Thanks, I happily check out the post-comp release.
1 Like
(How are there 28 games to go?)
Deep and dark
I simply loved this. The author has a fantastic writing style, drawing inspirations from poems but changing them into their very own things. There are a few very simply puzzly bits (get the hammer to open the door for instance) that I felt were a bit unnecessary and at odd with the poetic nature of it. But this is a minor quibble. A fantastic, dark little mood piece and my favorite of the comp so far.
4 Likes
Thanks for both the nice reviews! It was hard for me to get anything done this year so it’s great to get encouraging feedback.
2 Likes
Halloween Hotel
I’d love to see the Yelp reviews for this place! This is a number of small vignettes, all written within 2 hrs. There are some nice ideas here, but the writing is a bit too shoody in places for me. Still, you can see the creativity shining through. I’d love to see what some of these people do with more time on their hands.
Spill your gut
With the slew of games, there had to be at least one where I have to pull the old “I tried to get into this but couldn’t.” It’s apparently from a game series? The writing was excellent, but this left me mostly baffled.This does not mean this game might not be for you (read the other excellent reviews, as I did, after playing). It was just a matter of personal tastel
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Die another day
In a jarring yet amusing contrast to my review of Spill your gut, this kind of magical realist, down-to-earth guts and society horror is my jam. It’s (probably too) easy to see the constant dying as a symbolism for any form of affliction or social stigma. This could easily be a groundhog day break the cycle kind of puzzle game, but what this actually reminded me of was Depression Quest. You have choices, but you cannot win. There is no best path through this.
It felt to me very existentalist in just the everyday banality of dying. Another game I’d like to see expanded!
However, as the title reminded me of the existence of that godawful Madonna song and one of the lesser Bond movies, I have to give it 0 stars. Sorry Emery, try again tomorrow.
That last bit is a joke of course. I gave it 1 star.
1 Like
Jumpscare Manor
I knew exactly what was coming and it STILL got me.
2 Likes
how to fly a kite
Another beautifully written little game, based on a poem. I really like to overall game mechanic, which actually enriched the melancholic and haunting tone of the whole thing.
3 Likes
Thank you, Taleslinger, for playing our games. If you feel like finding out what some of the authors can do with a little bit of more time, Spring Thing is our main training grounds. I always suggest the authors to keep their nick, so that their growth is traceable.
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Such a touching review! I’ve grappled with the “weird fiction” label, because the absurdism and “horror of the banal” aspects of a lot of my writing make it appropriate, but the tentpole works in the genre make one expect tentacles, other dimensions, or characters with lollipops for heads. And I worry that if I label it “weird fiction” but it doesn’t deliver those things, it’ll detract from the legitimately weird horror aspects of the story.
Anyway, that’s just ridiculous handwringing. Like I said, your review means a lot to me.
I wish I could play your game! I don’t know if there’s a translator for parser games. My French mother-in-law actually copy/pasted each page of my game into Deepl to play it, and said that worked for her. She’s hardcore. But a parser game is a whole other translation puzzle!
I’m following you for future offerings I might be able to read.
Thanks again for reading/playing!
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Thank you for your kind words. People have played it using translators, but even native speakers had trouble with some of the puzzles, so I’m not sure I’d recommend that approach.
I’ve actually written some games in English in the past, even for Ectocomp. 
But I’m working on an update version of “the oldest hangover on Earth”, so if I had to recommend anything, it’d be this (also horror):
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Fantastic, thank you! I can’t wait!
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Last-Minute Magic
I love Ryan’s writing and I am amazed by both the quality and quantity of his output. This kind of optimization puzzle is not my cup of tea at all (20+ games to go too!), but I’m happy to see people are already engaging with it and figuring out the puzzle. It’s worth a look even if you don’t want to engage though, Ryan’s writing and humor are top-notch as always.
2 Likes
Ressurection Gate
This game looks and sound gorgeous. The illustration both of the world and the characters really helped set the mood. This being a demo, an introduction, I had some trouble grasping the plot, but that is to be expected and I’d certainly like to see more of this. The one distraction was the oddly modern sounding monk, which took me out of the story a few times.
All in all an interesting beginning and I’d certainly check out the finished version.
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39 trillion and one
Well, it was certainly not a good idea to play this while getting over a cold. The writing here is really good but often borders (order gleefully runs past the border of) the overwrought, but for the most part it work disgustingly well. There is not much substance, as can be expected from a petit morte game, but it felt like one of those well done short story or short movies that go straight for the gut (yes yes), and don’t let go. A great, nasty little piece with a very funny trigger warning.
2 Likes
“The Lighthouse” was great!
Some fun surprises hidden in there.
spoilers
I got a few different endings:
- I died.
- I became the fish-child’s caregiver.
- I left to alert the authorities.
I don’t think I used the bronze key for anything…
And I assume the cast is just for flavor and doesn’t serve a story function? Same with the flare gun? I was keen to find uses for them.
2 Likes
The cast just was to limit your movement a bit. I assume you’ve tried shooting the fish-child with the flare gun? That should work.
1 Like
Contaminated space
The writing and the setup here is really good. I feel due to the petit-morte of it all the ideas here don’t really have the breathing room they deserve. Yet another game I’d like to see expanded, with maybe more options and somewhat less vague wordbuilding.
Familiar Problems
Games built around a unqiue mechanic are usually great fun, and this was no exception. I did need one or two nudges, otherwise the puzzles were fair and interesting (and funny). There is a lot more potential, so once again, please make an expanded version of this!
1 Like