Sophia de Augustine's EctoComp Corner

Something Blue, E. Joyce

There’s this one Emily Short game, that’s similarly built around the conceit of sending off letters: and Something Blue reminded me quite a lot of it, (perhaps helped by the fact that they’re set in very vaguely similar old time-y periods.) I think this is supposed to be a Bluebeard retelling? I haven’t read it in forever and a day- but I was very happily at home in the Gothic-esque trappings: a suspicious husband who sucks at loving his wife, a giant scary house with locked doors and dust, watchful paintings, and a beleaguered fresh-faced wife shipped off far away from loved ones, who probably needs Prozac.

Surprisingly, for a Petite Mort- I felt like there was (at least the illusion of) a great deal of choice/interactivity/clickity-clackity dopamine in this. I got the ending where we end up being rescued in the nick of time, and whisked off to the refreshing seaside- (how very Victorian,) because of our hysterical nerves. That was nice- I half expected our sister wouldn’t believe us, and we’d wind up axe murdered in the attic!

I especially liked the touch of feeling like we had control over the degree of closeness we felt to her- how much we would reveal about how we really felt about being married off and our parents pestering her about it, whether we were willing to trust her in asking for help- plus the vague background fear of our creepy husband spying on us and intercepting the letters- or perhaps the ghosty ghouls of his dead wives haunting us: telling us to get out?

Really pleasant romp. If you were a fan of that Short game, which I’ve found- First Draft of the Revolution, you’ll like this one! Or if you’d like a longer take on a similar tale, I suppose. I had fun with this one! And if you like the gothic- I imagine you will too.

6 Likes