than you do about your son’s reasons for acting this way, but doesn’t care to share or the daycare employee brushing off your concerns or uneasiness as a usual period for kids that age), as if they are all in on a joke and excluding you.

And there is truly little you can do to help with the situation: no matter you actions, your son always cries in your presence, wishing you wouldn’t be there. Whether you make peace with this new form of your name, pretend nothing is wrong, or fight for your identity at every turn, you are always hopeless against your environment.

It is very unsettling, that even with a change seemingly so minor (just one letter in your name not being pronounced correctly) affecting you so deeply, yet your feelings are never really acknowledged or accepted.
It questions even the validity of your feelings: are you in the right, fighting for your name/identity (fighting your child?) or just overreacting (his just a kid, after all)?
And as a player, you have to wonder: is the narrator telling us everything with regards to how we got here (the sudden change being random or building up over-time? are we maybe just exhausted as a new parent and it’s clouding our judgement?) or purposefully obfuscating information (are we a bad parent? did we do something wrong? or is there something nefarious at play)?

The writing really does a good job at making you question everything, and creating this unsettling environment (where clearly something is wrong, but why are you the only one seeing it???).
However, I do wish the game was longer, where you’d have the option to confront the child, or at least your wife (even if you end up looking like a crazy person in the process), or have more situations where you name is wrong (an exchange with your family/friend?) or actually someone saying your name correctly… but as a joke! But, for an under four-hour-created story, it manages to be just enough to give you the creeps.

5 Likes

Thanks for your review and for playtesting my game!

1 Like

your life, and nothing else, by Lionstooth

Play the game - Twine (Harlowe)
Le Grand Guignol - also beta-tested this game

your life, and nothing else is a short surreal horror interactive game made in Twine, where you live in a shared house with some peculiar individuals, a few of whom you’ve previously interacted with. You can wander through the building, check the common rooms in the lower floors, or see if your housemates want some company or require help with something. Whatever you can do to pass the time somehow.

Because you are essentially stuck in this monotonous life of waking up/checking on your neighbours/helping them with something/going back to bed, stuck in this shared house (unable or unwilling to leave?), stuck with yourself. But while your day-to-day doesn’t ever change, your surrounding does… and so do you.
Evolving slowing in this forced confinement, your health takes a toll, both physically (which you ignore to help your neighbours) and mentally (unease/paranoia building), while the building gets significantly hotter and filled with smokes.

The writing does a good job at creating this increasingly oppressing situation (which you both ignore, moving on with your day as if nothing was wrong, feel its effect on your health, but also question its happening) and the unsettling feelings that come along (what is this place? can we even get out? why can’t we??). The building of the tension is really well paced, helped with the cycle of different days/request to fulfil, and the formatting of the text (colours + timer) adds to the disturbing/disorienting feeling the changes bring.

5 Likes

As the Eye Can See, by SkyShard

Play the game - Twine (Chapbook)
La Petite Mort - Also a Barebones Jam entry

As the Eye Can See is a short emotional kinetic Twine piece, about the day before Halloween, and its meaning for the narrator throughout the year. From the contemporary date (Oct, 30h, 2024), the story portrays multiple vignettes of that day throughout the years, in reverse chronology.

It is both beautiful and haunting, in the way those recollection threads the life of our teenage narrator. It tells us her life has become quite lonely, following the loss of her mother (an event that her father does not (wish to) discuss with her, nor does she seem willing to ask) - going as far, even, as rejecting the connections between those memories and things tied to them (like the familiar beautiful cottonwood which makes her feel too sentimental). With the writing focusing on details and things, all is actually said in hushed words, fleeting unacknowledged mentions, and unrecoverable memories. As if ghosts of the past were omnipresent, but unreachable or ignored.

This was a very melancholic piece, full of beautiful hidden meanings deepening with each new iteration of the day before Halloween.

