Short Game ShowCase Mini-Reviews! (Complete!)

Competitions
60

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
61

I am ending here for today. I have 16 left…

4 Likes
62

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
63

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
64

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
65

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
66

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
67

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
68

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
69

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
70

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 :joy:

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
71

No Space at the Movies, by Kobato Games

First submitted to Ludum Dare #54.

The new “Space Trek Wars” movie had limited space and you arrived too late to get a ticket. Find another way in!

In this short Twine adventure, you play as a “fake Star Wars/Trek” fan, excited to see the anticipated new movie. Fan as you are, you even have a whole costume, with accessories, ready for the event. But oh noooo!… you didn’t manage your time correctly and find yourself unable to get inside the movie theatre. Your goal is to find a way in and see the movie, whatever the cost!

The game provides you with different possible actions, branching into different fail/success scenarios - some funny, some pretty embarrassing. It’s clear the PC feels very entitled to a spot in the event, even if it was their own fault they didn’t get there - ready to even start a riot, if that is what is needed.

3 Likes
72

FEAST OF SENSES, by graymeditations

First submitted to the Worst Game of the Year Jam

no description

The context to which the game was first released (the Worst Game of the Year Jam) helps understand this pretty strange game. This short minimalist bitsy game introduces a handful of “maze” screens, where you must find the element to interact with (often a “sense”) to move to the next screen. It is pretty silly and nonsensical, and if you manage to pass the first screen (I think your cursor is “invisible”?), you’ll be in for a wild ride…

3 Likes
73

The Peter and Paul Case, by jkj yuio

First released to the IntroComp
This is also still a demo.

In this game you will assume the role of DI Picton. Let’s hope you’re up to it. If you get stuck, look for more clues and consult your assistant. Good luck!

In this pulp-like murder mystery, you play as Detective Picton (the same as in Murder at the Manor), now accompanied by his strangely attired assistant (a sci-fi suit?? in a 70-80s-like setting? the uncanney valley of her face creeeeeps me out), set to solve a new murder! This time around, the suspects are Peter and Paul, the nephews of the victim.

Visiting the murder scene, you get to investigate different rooms of the victim’s home, under the watchful eye and comments of your not-always-so-professional but very competent assistant. After finding a couple of required elements, the game ends abruptly, like it was bugging/freezing - but it is just the end of the demo.

The game does an interesting thing, mixing choice-based actions with point-and-click mechanic on images (I liked being able to “move” around the room and get a different angle)… though it is a bit finicky getting the element to click rather than bringing the image forward (a white outline above bright images are pretty hard to see).
The images sometimes disappear when clicking on certain elements (the ones that display a new interactive picture). It would be nicer if those interactive pictures could be set more apart from the text…

3 Likes
74

A Vine on a House, by Outgrabe

This was an independent release

A multimedia storybook of Ambrose Bierce’s “A Vine on a House” (1905), curated by Tyler Wright with photographs by Kimberly Renee. Music by Dylan Wright.

I think the synopsis says it all: it is a reformatting of an old short story, accompanied by contemporary pictures and music. This is supposedly meant to enhance the ambiance of the short story. You can go back and forth in the story, which is shown a couple of paragraphs at a time.

Though I do like adaptation of older work into an Interactive format… It didn’t really work for me, especially when portrait-oriented pictures were included (forcing you to scroll up/down the page). I found the contemporary pictures kind of going against the story, not finding the link between the specific picture and the text shown on the screen. I think it might have worked better if the adaptation also included more interactive text…

3 Likes
75

Jabberwocky, by Outgrabe

This was an independent release

The “Jabberwocky” nonsense verse was originally released in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” (1871), detailing one boy’s adventure in the mysterious Tulgey Wood. This visual novel adaptation captures the essence of the original work but takes a few strange detours along the way. There are a total of five possible endings.

This binksi game is an text-adventure adaptation of the Jabberwocky “poem”, with hand-drawn background to represent each location/bit of the story. The text is quite a faithful adaptation to Carroll’s whimsical (and slightly dark) style, and I’d even see the illustrations being part of a printed edition. While I managed to beat the monster on the first try (completely at random, because I forgot how the poem went - a poem included in the game, btw), it was fun restarting the game and try other directions, finding other monsters - ones you are not prepared to fight…

2 Likes
76

Aaaaand that’s it!

Well kinda.
I’ve kept Space Wizard Rendezvous, by WizzBizz and Solkatt, by BenyDanette for the ShuffleComp thread, which is coming very soon (like after this message). They were submitted early enough to be part of the 2023 Showcase but I prefer to keep them with the other ShuffleComp entries.

I’ll link them here afterwards :stuck_out_tongue:

5 Likes
77

Thanks for reviewing these games, Manon!

2 Likes
78

Space Wizard Rendezvous, by WizzBizz

See the ShuffleComp thread

2 Likes
79

Solkatt_, by BenyDanette

See the ShuffleComp thread

2 Likes