Uninteractive Fiction 2 by Leah Thargic
I wasn’t going to write a review of this. I’m rather despairing at the length of the reviews some other reviewers have been writing about it.
I preferred last year’s entry. Narrowly. Please can we have no #3. Because the joke’s worn thin. Very thin. Thanks.
The Burger Meme Personality Test by Carlos Hernandez
This is a very silly game, spoofing bonkers personality tests that some companies - astonishingly - use for potential employees.
You can play through very quickly, although you may not get to the end. It’s up to you whether you aim to choose the answers likely to get you the job, or choose answers that reflect your own personal views, or “What on Earth is all this?!” answers. Or just try to subvert the whole thing.
I played through a couple of times, getting part way through initially, then all the way through the second time around. Including a fun coda.
Very much not serious. Made me laugh. Trivial, but fun.
Though beware if you’re scared of clowns …
Putting “Trivial, but fun” on my headstone. Very much appreciate you playing!
Frankenfingers by Charles Moore
Onto this parser game, which uses verse for its descriptions and responses. Which I have to admit took a little while for me to get used to. In particular my usual quick scan of the text for key things to note for was trickier initially with verse than prose! But I adjusted, quite quickly, and I think the author has overall managed this aspect well.
You play a disembodied hand, in a Frankenstein’s Monster situation. I’m currently watching Wednesday on Netflix, so was constantly reminded of her friend Thing …
The game is ambitious, with a fairly large map, which grows as you play through. Lots of small puzzles to work through. And much plot to uncover.
My favourite puzzle was a movement one, which made me think of a notable game in last year’s competition, but this one works differently, in an original way. Which made me laugh a lot. And I also adored another puzzle, involving some sports equipment.
I’m always a sucker for gothic horror IF games with comedy touches. And this truly delivered, in an extremely satisfying way. The parser experience was smooth, and the writing - once I’d adjusted, fairly quickly, to verse form - was a delight. The puzzles were a good mix of difficulty, and the game also made excellent use of various NPCs.
I really enjoyed that immensely. Thoroughly recommended.
For the author I noticed a few small typos:
Its presence in here seems quite out of keeping, it’s decor in this pit quite mismatched.
Manuevering the limb, a trophy quite grim, you turn the sconce on command.
It’s not possible to get onto the machines machinery contraptions.
Escape the Pale by Novy Pnin
This game explores eastern Europe during the time of the pogroms against the Jewish population. And it’s a thought-provoking piece, no wonder given the subject matter.
It’s very old-style. I could imagine playing this on a very early micro computer, in the early 1980s, maybe typed in from a BASIC code listing in a book. The interface is extremely old style too, sparse black text on a white background. It felt very reminiscent of several play-by-mail games I’ve played, especially trading games.
You start in a city that specialises in a certain type of goods, and have the opportunity to buy some or many of these, and travel to other cities to sell them, and buy other things. The sale prices offered elsewhere are revealed to you in the city where you first buy the goods, so you have to keep track of the numbers, and figure out what and how much to buy where, and then where to travel to sell it on. The ultimate goal is to escape the Pale of Settlement, the cost of which varies depending on the route you take. So you’d want to earn as much money as possible to accomplish that.
A knowledge of eastern European geography would help when travelling between the cities. But Google Maps can come to the rescue if need be. Often as you trade between cities things seem calm. But sometimes the atmosphere is tense, and you may hear rumours of a coming pogrom. Even when it’s calmer there’s an underlying fear, and I was aware of this as I played.
There are many endings. I replayed several times within half an hour to explore various options. You’re told that bad things are happening in one area. So I had to go check that in one play, to see what happened, and learn history from the experience. Another city I was travelling to suffered a pogrom while I was there. And I managed a couple of endings where I escaped, by boat or train. But a bittersweet escape.
The author wrote the game for their children, to share the stories that they had heard from their family members. It’s powerful stuff. And definitely made me want to read more about the history.
I sort of wish the game had been developed a bit more in terms of user interface, and styling, and also descriptions. This could have made it both more user friendly to interact with (for example navigating the geography, and choosing the options at each point, including trading choices) and increase the emotional heft. But it’s a personal piece, and its old-style approach does feel appropriate.
The Semantagician’s Assistant by Lance Nathan
Onto this parser game, where you’re going through an unorthodox job interview with a magician.
I tried to play this game previously, but found it far too hard and impenetrable. I don’t think my brain was awake enough for the mental gymnastics required. I don’t always get on well with word puzzling games! And I was also waking during a period of extremely heavy sedation due to my neurological illness.
However I’ve come back to it later, and got through to the end, with only a little help from the walkthrough. And I was honestly thoroughly enchanted.
After an initial opening puzzle you are in a single room, with various pieces of magical equipment, each of which can manipulate things. Can you find a way out?
Going on my experiences, I think once your brain gets attuned to the ideas involved it can be a lot of fun. The talking magician’s rabbit stuck in the room with you is also good at giving hints if needed, albeit with a hefty dose of sarcasm at times. And there is a clear walkthrough to turn to if needed.
Even in this second play through I alternated between anguished struggles at times, and then sheer unadulterated joy at solving particular puzzles. I still have to explain to my husband why I shouted “I’ve got a SOMETHING!” just a few minutes ago.
There is a later puzzle that’s more time consuming, and I think too hard. But otherwise, admittedly on my second go, I think it’s a charming game.
Thanks especially to the author for the end of game author’s note we can read. I really like it when authors provide extra features like this at the end of games, whether parser or choice/web/click. It gives the player a bit more insight into the author’s thinking about the game, and can also help us decompress. I enjoyed reading it.
Now puzzling what score I should give this, after my initial hiccup … I am very glad I came back to try again.