4 Likes

Resurrection Gate, by Grim Baccaris

Play the Game - Twine (SugarCube)
Le Grand Guignol

Resurrection Gate is currently a demo for a larger dark fantasy RPG-like Twine game, in which you play different characters to explore themes of life, death and all that is between. Currently, only Yasha, a shellshocked hussar, and Laurence, a resurrected duke (my fav so far), are available, and only includes the first section of their respective paths.

As expected from this author, the game is highly customised, with distinct interfaces and styling for different sections, portraits of the protagonists and other NPCs in the scenes, as well as soundtracks and SFX to help set the mood. It also includes QOL settings: sound volume, fonts, theme, saves (I’d love a toggle for the animated text, the movement made me a bit nauseous). Similar to more visual novel programs, you can also use the SpaceBar to display the next section of the text (though you will still need your mouse to move to a new passage or click on dialogue/action options).

It took me a while to get into the game itself, as it throws a lot of information at you from the start, while expecting the players at time to already have certain knowledge (it’s a pretty long intro, and you also see this happening further in the demo). I don’t think I managed to immerse myself into the universe until after being introduced to the first protagonist. It quickly gets balanced by the RPG mechanic/choice options, which is very fitting for the this dark-fantasy setting. I think it was also smart to have a Trait-check from the start (making sure that central element is important in the gameplay), where it locks certain options if your level is not high enough. Honestly, it made me intrigued about what is hidden behind those locked choices (especially with the first PC).

It’s very obvious that there was a lot of care put into the demo (which, looking at the devlog, has been years in the making). There are a lot of intriguing elements that make me interested in seeing the final product (especially Laurence’s arc), and it makes me wonder how the game will evolve in subsequent updates. I’m interested in seeing how each character will move forward, as well as seeing how the different paths join (assuming the different PCs will meet at some point).

3 Likes

Dark and Deep, by Amanda Walker

Play the game - Inform 7
Le Grand Guignol - also beta-tested this game!

Dark and Deep is a parser adaptation of a collection of poems, in which you incarnate a priest, called to an old woman’s bedside as she is about to die, to provide comfort in her final moment. Throughout the conversations, you learn more about the woman, and how certain rumours about her peculiar abilities fare true - which she temporarily shares with you. At its core, the story is one of loss and grief, regrets and deeply buried secrets.

I can’t say much about the adaptation of the poems, as I never encountered that poet prior to playing this game, though I do not believe being knowledgeable in English poetry is required to enjoy the story. I was hooked from the start. It is beautifully crafted, depicting life in all its glory and failures, all the good it can bring, all the ugly sides it can reveal, and all the bad you unearth.

The central mechanic offers a unique perspective, by flipping between the conversation between the priest and Mrs. Lajway in the present, and snapshots of her life in the past. The way the conversation deepens as you explore her life through her answers and those past snippets is really engaging. The further it goes, the more I wanted to know about this interesting woman and the life she left. It gave layers and complexity to an old woman, discarded by society.

In a way, that structure reminded me a bit of After the Accident, with the shift between past and present when “touchstones” are interacted with, yet still feels completely different and fresh. It enhances the codes of horror, by playing with your senses, as you see different things in the priest and Mrs. Lajway’s eyes, making you question reality (is all maybe just a trick of the mind? influenced by the bewitching words of an old woman’s tale?).

A very engaging and, at times, disturbing game. Would recommend in a heartbeat to horror fans.

6 Likes

Another frenchie :fr:

Narthex, by Wilem Ortiz

Play the game - Moiki
La Petite Mort

Narthex is a tiny Moiki game, where you meet the eponymous character, a helpful little creature on your way to a party. The short story centres around challenges meant to be overcome (your anxiety towards the party and Narthex’s imminent growth/evolution) and how external elements can empower one’s will to confront those challenges (Narthex’s enthusiasm calming your fear and the punk rock beats giving them power).

An intriguing point about the title: Narthex, which isn’t just the name of the little creature, but also an architectural element in churches: its entrance, opposite to the main altar. And here you start, before the narthex of your party, unable to enter without that little push, even though it is meant to celebrate you, to see you front and centre (as if on an altar?).

