The Apothecary’s Assistant by Allyson Gray
Playtime:1 hour 30 minutes (as of now–I suspect there may be furher in-game plot coming tied to the real-world calendar, but I am as finished as I can be without messing with my system time)
The one where: we pick up shifts at the cozy magic store
I feel I should note at the outset that cozy fiction is not my #1 genre (“cozy” meaning fiction that’s kinder and gentler than the norm, the cast is probably up-to-date on their therapy and well-intentioned, conflict focuses on small scale issues). I enjoy it at times, especially if I’m really feeling like I want a respite, but at other times it reveals my pot-stirring urge to cause drama myself, then.
In general I was able to appreciate the cuteness here. The lineart accompanying some days was very cute. Not a lot was asked of me on a daily basis as a player, but that can be soothing in a way (it felt sort of having a tamagotchi–I was going to be offered some tasks every day but they were very manageable and the game was going to praise me for doing them). If anything, I wish there was a bit more building and complicating what has already happened. Once, I recall the storeroom task asked me to remember something from a week ago, which I absolutely could not do, but if there was anything else with memory I didn’t notice it.
The plot moment after solving the cryptic clues was probably the most emotionally hard-hitting bit in the piece, and I did like the additional layers it gave the characters. (I wouldn’t have minded if it had been foreshadowed a bit more–sure, maybe Aïssatou reasonably doesn’t want to bring it up to the PC, but if one of the customers or something mentioned the issue as gossip it would feel less out-of-the-blue when it happens).
real-time elements
It’s a cool idea to include real-time elements in the game.
I initially had some hesitation about committing to keeping game files for that long (I drop tabs like Taylor Swift drops boyfriends and generally have a no-cookie policy). But I went ahead and added some exceptions and was successfully able to play for around 12 days without losing my progress (it did seem like generally you had to fully close and re-open the window to get a new shift).
It did create some interesting effects. It seems like the “type” of shift repeats across the weeks, which gives an interesting feeling of texture and the world continuing without you, as well as gives the opportunity to build a routine if there’s a certain slot that you really like (assuming, of course, that that slot falls in a real-life time when you’re available). And it definitely hit in a way I’ve never felt in IF before to hear NPCs talking about October 13, start thinking “I wonder when that is in game-time” and realize that they meant the actual October 13 from my calendar.
Psychologists talk about the “mere exposure effect” where people tend to like things more as they see them more (the theory behind advertising, I guess, and I’ve also heard people posit this is why we like, say, serialized TV). And mobile games etc. have definitely jumped on board with mechanics where you are supposed to check in every day for some reward to build a habit of engagement with the game.
It definitely worked on me and I could feel that I was becoming more fond of the game just because I was returning multiple times.
cryptic clues
I say this more often re: parsers, but let me once more deliver my cri de cœur: it’s 2024! walkthroughs / solutions should come standard with any game with puzzle-y elements!
I struggled with the cryptic clues. Your grit will vary, but I was pretty done after about a week of looking at my lingerers. I resolved the issue by throwing myself on the mercy of this forum (which more than answered the call), which worked, being required to issue a mildly self-esteem-endangering public plea was not a high point of the work for me, and there are no doubt people out there playing it who aren’t on the forum.
(Although my position statement is for full solutions [because anything less is still potentially gating people who want to finish your game out of doing that], I also think there are also some in-game ways hints could be provided—if you have the sheets for a certain amount of time letters start appearing? Make more sheets and require less than 100% completion? There could be some fun plot tie-ins.)
It also would have been nice to get some intermediate sense (maybe when the first sheet is completed) of what we’re doing them for. They felt pretty disconnected from the rest of the game until the very end.
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
The blurb conveys the real-time elements. I think it would be nice if it also conveyed something about the genre (cozy fantasy?) and gameplay (wordplay?).
Overall, a low-stress, soothing daily activity with a strenuous (for me) word puzzle tie-in.