Fantasy Opera: Mischief at the Masquerade by Lamp Post Projects
Onto this choice-based (written in Ink) mystery game, set in a fantasy version of 17th century Venice. You’re an investigator, solving a mystery at a theatre and an upcoming opera performance. With lots of NPCs to talk to and a conspiracy to unmask.
I enjoyed so much about this. The worldbuilding of the fantasy style Venice is very well done, especially in the writing, but the character artwork also adds to it. The mystery is fun to investigate, with lots of lines to pursue. And I was gripped playing through to the very end, thoroughly invested in the investigation, and extremely happily working my way towards the solution. Which I managed all but one part of without hints.
The game uses stats and random dice rolls for some of its clue finding, providing a fun random element. You are invited at the start of the game to decide which areas your character has particular strengths in. You then have more chance of succeeding at dice rolls for clues in those areas of enquiry than others. And you may also just pick up extra clues as you go along. For example my character had special skills in music, so was automatically picking up lots of clues along the way about the opera and some of the specialised musical elements within it.
The game just feels rock solid. You can save and load, which works fine. Better than some choice games. And I didn’t run into any problems with the interface or mechanism. There’s also a quite superb in-game note taking system that you can refer to that keeps track of the clues and information you discover, as well as further leads that you can pursue. An extremely smooth playing experience.
I’m not doing the best job probably at selling this. I don’t really want to give away spoilers. But, safe to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend this game to any fans of IF, opera, Venice, or a good mystery.
I also appreciated the behind the game notes that you can read at the end. As I’ve said a few times, I always like touches like that. And there’s a walkthrough if you need it, as well as in game hints. I used the latter which is why I ended up with 90/100 points by the end (-10 for using the hints!).
Great stuff!
Lady Thalia and the Case of Clephan by N. Cormier and Emery Joyce
Onto this choice piece, the latest in a series of light heist mysteries, where you play a lady thief in what feels like a 1920s/flapper/Bertie Wooster type world (though on rechecking I think it might be a little earlier, and e.g. Edwardian?). Though things are a little different this time, because you’re now working as a private detective. But your thieving skills are still relevant and sometimes needed …
As always with Lady Thalia this was a delightful game. It’s well written, with a light touch throughout. The game play is a well-balanced mix of social interactions, investigation and theft. Nicely done. There’s a multi-faceted and intriguing plot to uncover, with strong NPCs and locations to explore. The heist scenes are well implemented in the choice interface, and fun to play through as you investigate locations and manipulate objects, almost in a parser style, but smoothly done in choice. It also moves the wider plot of the Lady Thalia story on nicely.
Though it is the latest in an ongoing series, you don’t have to have played the previous games to enjoy this. It’s quite self introductory. And also very forgiving to the player, which is nice, especially when there are trickier puzzles to deal with. I found play often a tense experience, and was feeling nerves at many points. Not least because while playing I thought there wasn’t a save/load game facility. It was very subtly hiding at the top left in the user interface, so I only noticed it later after reading other reviews!
The game is listed with a run time of up to two hours. I played for 55 minutes - I’m quite a quick reader, and make choices quickly and impulsively. There’s no backtracking available on choices, or opportunity to reread previous pages. Which I rather regretted, as I forgot some details. But luckily game play doesn’t rely on you remembering everything.
One bit I found confusing was when the point of view switched between two different characters in the middle of an investigation. The colours changed on screen to help, but I felt confused about who was who at that point. Though that might just be me …
Anyway, recommended, whether or not you’ve played the series before.
Thanks so much for your review! We’re glad you enjoyed it.
Who Whacked Jimmy Piñata? by Damon L. Wakes
Onto this parser game, the latest in a series of whodunnits, involving characters made of candy, in a hardboiled detective setting.
I’ve enjoyed the previous games, but this felt more polished, and also smoother for me to play through. For example the room descriptions have intriguing objects highlighted in bold, which is a fairly small thing to implement, but makes life a lot easier and quicker for the player, without being too easy.
As a player of previous games in this series the setting was familiar, with a number of returning characters too. But it’s totally accessible to newcomers, and self introductory. One early hiccup I had was not realising what a piñata was. Cultural short falls. And then being very amused, in a black humour kind of way, once the penny dropped.
There’s a relatively small number of locations, and not too many puzzles, but a good number of NPCs to interact with. And the plot moves on nicely. I was especially gobsmacked when an action sequence kicked off, even if it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realise how to end it.
I did run into some parser issues, especially with doors which seemed to be my nemeses (multiple doors in one location, and in another rather muddled responses depending on door or doors). But generally things worked smoothly.
There are no in-game hints but there is a walkthrough. Which is done in a nice way, focused around the locations. Thank you to the author for including that. I did turn to it at times, though it took me a little too long to find the answer to probably the hardest puzzle. Which is tricky to find in the walkthrough as structured at the moment …
But yes, a fun game, and an interesting mystery to uncover. With the need for you to find solid evidence to successfully accuse the right person when the time comes. Very nicely done. I would happily play yet another in this series!
Afraid that’s me reached the end of my playing, judging and reviewing of IFComp 2025. I got through 21 games in the end. Which, given how seriously ill I am, is pretty good going.
Apologies to those folks whose games I didn’t get to. You are all brilliant, creating new stories and games for folks like me to play and enjoy. Well done! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I’d also like to thank my fellow reviewers. I’ve hugely enjoyed reading your reviews, often after writing my own, and pondering my score. Reviewing takes a lot of effort, and I hugely appreciate it as a player. It’s also important for authors.
And thanks to all the play testers who helped make games better. And, of course, to the competition organisers.
Looking forward to the results. And hopefully I’ll be back as a contestant next year. Just have to finish my game first … 