Tiny-Sized Reviews (all 145+ entries)! Another Neo-Twiny Jam Edition

Over the Top, by solipsistgames

Over the Top is a micro interactive poem, meant as a tribute to the fallen during the Great War (WWI). In a trench somewhere in northern France, a soldier readies himself for a battle, recalling words from his friend Charlie to settle himself. While you do not affect the overall story (like a single soldier would not drastically affect the events of a war like this), you may affect the current state of your surrounding and comrades (would they survive just a bit longer? or are their fate ultimately death?), as well as the formatting of one of the poem’s line. Though I am not much for poetry, it was a neat piece to interact with.

4 Likes

In the Cards, by Sophia de Augustine

In the Cards is a kinetic Twine piece, as a snippet for a future project, following Donovan interacting with an unnamed (probably inebriated) man he feels he must bring home. It is a very atmospheric entry, focused on the details (small objects in hands, short movements, glances). Saying just enough to get a hazy picture of the scene, but not enough to feel satisfied. Like a good excerpt, it leaves you wanting more

4 Likes

Food Offering, by Diomhair

Food Offering is a micro fantasy Twine, in which you must deal with a rude fae. Like the title suggests, a food offering is in order to be free. Just a bite and a drink. You have a choice of snack to offer, and a drink-mixing mini-puzzle to complete. But you must watch out: if you choose the wrong combination, you’ll get cursed!
It’s a really cute short game, with adorable illustrations. It was fun trying to get all the different endings.

4 Likes

pavement & rain, by Marina Yesari

pavement & rain is a short Twine conversation between a doctor and a failed nurse following the death of a young girl. Between the voiced words and the retrospection, the prose tell us with little words about the bleak setting, the current situation of the characters and their relationship. Yet, it leaves us with even more questions.

4 Likes

vanitas, by Lapin Lunaire

vanitas is a gothic interactive piece, following the death of an immortal, exploring grief and love for the departed. The prose is very luscious and delectable, full of imagery. The hurt is omnipresent, as the variation options often go from bad to worse, and the end made uncertain, leaving you to endlessly cycle through the final option. Surrounding the text are illustrations of lilies, symbolising purity and rebirth (an opposition to the characters), often used for funeral and burials. Very atmospheric and tragic.

6 Likes

would you remember, by blood-teeth

would you remember is a kinetic Twine one-sided conversation between a recently passed woman and her still-living wife. It is a piece about grief and love, and those we leave behind. It is strange how it gives a raw depiction of grief from an outsider onlooker (the woman is “present” but only in a spectral? sense), yet still be so personal in the choice of details depicted. An emotional out-of-body monologue.

lol two entries in a row talking about death… yay for me :sob:

4 Likes

Liminal, by Jaylus

Liminal is a micro visual novel about two exes meeting each other on the street by accident, and strike up an awkward conversation… or are they?
This short-VN, with gorgeous (hand-painted!!!) visual and impeccable voice-acting does a great job at portraying that first meeting post-breakup, when things have sort of settled, but still hurt. The familiarity between two people, but forced somewhat to be distance, even with lingering feelings. The attention to certain details might seem strange, until the end. Then everything get into places, and it feels much sadder than it started.
A gorgeous piece!

4 Likes

A Mind to Call Home, by cpollett

A Mind to Call Home is a tiny adventure where you play as a Space parasite worm, jumping from one host to the next (or not) in hopes to live a long life an die of old age. There seem to be three major deeds to achieve between four hosts. So you need to balance your health and the host’s to get to them. I don’t think it’s possible to do more than one at a time? Some seemed easier than others (I reached one of them on my first run).

3 Likes

To Let Go, by Max Fog

To Let Go is a short interactive exploration piece between the ever changing state of nature and bustling speed of change in cities. Though, it seems somewhat a rejection of modernity, looking down on the city “winning” the fight against the woods, technological advancement ruining the natural state of the world. Maybe a bit naive in its nihilistic view. Disregarding the beauty and good.
I don’t know what to make of the interactivity. Coupled with timed text, you go back and forth between passages as some paths are locked until you see a specific text. I wasn’t always sure whether I needed to wait longer to see if a new link would pop up or if I had to try another path first. I did like the different text animation between the “city” and the “forest” sections.

Curse the timed text!

3 Likes

you are an ancient chinese poet in exile, by KA Tan

you are an ancient chinese poet in exile is a short poetic day in the life of an Ancient Chinese poet in exile. Almost kinetic, with subtle variation between your choice of activities, you wake up in a beautiful scenic location, alone and maybe a bit lonely too, filling your day with distractions and reminiscing over your fate, sealing the day with a few poetic lines. It is delightful, both in the calmness of the setting, the bitterness of past events, and the melancholy of it all. Lovely!

4 Likes

Oh No: My Hot Coworkers Keep Turning Me On!, by vermis

Oh No: My Hot Coworkers Keep Turning Me On! is a tease of a tiny entry, where you play as a horny space farer trying to cross their ship. But their path is crossed by their many hot coworkers, doing this and that, in very enticing positions (or so you, a pervert sees as). You can either be a peeper and gawk at your coworkers (learn about who they are, how they look, what they are doing), or pass by and keep to yourself. But peep too much and you’d burst!