Gameplay tips / typos
for anyone else struggling with the cryptic clues, the game-specific thread has some pretty robust hints for most or all of them
Thank you so much for your insightful and funny write-up; it was really lovely reading your thoughts and I’ll keep them in mind as I work on improving the game! The wholesome cozy vibe and the sense of novelty that you describe were two of my biggest targets, so knowing that those worked for you makes feel even more motivated to improve the rest of the formula.
I’m genuinely sorry for dropping the ball with the puzzle hints (or lack thereof)… I ended up overthinking things and I fell into the trap of fearing that too much available help would spoil the challenge. I’ve been preparing a couple of extra in-game hint channels for the upcoming update but I’ll also give the walkthrough option some more thought.
Just as a fun fact, there are two shifts that tie into Aïssatou’ story: the Sunday regular shares some light gossip on his first visit about her inability to prepare food for herself, and on the 4th Saturday shift you can help her muster up the courage to cook corn (as she’s been eating it raw). I’m hoping to add more of these kinds of elements to the shifts that are currently a bit bare!
Thanks again for your feedback and for the time you spent with the game, they’re greatly appreciated!
This ties into something I was thinking about, but didn’t mention because it seemed like I would be making assumptions about things I hadn’t seen myself, but writing the real-time format must also be a big challenge for the author: It would take a lot of effort to write thoughtful content like that for every slot, doing so might feel quixotic (in that most people won’t see it) . . . and in fact the game must be satisfying for people who miss really any arbitrary amount of it . . .
So I came around to thinking that actually “cozy” is sort of mandated by the format, because the daily events really can’t be tension-raising etc. or else it would not make sense to people who didn’t see that particular event.
Wow, I’m really impressed with your deductions!
It so happens that I helped Ally out with some of the coding for this game, and I can attest that she expressed that exact reasoning to me while she was planning out the shifts and interactions. Very cool that you picked up on all of that!
today’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games where you are a married person on a quest
The Deserter by MemoryCanyon
Playtime: 10 minutes (7 minutes to first ending)
The one where: you are a mech pilot deserting in the middle of a war.
This is a surprisingly poignant little story. What the war is about, or who the sides are, is never explained. There is one in-game explanation for why the PC is deserting, but there’s a lot more left unsaid that you can fill in yourself. The story is very human-level focused on the PC and characters you meet.
The writing seemed like an area for development but it didn’t get in the way of the game. There’s a decent amount of attention to physical terrain which did make me feel grounded. It didn’t give me a pulse-pounding “scared” feeling in the action sequences, but I thought the author was trying to accomplish for a more removed feeling.
I’m a softie about people so I appreciated the optimistic/ humanistic interpretation of most characters (i.e., the non-combatants you meet are mistrustful but do help you, your can successfully appeal to some of your former comrades
I was mildly annoyed at some of the “here’s a conversation, but it’s not over until you take every option” ones. Like, I guess I (the player’s) input is not needed for the story, so . . .
If I was trying to take this to the next level I would focus on is the writing. This is hard because writing can be effective in so many different ways, but this leaves me feeling like I’m telling “hey, just go wRiTe better” which isn’t very helpful. I think maybe just keep reading and writing in the genres of your choice, and particularly try to get a feeling of curiosity and technical study about why author’s you love do certain things.
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
It would be nice to note the mech elements, which may attract some readers.
Overall, told a simple but emotionally engaging story, didn’t overstay its welcome
Hebe by Marina Diagourta
Playtime: 1 hour 14 minutes (did not reach an ending)
The one where: puzzling is required to rescue the other Greek gods
This is a puzzle-focused game. It immediately sets on you on a quest, and I do appreciate that we get directly into it.
There’s an interesting contrast between some of the room descriptions, which are overly detailed, and the PC and NPC’s characterization and relationships, which are underdeveloped to the detriment of the emotional stakes of the game.
(It’s mildly annoying in a puzzle game when room descriptions are full of unnecessary details because it makes the player has to sort through plot-irrelevant chaff. So particularly in puzzle games it’s only a good idea to add more description if the additional description is really carrying its own weight in terms of specificity, mood, bravura writing, etc, which wasn’t the case here.)
