I am a bit cheating though… I’d already reviewed like most of those games before 
The last quarter of the list will mainly be new games for me tho… Looking forward to that!
4 Likes
Three Things, by Lapin Lunaire Games
First submitted to the Anti-Romance Jam
There hasn’t been any update to this entry… BECAUSE IT DOESN’T NEED ANY!
I am very biased, because Jinx is my friend… but also because the gameplay revolves around translation - how words can be translated differently, giving specific vibes/tones/meanings depending on what is chosen. Having done some myself, worrying about which word to use to fit the context best, struggling when not finding the correct sets of words… it feels oh-so-familiar.
Word plays are often lost with translations, so it’s nice here to actually be playing with words ~ even if you don’t understand them!
Anyways, more of translating games please!
5 Likes
I super appreciate both you and @AmandaB doing these, and so quickly! I had wanted to do a quick look at all of them, but 1) as a comp organizer they’d need to be very bias free and thus take longer to write and 2) I had RL stuff going in the way. And now I don’t have to, because you two are doing it and doing it very well!
5 Likes
Kyrie Eleison, by Lapin Lunaire Games
First submitted to the Neo Twiny Jam
UGH! The Gothic Lusciousness from the writing… chef kiss
Between devotion and repulsion, love and hatred, life and death… it’s all about dichotomy.
It’s entries like these that makes me envious of some of y’all’s writing skills…
4 Likes
Now We’re Clickin’, Team, by Andrew Schultz
First submitted to the Neo Twiny Jam
Another welcomed silly entry, with an interesting focus on gameplay/mechanic. All the silliness of superstitious rituals determining (somewhat) how your team does is pretty funny.
You should still pray to the RNG god to be on your side…
3 Likes
InGirum_English, by BenyDanette
First submitted to the EctoComp, Le Grand Guignol category
I originally played this game in French (because I could), and while the English version is as spotless, I still prefer the French version anyway
One of my favourite game of the year, hands down. So well done. The fake-documentary setting, the game-within-the-game interface, the slightly tedious gameplay of “demos”… So, so good!
4 Likes
Put-Peep™, by Sean Huxter
First submitted to the EctoComp, Le Grand Guignol category
A pretty fun small parser with quite unconventional commands for solving the puzzles and hands. Good thing there is an in-game walkthrough.
I liked the slightly(?) self-deprecating humour and meta-commentary in there mixed the surrealism of the setting (what else do you expect from going to work in the middle of the night…).
3 Likes
Good Bones: A Haunted Housewarming, by Leon Lin
First submitted to the EctoComp, Le Grand Guignol category
A riot of a game this one was! Absurd from A to Z.
Run around a haunted house, try not to get kill, rethink your costly investment.
So many fun endings, and trying to hunt them all down is very entertaining!
4 Likes
Bittersweet Harvest, by DagitabSoft
First made for the Ludum Dare 52
Harvesters.
These otherworldly beings, having the bodies of humans, are tasked with reaping bad memories of these humans and purging them from their hearts and minds.
And in an era where mental health awareness is at an all-time high, these harvesters work hard to ensure the stability of the souls of mortals.
One such harvester will meet a young single mother, and he must dive deep into the mystery of why she became one before he could do his job of purging her bad memories.
But his task could be more complicated than what he initially imagined.
In the format of a kinetic visual novel (there really aren’t any choices), the story follows an Harvester - an otherworldly being who ‘harvests’ human memories - on a case: a young woman wanting to erase the memories of her former lover and the child she gave away.
I… don’t know what to take from the game honestly. I can’t say what the message of the story was. It seemed to be critical of one-night stands and loose morals - almost condescendingly, with pushing the almost unattainable ‘pure love’ - while dealing very carelessly with the situation of a child (in what world was the child given away without getting the father’s approval?? when the father was told about the pregnancy and birth? It seemed to hint the child was some months old?). It was as if the story put itself into a corner with having the child involved into the woman’s back story and just… yeeted it away when it became too cumbersome. That was… very uncomfortable.
As for the climax of the game, the story kinda pulls the rug from under you, by having the Harvester “seeing the light” and becoming a human because of what he witnessed with that case. I don’t really get how this was the turning point for them to change this way. It felt a bit cheap?
I did like the introduction of the game, with the exposition of Harvesters and one of the humans who used their services.
I thought it could have been more interesting following that person after losing their memories…
EDIT: I’m a fairly fast reader, but I’d guess more peeps would end up spending more than 30min on this.
4 Likes
Occhiolism, by DagitabSoft
First submitted to the Ludum Dare 54
John Oscar has just rescued Patty Nicole from a traumatic experience, and the two stick together like glue ever since.
However, during one of their dates, he discovers something distressing about her, which has something to do with limited space.
Time is of the essence for this couple.