For the little words available, it’s very tame. But I’d definitely play a longer version of this game!

3 Likes

The eight-headed giant, by zeno pillan

A PARSER YALL!!! WE ACTUALLY GOT A PARSER :green_heart:

The eight-headed giant is a micro parser where you are some sort of fantasy office drone about to go face your eight-headed giant boss, and do an important presentation. But before you get into it sword swinging, you need to go around the office and get ready (i.e. collect all that you need). It’s pretty railroady and simple to solve, but I still manage to get stuck because I forgot to do the most important thing: FACE the giant xD
Also a neat thing: it has cool ASCII art!

(for some reason I couldn’t get the transcript back :confused: )

5 Likes

Kel Versus the Kitchen, by Tabitha / alyshkalia

heyyy same gameplay as their first entry :joy:

Kel Versus the Kitchen is a short meter-sensitive Twine, where you play as teenage Kel, walking in on a frenzy family affair, of getting ready for dinner. Before you can even take off your shoes, you are commandeered to do this and that, and blamed for things essentially out of your control. The entry does a pretty good job at depicting that stressful moment before guests arrive and nothing is truly ready. Very chaotic!! Depending on the choices made, which may decrease your/everyone’s patience, you will get one of the four endings, from frustrating to cathartic. But it’s pretty fun to try to find them all!

5 Likes

I Have Something Important to Tell You, by KnightAnNi

I Have Something Important to Tell You is a short kinetic entry about depression and communicating personal experiences with this illness with their young child. While I question the phrasing of some sentences to be age-appropriate (to the hypothetical five-year old), it still can be an important discussion to have, especially with de-stigmatising the use of pills to combat the illness.

4 Likes

Roboto, by Maliface

Roboto is a sci-fi horror kinetic piece, where you follow a robotic scientist waking up in their dark lab, looking for their phone. Forced to rely only on touch, you explore the lab, in search for the item, second guessing every sound and everything. The minimalist prose gives off an uneasy atmosphere, with the descriptions of the inanimate robots challenging their lifeless state. It is subtle, but enough to make you feel that shiver running down your spine.

4 Likes

My Grandfather’s Clock, by Kessie-Louise

My Grandfather’s Clock is a short piece where you must decide what to do with your grandfather’s broken clock after his passing. Between fixing or selling it, you have little choice in the matter at the end. Like your forefather, it is stubborn and unmoving. You could try to change it, but it will take effort that may not be worth the headache down the line. The parallel made between the clock and its former owner in the text made me chuckle a bit – I know a few grandpas like that one…

yay! I’m fully up to date now :partying_face:
I can finally start working on my own entries :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

Welp, it’s been a few days and a half-dozen entries have popped so… lesgo!

He Knows That You Know and Now There’s No Stopping Him, by Charm Cochran

He Knows That You Know and Now There’s No Stopping Him is the first entry of the RBG trilogy, inspired by the Bluebeard tale, a dialogue between wife and husband. In this first act, you are the last of Bluebeard’s wives, caught in the act of disobeying him (i.e. finding the bloody basement). Threatened by your husband, as were the others, you must find a way to escape the deadly fate that awaits you. And so, with a concealed knife, you wait for the perfect moment to strike.

Though there are multiple choices and paths for dialogue (from pleading for mercy to downright be antagonistic), there is only one ending to reach. All fates are sealed after all.

The dialogue is smooth, which ever path taken, building tension until the culminating point (that moment was a bit jarring, with the prose moving to a more modern English compared to the rest of the text). With such an eventful final action, I’ve been impatiently waiting to see what the other two Acts will bring…

5 Likes

just a poem, by arjie

(the shortest Neo-Twiny entry to date!)

just a poem is, like its name suggests, a micro poem. With four short stanza, the bleak and gruesome poem paints a memorable image. The effect is enhanced by the type-writing effect, as it slowly reveals the bloody words.

3 Likes

Alone in the Tower, by BNT

Alone in the Tower is a short fantasy Twine piece where you are locked in a tower, forgotten and cursed. As you watch life continuing on outside of your window, you must find the courage and motivation to attempt an escape (and continuing to push through to break the different blocks in your way). Or you can, at every step, riddled with doubts, give up and return to the comfort of your room, letting life pass you by again…
It was neat the see the background changing as you move along the path.

3 Likes

Paralysis, by Tris Perrillon

Paralysis is a short Twine piece about sleep paralysis and the panicky state you can fall into when your mind is awake but your body doesn’t respond. In this strange state, you attempt to find a way to reconnect body and mind, in one way or another (sometimes, waiting is all that can help). With animated text shacking or blurring into focus, as well as a heavy hand with timed element, the piece creates an uncomfortable atmosphere, reminding you time and time again of the little agency you have in the situation.

3 Likes