First game I’ve played in Spring Thing 2021 (and probably the longest).
The Weight of a Soul
Great game! Action-packed story-focused IF with a well-defined protagonist. Set in an alchemypunk world. (Yeah, I just made up that genre just for this game.)
Review: The Weight of a Soul - Details (ifdb.org).
Next one is Mean Mother Trucker.
Seriously disappointed by this one:
Mean Mother Trucker
I like the premise, but it would take a serious amount of shaving, sanding and polishing to successfully show the comedy that’s hiding somewhere in there. I cringed too many times while playing this iteration to enjoy the funny situations.
Review: Mean Mother Trucker - Details (ifdb.org)
Next is Take the Dog Out.
Hahaah!
Take the Dog Out
This one had me laughing from the first time i checked my inventory. I’m going back now to find more funny stuff.
Review: Take the Dog Out - Details (ifdb.org)
I’ll be playing Baggage tomorrow.
This was moving, but maybe a bit too distanced.
Baggage
An exploration of how to escape depression or emotional standstill. It reads a bit too much like a list of what needs to be done than it lets the player actually feel it.
Moving and thoughtful.
Review: Baggage - Details (ifdb.org)
Next will be Copper Canyon. (I’m not at home with choice-/ story-games, so I’m not sure how I will begin to rate or review it. We’ll see.)
Hi! This is probably a dumb question, but what’s the wrong expression for “buy?” Thanks!
Hi to you too!
I was talking about the response to BUY: “Nothing is on sale”.
On sale means that a product is being sold at a lesser than usual price. (20% off, for example). What you were looking for I think is for sale, i.e. being sold, available for buying. (and “nothing is for sale” would of course still be untrue in a convenience store)
BTW, my review may sound a bit harsh, but I really intend to play (and review) a post-comp release. I liked the characters (I was especially intrigued by Ranbir), and I could feel there was good comedy underneath.
Ah! Ok that makes sense, thanks.
I wondered about this so did a couple of DuckDuckGo searches. Do you think your strict distinction is more American than universal? For example: ON SALE (phrase) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary
Ah, I stand corrected. You are absolutely right.
I learned much of my English by watching movies and tv-shows with subtitles. The majority of those are American.
Thanks for the correction.
@bitterkarella ; I was wrong, your use of “Nothing is on sale.” is correct after all. I jumped at it too soon because it didn’t mesh with my American-English prejudices. Sorry. I’ll go change my IFDB review now.
I liked this. A really good short story.
Copper Canyon
It could have been longer and wider in scope, but I really liked the development of the story into darker terrain. It also has a cool gang-of-youngsters-against-the-bad-guys vibe.
Review: Copper Canyon - Details (ifdb.org)
Next up: Wintervale
A good mystery, but inadvertently confusing at times:
Wintervale
Very promising, but it needs another round of editing.
Review: Wintervale - Details (ifdb.org)
(I just realised this is the first Twine I have finished. I had looked at some others, including Bogeyman , but I always kept putting off playing them for real because there were so many parsers still on my list. The Spring Thing context pushed me out of my comfort zone. Which is nice…)
I’ll be looking at Hand of God next.
A positively sparkling heist game:
Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires
Good conversation-puzzles, entertaining and funny tone and an intruiging tension between the protagonist and the detective. I liked this a lot.
Review: Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires - Details (ifdb.org)
(I quit Hand of God after a few pages because I found the writing somewhat bland. It’s possible that there is a good game there. If so, shame on me for not being patient enough.)
Next up: So I Was Short Of Cash And Took On A Quest.
Thanks so much for the great review! I’m glad you liked our game 
I absolutely loved getting the maid to conspire with me.
And sketchy as it is, Melpomene’s backstory is actually quite moving.
Good game!
This is promising:
So I Was Short Of Cash And Took On A Quest
A Back Garden piece that will hopefully be expanded into a full game. Funny.
Review: So I Was Short Of Cash And Took On A Quest - Details (ifdb.org)
I’ll be playing Heroes next.
I’ll have to retry Heroes! at some later time. The links are sluggish and sometimes even unresponsive until I refresh the page.
The playful tone of the writing and the dreamy illustrations made me smile though.
I’ll go try Journey to Ultimate Fightdown instead.
Intriguing!
Journey to Ultimate Fightdown
Seemingly a set-up for a great mockfest of RPG-clichés and Hollywood Dream-tropes, the game quickly changes into an exploration of the characters’ personalities and their relations to each other. It’s also much deeper than I had imagined at first (according to this thread: Journey to Ultimate Fightdown Questions/Comments/Etc.! - Competitions / Spring Thing - The Interactive Fiction Community Forum (intfiction.org)).
I’ll have to come back to this to explore it more fully. (No review yet.)
I’ll play Misty Hills next.
I can’t stop smiling…
Misty Hills
What a joy to wander around in this little gem of a game.
Review: Misty Hills - Details (ifdb.org)
Next up: Wearing the Claw. Yes, the 1996 IFcomp 8th place game. I’m yearning for some oldschool parseriness. I’ll return to all this new style modernist clickity-clack after I got my fix of GET LAMP.
(Ah… That was fun. Nothing like vanquishing an evil curse to rejuvenate oneself. Wearing the Claw hit the spot.)
Eleanor
I didn’t get far in this game. What I did get was a very unnerving experience. You descend into a kind of dreamy/nightmarish underworld to recover your dead lover, or at least see her once more.
The sparse, almost featureless locations, the eerie background noises and the pop-up pictures work well together to create a surreal atmosphere. The obstacles however are so obscure that I only got “down” two levels.
The help-feature nudges you in the right direction with an associative image, but I would have liked an actual explicit hint after running into the timed awakening/end of game half a dozen times.
Great atmosphere, needs more work on playability. I’ll hold off on an IFDB review.
Upcoming: Queenlash
Uhm…
Queenlash
I’m sorry, but wilfull obscure opaqueness does not artistic poetry make.
I think I could use Some Space now.