In the format of a kinetic visual novel (you have one choice that doesn’t affect anything), the story follows an almost fusional couple, brought together by a traumatic event. With surprisingly similar principled values (pretty conservative and somewhat condescending views on relationships and intimacy), the couple faces a bump in their relationship when Patty Nicole starts behaving strangely.
Unable to go to certain spots or to talk about what is bothering her, the games makes it obvious what happened to her (CW: attempted assault), though it does it with a twist ( the assault wasn’t physical at the end, because she escaped him, but he cursed her by “removing space” with magic???). Honestly, it feels like trying to make some sort of allegory for sexual assault on pure/virginal women, but spoiling it with its implementation of an otherworldly/fantastical element. SA is a very touchy subject, and the game handled it carelessly.
The games lays it on thick on the critique of society, especially the loose morals, individualism, and the focus on money rather than relationships. It comes out as pretty patronising, especially when opposite values are presented to the couple – if you don’t follow their principles you are bad – and almost childish.
And that’s without going into the last third of the game, where the couple deals with the Patty Nicole’s issues, which weirdly turns into some sort of anime-like fight, with the big baddy monologue before the “power of love” punch ends it all. It does cheapen the whole thing…
EDIT: also an entry that took me more than 30min to go through… About an hour and I went through each “page” pretty fast.
5 Likes
I am ending here for today. I have 16 left…
4 Likes
Murder at the Manor, by Jkj Yuio
This is an independent release
Major Stephenson has been shot dead in his study! A case for the indomitable Detective Inspector Lance Picton, who gets the cases no one else can solve.
Who shot the Major?
Charles, his brother and business partner, his wife Charlotte, young Master Jimmy or even Jeeves the family butler? I don’t know either because the villain is selected randomly for each game! See if you can solve it.
Murder at the Manor is a short pulpy murder-mystery game, where you play as Detective Picton, tasked to solve the an unsolvable case. The game, however, only lets you interrogate the different suspects. The corpse and murder weapon have been sent for testing, and you don’t even get to investigate really where the murder took place. You only get information about the case through the suspects’ answers (who give very little, throwing blame on one another).
With the murdered chosen at random with every game, the whole mystery relies on a he-said-she-said about each other’s alibis - each suspect never changing their location but sometimes changing their stance on whether they saw the other NPCs. After talking to everyone (which you are forced to because the butler is weirdly invested in being part of the investigation), you can accuse someone and the game ends. You are told whether your choice was correct or not in an ending sequence, which, if you were successful, mention how tight your investigation was, with a folder full of evidence (WHERE?).
Because of its length, and the surface-levelness of the investigation, neither the good or the bad ending feel quite satisfying. You accuse someone and thrown forward in time to after the court case, told only of the result. Not knowing why the suspect would murder the major, or even how they could have done it… what was the point of it? Where is the conflict? Why was there a murder in the first place? How could they have done it?
I restarted the game a handful of times,randomly picked a suspect without going through the whole interrogation… and managed to get the correct murderer half the time. I think it would have worked better if you could actually do some investigating, searching for actual clues, maybe get the coroner’s report or more information about the weapon, or pressing for motives.
On the interface side, the chosen colours for the links made it pretty hard to read with the dark background. The “Undo” button wasn’t working either when you reach the end. There didn’t seem to be a “Restart” button either.
3 Likes
Door, by Dev Vand
First released to the Delete Unity and Try Something New jams
improvised experimental narrative
inspired by a bio from discord
that turned into a poem
to test music with broken repeated additive loops
Door(s) is a tiny game where you are shown doors on the screen, which you can click open or close, and throw them off the screen. Mess around enough with them and the screen will change, showing a different bit of text. Though it is obviously interactive, there isn’t much narrative wise - the text only amounting to a sentence.
I guess the concept is interesting in a philosophical way, in that doors can open and close before us (opportunities/paths), or we can leave them behind (changing direction), but that they can still be there? There is only so much you can extrapolate from just a sentence…
3 Likes
The Good Weapon, by Madeline Wu
This was an independent release
A malevolence lurks outside your bunker. Fathomless, omnipotent, and deadly, it devours the world with each passing day.
The three of you swore to kill it–no matter the cost. Even if it means you’ve got to nuke everything. Ordinary (good) people won’t do it. They can’t fathom the horror.
Evil acts out of necessity. Villains know what must be done.
Yet your leader’s having second thoughts. She’s getting cold feet; and if the two of you can’t convince her to use the weapon, then maybe it’s time to take matters into your own hands.
Are you ready to save the world?
This almost kinetic visual novel follows three (vigilante?) fighters inside a bunker plotting against a controlling (otherworldly?) organisation called VIRGIL (Big Brother-vibes). The latter’s control is so spread and wide that the only way to fight it would be to essentially nuke the Earth - or it would regenerate. Away from “real life” to ensure their safety and so their plan wouldn’t get discovered, the three characters uphold different view on how to approach the issue - discussions turning more into arguments with the “weapon” being ready.
