The Little Match Girl Approaches the Golden Firmament by Ryan Veeder
Playtime: 53 minutes
This made me want to talk about:
- We’re back with Ebenezabeth, the compelling main character from other games in this IP. (“She is a strong young woman with flaxen curls and hard eyes, a woman who rarely smiles, a woman whose conscience forbids her any rest.” I did just say I found this compelling, although also: concerning vis-a-vis Ebenezabeth’s mental health!).
- This game is a maximalist melange of genre elements that—somehow—coheres. The gun-toting protagonist travels through time and space as she contends with her adversaries (slime creature, evil unicorn, prince, etc.). Said adversaries snark relentlessly as they try to enslave a mythological bird-spirit (?), and destroy a planet of prebiotic soup(?). The combination of all this truly went down delightfully.
- The writing is very funny, especially the dialogue, especially especially the overheard dialogue from the villain cast. (Fortunately I play mobas, so I’m accustomed to trying to use my abilities while my enemies are trash talking me.)
- Ok, let us discuss Timed Elements.
- I was glad the blurb flagged this up front! I also agree with the game intro, which recommends playing in one uninterrupted chunk of time.
- Now, thinking about what a time limit changes in a game. It’s interesting. Most obviously, a time limit is a constraint: if you cannot x within the time limit, then you won’t be able to complete the game. But also, a time limit is an ASSURANCE, a promise to the player: it will be possible for you to x within the time limit. There’s one type of timed game that expects that the player will need to replay multiple times to perfect their run, and ideally this type of game is streamlined and non-frustrating to re-play. But I had the tentative read (partly based on the amount of plot, and length) that this game was the other type—where the intention was that most people “on-sight” the whole game, and that meant the game was making an additional promise to the player—it will be possible for you to complete this game within the time limit and you will do so on your first try. Can we tell that I am very impressed that the game, indeed, accomplished this? (!!)
- I generally found the timer more on the fun-burst-of adrenaline side than too stressful, though I’m curious how others found it, since I know from reading reviews that reactions to timed elements vary a lot. (And that said, I definitely do think the timed nature degraded my problem-solving ability some, and I didn’t try to map out the ship because I wasn’t sure if I would have time.)
- Segueing from that, in general I found the game a master class at meeting the player where they are and motivating the player to take required actions. This begins with the design of the layout and the puzzles (the map is very navigable even by a mildly frantic non-notetaking person, and I take it the hand of a kindly creator is responsible for the fact that the navigation system is on the Nigredo deck and the reactor core is on the Rubedo deck), and continues during play when the game gently draws your attention in the right direction if you seem to be struggling (e.g., “The scanning lens subtly moves its reticle over the coolant pipe.”). I found it very appropriately tuned to me to be in the sweet spot of very achievable feeling but also providing a sense accomplishment.
- In past games by Ryan, I have definitely sensed a pacifist-adjacent agenda, which is out in full force here (not a criticism, I like that)
- I appreciated that “thank ____” is implemented. I often find I want to thank people!
- Did anyone find a useful time to RAGE? Or perhaps we are to conclude that raging is never useful?
Notable line: There were many contenders, but because of its absolutely GUT PUNCH intensity in context, I will take [major spoiler] “His gauntlet is stained with blood and dark smudges.” DARK SMUDGES! DARK SMUDGES!!!
Honorable mention:
My one fervent wish:
actually, no notes
Overall, an engrossing and hilarious romp through space and time that made me feel taken care of as a player the entire way
wolfbiter TLMGATGF - Copy.txt (104.0 KB)
Gameplay tips / typos
For the record, I think there are contextually available hints (under the command “hint 2”) although I didn’t try them.
That said, the one place I found the in-game cueing a bit insufficient was at the finale. Specifically, I was mildly annoyed that, when the intended solution *is* having Hrieman carry your mouse form, the parser reacted neutral or disfavorably to attempting ”hrieman, carry me” and “ask hrieman to carry me.” [I assume this is covered in the hints, but a solution is to just turn into a mouse and then “jump on hrieman”