For Lila by MUSE
Playtime: 9 minutes
This made me want to talk about:
- Not sure I’ve specifically verbalized this before, although I’ve probably come close, but you really can’t go too wrong with telling me I’m a [martial artist, cyborg, warlock, etc.] on a quest for [bloody vengeance, to avoid someone else’s bloody vengeance, redemption after past incidents of bloody vengeance, etc.] and this is a case in point! I enjoyed exploring all the endings, which was pretty quick and punchy to do.
- I enjoyed the killing Marisha scene. “SQUELCH” indeed.
- Like many, I’m not a fan of timed text. There was only a limited amount here, but it did grate, particularly on re-play.
Notable line:
My one fervent wish:
One thing people talk about with regard to writing is the “causal chain,” or the idea that everything that happens should be connected in a series of causes and effects (A happens, which causes B, which causes C, etc.). Readers like this because it connects events, makes developing events feel satisfying, lets the reader anticipate what might happen next, etc. (Of course like all common writing structures and tropes this can also be subverted for effect.)
I think in general this game is following that model, but there were a few places it felt less believable to me because the it didn’t make as much sense why event A caused event B.
further spoilery explanation behind the cut, spoilers not further marked
For example, if the player chooses to shake Marisha’s hand on the train, then without further player input the player-character recognizes Marisha, confronts her, gets into a physical fight with her, and loses. (If you do not shake, you get the same reveal but then have the option to not fight.)
Now I assume the intention was for the player to feel a bit surprised about that outcome (“oh no, look at what this choice I made led to”). It’s totally valid to want to surprise the player in that way, but I think it requires a bit more on-the-page work to justify what happens so that the player feels more like “oh wow, I did not realize events would develop like that” and less like “now the author is just arbitrarily making things happen.” (To again digress, the author Brandon Sanderson talks about how plot events should feel both (1) surprising and (2) inevitable. Although it can be tough to hit, I do think that’s a good zone to stay in–events are not the MOST OBVIOUS thing the reader might expected, but also feel earned / logical. Of course this can be a hard zone to hit.)
Even a small amount of explanation can go a long way. Still thinking about that specific scene, maybe Marisha holds on to the player-character’s hand during the handshake and won’t let go during everything that follows so the player-character has to fight to get their hand back (whereas if they hadn’t shaken the hand they wouldn’t have that problem). Or maybe things go as they do in the game, they talk for a bit and then the player-character feels emotionally overwhelmed and attacks, but right before the attack the player-character recognizes the distinctive smell of Marisha’s hand lotion, which is a substance she wore because it specifically enrages vampires or something.
Double-checking the causal relationships of each choice and bulking some up would really help the plot feel coherent and help events hit that surprising/yet inevitable sweet spot.
Overall, a short, energetic, campy piece exploring cycles of violence that doesn’t wear out its welcome. Would benefit from another few passes of polish.
Gameplay tips / typos
There are many typos, for example, I corrected two just in the pull quote above:
Plopping the complete text into a text editor like MS Word or google docs would catch these.