While there aren’t meaningful choices, none that really affect the story at least, the story is quite engrossing. The story sets up enough to get an understanding of the conflicts, but stays vague, forcing you to piece things as you get more information. The culminating scene is satisfying even if as a player I barely has anything to do with it - putting an end to the MC’s struggles with their goal and their wavering will.
The visuals, with the limited palette and sprites looking like they were sketched, complements the writing and the scenes, with blinking and shaking elements, and an interesting focus on gazes.
I stiiiiiiilll… wished we could have had one choice at the end, rather having the PC making that choice for us (even if it made sense story wise).
4 Likes
bl.ink, by bubez
First submitted to the inkJam
I’m gonna put this into spoilers:
This is a joke game. You blink and the game ends. There really is nothing else to the game. It’s funny in the context of the inkJam’s theme (in the blink of an eye), but yeah… nothing more than that…
3 Likes
Time’s Gap, by mxelm
First submitted to the Orifice Jam
This is a game about holes. In time, in body, in memory.
Time’s Game is a short body horror story, where you conduct a magic ritual aimed (?) at breaking the fabric of space and time (holes). As you get ready, snippets of strange memories (yours? someone else’s?), also orifice related, rush through your mind, debilitatingly so. Your body, unable to take it all, breaks and rips into multitudes.
The writing is very evocative and gross (in a good, Porpentine way). It makes you uncomfortable, but in a way you can’t really take your eyes away from it. It crawls up your spine…
NGL I wish the design of the game page was also included in the game itself. Maybe in a desaturated form?
3 Likes
Bill’s Passage, by Benny Mattis
This was an independent release
Bill’s Passage is a lightweight choice-driven resource management game intended to serve as an educational resource about the process by which bills are passed into law in the United States Federal Government.
Interactive Fiction has an immense potential in making educational topics fun, especially concepts and procedures that feel pretty unapproachable and complex. Gamification and all that!
As much as bill passing can be explained simply (representatives vote on a bill they read, and it can pass - or not), it is clear there is more to the process. With needing to find support, raising funds to change minds, but not taking too long before submitting the bill to a vote… the process includes a lot more stakeholders, each with their own agenda or influence. From the Assembly to the Office of the President, you will need to min/max your way to pass your bill.
While it was interesting to get a bit more of an insight into US politics (as a non-US citizen), the simplicity of the gameplay makes the reality of passed bills a bit more bleak…
As a sidenote: Bill reminded me of Clippy.
3 Likes
Troll’s Tale 2023, by Outgrabe
This was an independent release
It’s been forty years since you helped Mark the Dwarf King retrieve his stolen treasure from the evil underground trolls. History repeats itself as you once again find yourself in this mysterious land of the trolls, only this time aiding a new dwarf monarch. The apple really does fall far from the tree… King Mark II’s tastes are far more eccentric than that of his father’s.
The game is a short-ish explorative game made in bitsy, reminiscent of point-n-click (except you use your keyboard arrows instead of your mouse), where the goal is to find all treasures of the Dwarf King. There are about 20-30-ish screens that you must go through to find all treasures, some where you will find the wanted objects, others where an element is interactive. This “fetch-quest” relies on your memory of having already explored a certain screen or not.
The game is a bit silly in its premise, with (internet?) trolls having taken treasures and hidden it. And the design of each screen, with it’s 3-colour palette, is reminiscent of old school games. But it is made extra tedious by the choice of program, as bitsy relies on pressing arrows to move the cursor around…
3 Likes
That’s It Again, by Dev Vand
This was an independent release
improvised interactive narrative
procedural unsynced music
not enough time
This kinetic (and looping?) entry spans a conversation, between two unnamed/undefined pixel characters, about a vague subject (“it”) – how it was made, what value it has, and whether to end it. The game advanced by clicking on the pixel circle appearing on the screen, rather than through choices or other active participation.
It is a bit strange and quite confusing.
What is this “it”? Are we the “it” those those characters talk about?
The snippet is much too short and vague to provide any answer.
The low-res interface is pretty neat tho! with the little animation of the background and the characters.
3 Likes
The Loyal Doom - A PowerPoint Game, by Dev Vand
Thi is an independent release
The Loyal Doom - Três Demônios Livres is a short mysterious narrative played on PowerPoint
It is always interesting seeing people explore IF with mediums not usually made for IF - it kinda shows that anything can be IF if you sets your mind to it. It’s pretty refreshing!
So here we have: a minimalist mysterious adventure created in PowerPoint. With limited words on the page, often just 3 separate nouns, next to a couple of 1-word actions, you can explore some sort of dungeon, face judgement, and maybe save yourself?
I got lost for a long while
While it is a pretty creative way to use PowerPoint this way, it comes with some caveats: you must only click the “link” actions to move between slides, and wait before the (much too lengthy) animations to do anything… or you will end up on the wrong slide. Shortening the animation would have made the experience a bit smoother.
3 Likes