Another, darker, take that crossed my mind was how I first interpreted the illustration of the party. Because of the simple drawing, of people waiting around, without a clear face drawn, I wondered for a moment whether this party was supposed to be your funeral, and Narthex being there to help you accept the fact that you are dead/guiding you to peace (especially with their final winged form).

But I think, overall, it’s meant to be a very sweet story, enhanced by adorable little illustrations and dope music.

For Francophile who’d like to read a more creepy/thriller tale from this author, I highly recommend CINERIP from this year’s Concours Francophone.

3 Likes

There are games I can’t play before going to bed, because I know I won’t sleep afterwards. This is one of them, good thing it’s the afternoon.

do not let your left hand know, by Naarel

Play the game - Twine (SugarCube)
Le Grand Guignol

do not let your left hand know is a horror single-choice game made in Twine, in which two women, Monica in 2017 and Lisa in 2024, struggle to keep hold of their bodies, something tries to take over. The game switches back and forth between the two as they are faced with revelations. This body and psychological horror story has two endings, through that final and only choice.

The game has an interesting discussion about identities, the persona we choose (or are forced) to bring forward in any given situation, and our relationships with our bodies. Monica feels like she is borrowing her body while travelling, as if pretending to be someone else and experience their life (want for happiness?). Lisa has a stable but boring life, but finds herself missing days on end, unable to remember things that she may have (not) done - like blanking at her desk for three days. Both harbour feelings that their body is not quite theirs, that it has somehow a mind of its own. As is, it makes for quite the distressing tale…

… but when it is revealed that Lisa and Monica are just different sides of the same coin, that’s when the horror really sinks in. Who was there first, really? Or did they enter the body, like some parasite? or maybe even split following some trauma as some sort of response? Are there maybe more identities that neither Monica nor Lisa acknowledge? And who is actually in control, after all? technically you…
But the game doesn’t care much in answering these questions, and is, instead, more interested in who should be in control of this body? This is what you are faced with at the end of the game, to choose between Lisa with her boring life and unassuming personality, which makes her so forgettable that she’d spend three full days being catatonic before someone notices OR the social Monica who forged relationships in the past, made connections which brought her heart pumping. It’s just one or the other. The left or the right hand. Whose side will you take?

While this is a powerful choice on its own, especially with the build-up of the previous passages, getting more and more distressing and gruesome, the game also makes it way to easy to impede on the significance of this choice. The interface lets you UNDO that choice with just a click on the bottom arrow (or save at the choice, then reload). And it doesn’t make that final choice feel final.

I also struggled a bit with the formatting of the text. Mainly with the alignment of the text not always being contrasted enough between the left right and centre blocks (especially with long sentences/paragraphs) - smaller width would help section those blocks better. As well, a bit with the dialogue/thoughts lines, I wasn’t always sure who was talking or whether it was inner thoughts (until the context kicked in, but it took me out of the immersion a few times).

Overall, a cool piece of horror, with a great sense of mystery and build-up.

It was only after UNDO-ing too many times at the end that I realised the title at the top of the interface was changing depending on the POV. Because it’s so tiny on the screen.

5 Likes

At the Strike of Twelve, by One Boat Crew

Play the game - Twine(Harlowe)
La Petite Mort - Part of the collective that created Hotel Halloween

At the Strike of Twelve is a short horror games made in Twine, where you explore a nightmare-like setting after waking up at midnight in a wet graveyard. Depending on your choices, you can reach one of 5 endings: two good ones (though one is pretty bad still), two neutrals (which might still be pretty bad), and one bad one.

The game includes a lot of horror/creepy elements, starting in the graveyard, the creepy random phonecall, the sense of dread from losing time, and, of course, the monsters. The focus on the senses, especially the sounds, with the recurring bells ringing, is a nice touch. As well, the shift in the story, where you suddenly become transported to a detective’s office and body, while it was still alive, really flips the game upside down and adds to the uneasy vibes.