The main strengths of the game were:
The demonstrable love of classical antiquity. You can see the omphalos and go to the Prytaneion in Athens! My usage of “agora” is probably going to increase now. (Longer tangent, but my brother recently was telling me about Seven Against Thebes, a story about seven heroes of the generation before the Iliad[one of them is Diomedes’s dad] [and we complain now about how so much media is sequels!], so every time I went to Thebes in the game I was like “Thebes mentioned!”).
The fast travel system. This is not a game where the logistics of sailing or horse-rental are going to slow you down. It has the action movie feeling of like, we need to go to Delphi? Smash cut to: Delphi. That’s fun!
What eventually got me was just a consistent feeling that the game was a bit buggy (I had to restore once when I was un-able to exit a location), plus the lack of a walkthrough. The puzzles are already fairly disconnected feeling from the game (i.e., they are classic puzzle formats without any in-universe explanation for why someone would build so many secret compartments)–that, coupled with the sort of low emotional stakes I mentioned earlier also made easier to disconnect from this game when it got bumpy.
I put some hints on the puzzles I solved under the cut in case it’s helpful to anyone else.
I will say though I actually was having a pretty good time while I was playing, the transition to “actually I’m done” was quick and didn’t really anger me, if that makes sense.
If I were the author, my priorities would be:
A walkthrough (I won’t re-type my entire Position Statement here, but I feel strongly about this!)
fixing some of the bugs
Expanding more on the PC and NPCs to give some more grounded feeling stakes to this. The most intriguing moment for me with the PC was when she charges at Kronos with a club in the first scene—is there a reason she specifically, out of all of the gods present, feels it’s her duty to fight him? Is that normal behavior for her? I think some additional backstory could go a long way. And the other gods who appear in the game don’t do very much, which is a missed opportunity.
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
We didn’t get much characterization for the PC during the game, but I like the attitude she’s giving on the cover.
Overall, I had fun with the puzzles I solved, but it had elements that pushed me away and not much “stickiness” to keep me going
Hints for the various locations I solved, in case they help anyone.
Temple of Poseidon (near Sounio)
hmm, the one thing that seems to stand out here is the column with the four rotatable rings
you need to rotate them
the command ”turn second ring” works (they just cycle through the available symbols)
the correct sequence is: top ring = barley, second ring = wheat, third ring = grapes, fourth ring = empty vine
Temple of the Aulidean Artemis (near Aulis)
hmmm if you look closely at the statue of Artemis there are locks on it
you have to find two keys nearby
if you look closely at the sundial, there’s a line about midday and midnight, and tells you the current time
you have to be at the sundial at noon and midnight. Strangely, the description for midnight notes that the sun is rising, putting me in the mind of one of those “you’re in the Arctic Circle” riddles
there’s a command ”wait 6 hours” (you choose the number). You can also use ”z” which seems to wait five minutes
when it is the right time, if you examine the sundial a hatch / drawer pops open, you can search the hatch / drawer and see a key
the keys need to be put into the locks on the Artemis statue, which can then be pushed away
the Necromanteion (near Ephyra)
actually getting in there is a bit weird. You have to guess from the description of “North of Ephyra” that it’s a location, and type “enter” (similar to how you enter the other temples from near the other cities)
have you tried talking to the priestess?
she will tell you it’s traditional to make a sacrifice
you can do that by ”put [thing] on altar”
I sacrificed the sun key (after using it to solve the other puzzle), probably other things are sacrificeable
this gives you an obol that you can give to Charon at East of Ephyra to go to the underworld
OK, I didn’t totally solve these but I have concepts of a plan
Prytaneion Hall (near Athens)
I didn’t finish so take with a grain of salt
the writing on the parchment decodes using caesar cipher to a message telling you to light torches 2, 3, 6, 7, 8
??? there’s probably something else
but if you think you have finished, you still need to find the trapdoor
by moving everything off the carpet and moving the carpet
Heroon of Kadmos (near Thebes)
I mean I didn’t finish so take with several grain of salt but it sure seems like you need to find six items elsewhere and then arrange them from lightest to heaviest in the pans
That being said I worry I softlocked my game in Kadmos, after I was there it wouldn’t let me go anywhere else (typing S had no effect), so maybe visit with caution
today’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games exploring the influence of a key (yet largely absent from the game) parental/mentor figure
Imprimatura by Elizabeth Ballou
Playtime: 14 minutes
The one where: we characterize our relationship with our dead mentor through painting-selection
Good use of sensory details in the descriptions:
I was emotionally engaged with the game and I enjoyed the mechanic of collecting memories. The warning that our choice would change the ending made me hesitate a bit to pick darker paintings—who deliberately wants a bad relationship with their mentor!–but that seemed out of the spirit of the exercise so I tried to suppress that feeling. What is the sweet without the bitter &c &c.
