The Fall of Asemia, by B.J. Best
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to bite an NPC more.
That out of the way- this is a very puzzling little game. I didn’t really know if what I was doing- clicking through the glyphs, was doing very much of anything. That listless sort of sifting through odds and ends is very familiar- and mirrors what I imagine the poor translator has to do on quite the regular basis. The little asides with a partner(?) help ground the text quite well, as before I ran into those portions, I was just sort of floating along, clicking the pictures so that they looked pretty, in an abstract sort of way. Lots of squiggles and dots. The natural arc and subsequent fall of splatters. It was almost meditative.
I feel for the translator we’re playing, as though. It is quite sad- that all of those people died, and everything that they said has, too. I think I got a ‘good’ ending, in that it was a prayer for remembrance- and won’t they be, on that plane, and for however much time after, that the narrator carries this experience with her? That snappy, short temper and the trying-not-to-fight-but-fighting-anyways rings pretty true to what it’s like to be under stressful circumstances and a timecrunch: bristling, combative even if you don’t mean to be. Bitey.
Do play with the sound! I normally don’t, for games, but it definitely helps set the reflective, puzzled, and tense feeling to the story. Kind of makes me feel itchy, with the voices echoing around in space around your head like that- but if you are being haunted by the dead from times long past… Definitely passes the vibe check.