I think the text would profit from a touch more formatting to help the player digest the conveyed information along. Like paragraphs breaking longer passages into smaller section (helping the player breathe a bit) or page breaks (have two regular passages instead of one, can help build tension). More interactive options can also be considered, such as timed text (in moderation) to delay the inevitable, or click-reveal elements to give the player a bit more agency/control (even if they don’t really).

Still, for a limit of 4h, it’s pretty effective in creating a creepy and unsettling/dark atmosphere. My favourite ending is probably the earliest achievable one (which is a good one, of course), with the other good ending being 2nd best (it’s way more creepy/gruesome than you’d expect).

7 Likes

Thank you for your review!

Sundown, by Charm Cochran

Play the game - Twine (SugarCube)
Le Grand Guignol - Also submitted to the Gothic Horror Jam

Sundown is a surreal horror game made in Twine, where you play as Dolores, an old woman exploring her house as she looks for her dog. As you go through the motions, the game hints at the peculiar situation she is in, leaving you to fill in the (very obvious) blanks. You’ll expect the twists coming, but when it does arrive, it still hits like a ton of bricks.

From what seems like a slice-of-life story, with Dolores, trying to find her footing as she wakes up from a nap, and to reminisce on her past, it progressively gets stranger before downright getting disturbing. She’s seems surprised at the presence of guests, at their frustration when she asks again and again the same questions (what are they doing here?), but most importantly, it seems, at why she can’t find her beloved pet, no matter how many times she calls it.

It is a pretty tragic tale, enhanced by the interface and the background score (creepy as heck). We experience Dolores’s confusion, through that semi-confusing maze (or maybe I’m the problem, forgetting where things are), her inability to find things (only available after a specific conversations) or remember events (which are obscured to us too). The only insurance that we are advancing the story is the changing colour palette (reminiscent of the sun setting). Still, in the context of the story, that change is incredibly off-putting.

While the first section of the Charlie act brought things to a new level of scary and creepy, I am not sure if their conversation really added to the story as a whole. We didn’t know/learn/explore enough about their past, their relationship, and the consequences, for that revelation to make a real impact (compared to the other ones). It seemed a bit out of place. I would have preferred a focus with Dolores’s child instead in that section - I think it would have made the final section even stronger.

Overall, this was a great piece of writing, especially being good at conveying that confused state of Dolores, and the frustrations of those around her. Pretty heartbreaking.

2 Likes

Jumpscare Manor, by Damon L. Wakes

Play the game - Twine (Harlowe)
La Petite Mort

Jumpscare Manor is a silly tiny jumpscare game made in Twine, where you explore the titular Jumpscare Manor, for if you stay a whole night within its walls, you will own it. There is only one end, which will happen randomly (otherwise it wouldn’t be a jumpscare).

It’s really silly, filled with jumpscare red herrings (like the dusty armour stand in the entrance). It was funny trying to go through the rooms and realising they’re all connected to another through a secret passage, so you’d start on the ground floor and end up two stories higher - not surprisingly I lost my sense of direction pretty quickly. It’s really a gag entry, one you’d expect from Damon Wakes, and it does what it sets to do.

1 Like

Hotel Halloween, by One Boat Crew

Play the game - Twine(Harlowe)
Le Grand Guignol

Hotel Halloween is a collection of short scary games created by young students (of the Seneca Thing group), centred around the theme of horror hotel. We have 8 different rooms, each with a different take on Halloween, or creepy elements, or horror. Overall, it’s pretty diverse and creative!

Room 10 is a simple story, which follows a person on a holiday, given a key to the titular room and finding a pool of blood by the door. Follows a branching sequence in which you either realise you are dead or find a way out. I think there were 3 different (non-repeated) endings to find.

Room 16 is a survival story, in which you decide to relax before the Halloween Quest Game, except there are weird things happening in the room. At every turn, you are given a choice, where your (in)actions will mean life or death. You’ll need a bit of trial and error to get to a Good Ending (there are multiple), and advanced to an unfinished level 2 :frowning: . Because of the arbitrary consequence of each action, the comedic tone of the writing works pretty well (the Bad Endings line were absurd, in a good way).