I liked the way different “hits” would be added to the soundtrack to represent each painting.
It struck me as interesting that the game does not offer you the option to go “back” to a painting you saw earlier (which you would have irl), although you can effectively do this by just clicking until you see it again (I may be a discriminating inheritor, because I was already seeing a good number of repeats before I tried that).
I’m not a visual arts expert, but my suspension of disbelief was suspended when I heard we were finishing the painting in one day (don’t we want to . . . plan or something? Aren’t we oil painting, a medium that can famously take weeks to dry between layers?)
I liked the concept of the final paintings, but in execution I think it would have been impossible to live up to what I was imagining (this is no slam on the provided art).
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
I especially liked the title, which has a literal meaning related to the game and also a metaphoric one (in that the limited memories we see of our relationship with our mentor is sort of a rough representation of our full relationship)
The Den by Ben Jackson
Playtime: 1 hour 14 minutes
The one where: teens piece together their unusual upbringing
I really enjoyed this one! It caught me up and I felt very compelled to keep playing until I got to the end. Has a very action/thriller feeling.
This has an engrossing plot. Using environmental storytelling to assembles clues about the sinister backstory . . . encountering ominous messages left by your dead predecessors, these are plot beats that I’m always going to be excited about.
I didn’t save any quotes but that may have more to do with me getting so distracted that I forgot to save any. The teenagers had some nice realistic character notes in the writing. I enjoyed the overall arc, especially the beats for the Father character in the last third or so. And the ending animation / sound I found very affecting.
The game did a really impressive job steering the player along the path to completion. I’m not sure there was a time in the entire game that I felt like I didn’t know where to do or what to be working on. Ymmv, but I’m a big fan of the way the game, for example, just makes you stay in a certain area if that’s the area with the next puzzle (and required reagents) sometimes. And as @DeusIrae noted, there are a fair amount of hints in the dialogue, but I think better too many than too few.
I liked the UI, especially the way travel was simplified once you had access to all of the rooms (and the automatic tracking of which terminals you had unlocked).
The pacing also just felt really great, like there was a steady delivery of points of interest. And the sequencing of the ending action sequences was really well done—I felt like I was being challenged to coordinate them, but very achievably, and I suspect that was difficult to arrange on the back end.
I encountered some bugginess: mostly minor (continuity issues: Aiden unscrewing the vent cover every time he goes through it, Vee kicking out the vent cover every time she encounters it) and one more major (at one point while Vee was in the area with the recharging room and the main vents the game stopped letting me switch back and forth between the PCs, even though Aiden needed to progress—like it thought it was switching and I would see the new name appear, but I would keep getting Vee’s description text. I had to reload a save to fix this).
This game also delivered a small amount of the “oh, it’s cool to be on a team” feeling. I like being on teams! The division of tasks between the two PCs was fun. But the effect was somewhat limited by the fact that I am, ultimately, both of them. I have zero suspense about if they should trust each other because I know the broad who’s playing both of them and she’s highly trustworthy.
And this led me to the half-formed thought, probably really not advisable . . . whispers: but what if it was two player? That must be incredibly difficult (and I mildly expressed last year that I thought to one multiplayer entry didn’t do enough with the concept) but this would be so great with a Portal 2 like experience. Anyhow, forgive my extremely aspirational brainstorming.
Oh and I wish I knew how to get that last 3% survivability rating . . .
