Hi! I’ve played maybe about half of the games in the competition. I am very bad at writing reviews, but here are some words about my favorites. Overall this was an extremely strong year, so there are a lot of them.
Contaminated Space by Kandwerwund
A short game about being assimilated into a hivemind. Only one decision point, but as with everything by the author the draw is the writing itself, which is wonderfully vivid.
Familiar Problems by Dercomai
I loved this game. The puzzles are fun, and the power-learning mechanic gives the game a nice sense of forward progression, but what really makes the game is the setting, which is charming and full of fun details, such as everything in the announcement ticker or the second place medal being made of gold. This is easily my favorite game of the competition, and I’m not saying that just because of that one shout out.
Resurrection Gate by Grim Baccaris
The presentation is top-notch, and the mechanics seem interesting. The story itself throws a little too much at you without explaining enough, but it was still intriguing enough to have me look forward to the finished game.
Dark Waters on the Night Shift by dsherwood
Twine-based puzzle games are my favorite IF genre, so of course I had a lot of fun with this one. The story itself wasn’t particularly memorable but the puzzles are very well done.
No More by alyshkalia
A short but effective story about escaping an abusive situation in the most cathartic possible way. The atmosphere is very good. My first time through I missed a lot of it by not realizing that certain descriptions changed as the story progressed, but thankfully there’s an optional story mode that guides you through the whole thing if you miss something.
Dark and Deep by Amanda Walker
I’m not really a poetry person, and I’m specifically not up on my English poetry, so I’m sure a lot of this game went over my head, but it was still a very vivid and complicated portrait of a very interesting character.
(I did run into some issues with default responses and descriptions not updating when the situation changes and they’re no longer applicable, but I played this very early on so that might have been fixed by now.)
Un treno come tanti by RebelNightmare and Sophos Ioun
Many people think of Italy as a sunny Mediterranean country. Less attention is paid to the parts of it that look like Silent Hill for a good portion of the year. Having grown up in small town Pianura Padana, going to high school by train, this game seems laser-targeted to my sensibilities. There isn’t much in the way of goals or puzzles, the only thing to do being to wander about the train, but it does a good job of selling the vaguely creepy surreal atmosphere.
Jumpscare Manor by Damon L. Wakes
Listen, you know exactly what you’re getting when you click on this, and the game delivers.
Sundown by Charm Cochran
This was very, very good. The twist is very easy to see coming, but that makes it no less effective, and it was clever to use common design patterns in IF such as the ability to select dialogue options multiple times as a way to reflect the protagonist’s situation. The ending was a punch in the gut, too.
(As a side note, I feel that the content warnings could be more extensive. The scene with Charlie and Maya’s constant misgendering probably need warnings, specifically.)
Die Another Day by Emery Joyce
Horror as a metaphor for disability is a venerable tradition. This one’s maybe just a bit too unsubtle for my personal taste, but the idea is clever and the writing really sells the horror while still leaving room for hope.