Room 102, strangely located underground, is another survival story, where you must escape your room to live. It was a time a bit confusing, which actually makes sense, since it’s all happening in a dream, though we don’t really find out how or why this all happened. I liked the details of the hotel, that made things unsettling.

In Room 113, we play as a werewolf staying at the hotel for a vacation. This hotel is not dangerous for humans, but also magical creatures, which means that with one wrong move, you are out. The consequences are sometimes very sensible (like why would you try to pet a dragon :joy:), and sometimes pretty arbitrary (like checking into the bathroom). But it does so with humour, so that helps.

Room 444 is doll-themed, with a bunch of creepy dolls in various state throughout the room. And you are given an ominous warning if you decide to stay. The writing does a good job at describing the unsettling nature of the dolls, and your transformation if you get too curious. Very creepy.

Room 505 is another escape room situation, where you are magically transported into a dangerous maze, and given binary choices to find the right path and leave. It’s really a coin toss on what you should to pick to get to the end, and I kinda found myself more interested in the Bad Endings after finding a couple (they are pretty funny).

Room 555’s puzzle is centred completely around one very important object, which will determine whether you live or die (in various horrific ways). It reminded me a bit of the towel in HHGG in that sense - there’s no real reason to need it, and yet… Both Good Endings were pretty nice, but the very matter-of-fact plug-the-wall one was very funny in context of the whole.

Room 666 is probably the darkest game of the collection, with a focus on body horror (and I think no “good” endings). The recurrent attention to the eyes really gave me the creep - I kept hoping I wouldn’t have to see it again. It was a good utilisation of the haunted mirror trope, no matter the outcome.

1 Like

The Column, by Passerine

Play the Game - Twine (Chapbook)
La Petite Mort

The Column is a Cluedo-like game made in Twine, where you embark on an expedition to explore a desolate island, with a strange and cursed structure. To life the curse and save themselves, the team must trust each other - though the curse will try hard to break those bonds. There are two endings, which can be easily found (the game lets you skip back to the first choice to retry).

It’s beautifully written, with a very enticing introduction. A rag-tag team, each with its own specialisation and personality, stuck together on an island with no other choice but trust each other to get out? Sign me up! And the reveal of the column really built up my expectations for what was to come. That introduction does a pretty good job at laying down what you need to get to the mechanic.

And it’s an interesting mechanic, as a social experiment, focusing on your deduction skills from the information provided - though it doesn’t really punish you if you miss the mark in the combination of choices, even for the high stakes. Not knowing is the hardest thing, and the game forces you to rely on your assumptions to make a choice… and accept you might fail.

It’s a pretty tightly built game overall, but the selfish part of me kinda wished there was a bit more (especially with the introduction being about half of the game) - like getting a few more in-game days, or talking to the NPCs before/after the choices and make them sweat a little. Then again, there was a lot already for a made-under-4h game!

I do wish the backdrop in the dark mode was also a dark colour

3 Likes

Thank you for this review! I’m glad you found the experience effective. :grin:

1 Like

Thanks M. for having played all the games and finding time to write the reviews.

Welp, it’s a month later and I didn’t finish EctoComp (la vie, les choses, toussa toussa). To get into the groove, I’ll play some little French games first because the Partim 500 just ended. Then I’ll get back to it :stuck_out_tongue:

Partim500

Another annual month-long jam, also organised by Feldo for the Francophone community.
For the past NINE!!! years, during the later half of December, we are given a restriction (wordcount below 500) and a theme (a word chosen at random, but always starting with dé-**).

This year, the theme was dénanti.

There were nine entries:


Back to top :arrow_up:

2 Likes

La Valise, by Narkhos

Play the game - Ink - French

La Valise is a short speculative fiction made in Ink, in which you decide the fate of humanity, as nuclear bombs are about to decimate your side of the world. Contrasting with the imminent destruction of your country (and maybe more), is a banal and calm prose (maybe resigned already? with the state of things), rendering the scene both comical and pretty depressing. Regardless of your choice, little changes for you, but it is nonetheless impactful.
A great piece of speculative fiction in so few words!

1 Like