Wolfbiter reviews IFComp 2024 - latest: Eikas; wrap-up

You by Carter X Gwertzman
Playtime: 33 minutes

The one where: you search for pronouns in the woods

This game has a pleasing fable-like atmosphere, with talking animals giving you quests and supernatural elements. I did enjoy helping the goat and crow complete their ritually-obligated nuptials. The central theme is the PC’s alienation / loss of sense of identity.

The game offered accessibility options at the start, which I didn’t take, although I did almost wish I had later (the text color used for the word “snake” matched the background color too closely in same places, “you” also matched the background text too closely in the blue area).

I enjoyed the puzzles pretty well for about 90%, there were some fun little mechanics that meshed well with the relaxed-woods vibe. I got a bit stuck then, and unfortunately there’s no hints or walkthrough available, although I think one or both is generally a good idea in any game that is even slightly puzzly. Anyhow, the problem that I was having was that I couldn’t figure out how to get the mushrooms to talk to me, which I think involves becoming more like them. I resolved this by changing my color from the side-menu in the pane? Which seemed like it was maybe a left-over from debugging and not intentional? But that worked and I was not really feeling it enough to find another way. (I suspect the answer has something to do with the river because I noticed that while floating in it, there was a message about feeling like the color was leeching out of me, but I couldn’t figure out how to get that to work.)

At the end, I kind of thought I might get to select a cool neopronoun but it’s just different versions of “you.” Which made me realize I had somewhat misunderstood what the PC was looking for the whole time, but so it goes.

Front matter
Could better set the table for the game Successfully sets the table for the game Successfully sets the table for the game PLUS

Overall, I enjoyed the soothing atmosphere and light puzzle aspects.

6 Likes