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 thought an extraordinarily well-paced cinematic sci-fi experience
Hey, thanks so much for playing and for your review. Sorry you found a bug there, just to check - was it the original ‘launch’ version you played or the updated ‘play online’ version on the IFComp site? Bugs should be fixed, but I probably need to double-check just incase!
Really interesting point re. multiplayer, I was kind of going for the feeling of one person switching between both characters and making choices for both of them, but a multiplayer version could be great too (although, I have absolutely no idea technically how that could be done!).
I played online, probably around Sept 21, so I’m pretty sure it was the updated version.
To try to be as specific as possible, in case it helps, it happened when Aiden was getting the screwdriver and Vee was in the recharge room area. I think I was relatively “behind” on Aiden. Vee had done a first pass in the recharge room and gone to the main vent room. Then I did a bunch with Aiden to find the screwdriver, including going up and coming down the chute. When I got out and went back to the elevators, of course it wasn’t there (because he took it up). So I switched to Vee and went back to the recharge room to send the lift down, and that’s when the bug happened preventing me from switching back into Aiden. After I restored, I tried to just sequence that differently, so I had Aiden do more and wait at the top level, and then I had Vee send the lift back down right away and then put her back in the vent room before Aiden even went down the chute. That didn’t cause any issues.
today’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games ft. a detective (of the many available this comp!)
A Death in Hyperspace by Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Nacarat, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Playtime: 59 minutes (37 to first ending)
The one where: an AI investigates a murder
Unfortunately, my primary emotion after finishing this game was disappointment, despite the fact that (because?) there were a lot of elements that really excited me. Apparently this combination unlocks me writing like 1.7k words, so buckle up. A lot of this is quite spoiler-y of the overall game structure, which I have left unmarked, so I would recommend not reading if you want an unpsoilered playthrough.
I do want to be clear that I was very stirred up about this game, which certainly indicates greater artistic success than if I were indifferent!
things that really excited me
I love the concept of a ship AI solving a crime that happened on board. There’s a lot to explore there—how would an AI react differently than a human? What would this tell us about the nature of humanity (thinking here of say, Murderbot or Ancillary Justice)? What kind of relationships does the AI have with the victim and suspects? Probably being an AI would give us access to some different or uniquely textured sources of information in our investigation?
I enjoyed the epigraphs!
The visual design of the game and the music were both excellent and set the scene well. I thought the UI was also thoughtful and well-done. Look, I stopped and typed in my notes “I think I’m in love” when I got to this note in the settings:
An elegant solution to the constant “am I about to go to the next page?” anxiety!
gameplay mechanics
There were some choices in the mechanics that I found mildly frustration inducing:
I didn’t love the “lock out of conversation” mechanism. I take the point of introducing consequences to make the conversations feel higher stakes, but one of the characters locks you out if you say “I don’t know what happened. I was hoping you could help.”!!—this makes little sense and is hard to predict. The other characters generally lock you out for accusing them of murder, which makes sense, but is awkward paired with the fact that the game has desensitized you to accusing people of murder because that’s just how the PC talks.
The lock-out mechanism wouldn’t matter as much if they were just giving clues and you could try to carry on without them, but it can basically be a softlock since the game only allows you to accuse A after getting a conversational clue from B.
“Full” replaying (instead of say, reloading a save) is tedious because you have to have all of the same conversations / explorations, learning nothing new. Yet the game likely compels you to do a full replay, even if you don’t lock any characters out, because it’s the only way to access the conversational options with Captain Chōl.
I was more neutral on the timer than others. I think it’s important to be cognizant that using a realtime timer (as opposed to a turn-based timer) is going to encourage players to read quickly and carelessly, making it harder for them to process information. That said, I take it the point was to create a sense of urgency and it did certainly give me a jolt (from my notes: “should I plug in my gaming mouse? how many apm am I going to need?”). So it was effective in that regard.
I did like the way the physical clues and the conversation clue options were color coded.
generally odd behavior by the PC and NPCs
OK, I think this is where I really began to depart from the game’s vision. This section is highly subjective, so all of the normal caveat-ing—I am only a human and I read things idiosyncratically all of the time! Probably especially here where I was doing so on a timer! My experiences are not universal and no doubt this rings true-to-life for some! But I found the PC’s and NPC’s behavior so inexplicable that it kept distracting me and preventing me from putting together any coherent-feeling theory.
The PC frequently jumps to basely accusing characters of murder:
But wolfbiter, you say, the PC is canonically a murder-mystery-obsessed AI, who’s to say that’s unrealistic dialogue? (Side-note, we have *got* to introduce Pearl to like, Columbo, stat. Opening with a murder accusations is not the way!) Or perhaps the PC is experiencing some kind of shock-induced fugue state causing irrational behavior.
Well, it came across as a wild tonal shift after the prologue (also inside the AI’s head) where the AI seems rational and calm while being wracked with grief. But fair enough! Yet if the AI is in an erratic fugue state, I would expect the other NPCs to be concerned about that! But instead
All of the NPCs react in very bizarre ways when the AI is (1) running around baseless accusing people of murder, and (2) says it can’t remember what happened for the last ten minutes. I would think these would indicate a major malfunction in the AI. Yet most NPCs are trying to get out of the situation as quickly as possible by brushing you off or flat-out refusing to engage. (In the doctor’s defense, he offers to do a medical exam on the corpse; in the PC’s offense, it automatically declines.).
Even if they don’t believe me about the murder, you’d think “fix the AI” would be a priority, yet none of the NPCs does this? Fixing the AI who textually has the job of “exit hyperspace within 30 minutes or everyone is trapped for eternity” seems pretty important.
And the Chief Engineer specifically is one of the people ignoring you, the unhinged-acting AI! Which was especially frustrating since I kept wanting to get a technical consult on the “I can’t remember the last 10 minutes” issue. (Counter-intuitively, it doesn’t seem like this is something the game really makes a subject of investigation.) They better be trying to hack your processor or something on that visor!
And on the “they don’t believe you he’s dead,” point (which, it’s not directly stated, but some of the NPCs were so indifferent that it sure seemed like they didn’t believe you): This is also wild–since this is presumably an objectively verifiable fact–so much so that I kept wondering if this was some kind of Murder on the Orient Express scenario where (spoilers for a 90-year-old Agatha Christie novel) they all hate him and worked together to kill him.
The PC’s response to the NPCs’ bizarre reactions continues the oddness, even from the viewpoint of a roleplaying-a-highly-aggressive-detective AI. Some of the NPCs refuse to talk to the PC at all, which the PC just accepts. (In the person of a naively-aggressive detective, I would expect that I would suspect them MORE, not LESS, but I actually don’t think there’s even an in-game way to accuse them?). It is mentioned in some of the endings that the AI has the power to confine everyone to their quarters—maybe I should have done that initially if I wanted to get better results with my investigation and not have to chase people around?
Now, I get that the game left itself the fallback of “everyone acts irrationally because of hyperspace” but I think that’s a bit unsatisfying. Especially in a detective game, players are going to be looking for inconsistencies in character behavior, and it’s at best distracting for them to act strangely in a bunch of ways that are not plot-relevant. (Or if we’re really going all in on “no one’s perceptions can be trusted,” shouldn’t our approach focus more on physical evidence than interviewing? And shouldn’t we be praised for taking the "leave it to the experts” ending, if we discover we are all compromised?)
the solution to the mystery
OK, so there’s the option to accuse multiple people, or no one. I haven’t played all the ends but I played several, and all of the ones I saw are written as though equally true. (I accidentally got the “accuse no one” ending the first time because I didn’t understand how accusing works—this ending honestly is perhaps the most “ethical” given how erratic the AI’s behavior is, yet it also seems written to be the least satisfying for the player. Similarly, the bizarre ways the NPCs treat the PC made me give a lot of credence to the “it’s all a hallucination” ending, although that one also seems written to be less canonical than some of the others.
Look, far be it from me to give an automatic thumbs-down to an entire game structure, but we’re entering tricky shoals. The player expectation coming into a mystery is that we will be able to solve it (i.e., identify one person as the perpetrator, have the game confirm that that–and exclusively that–is the canonical answer). If what’s delivered is different, then the different experience has to subvert those expectations in a way that’s still satisfying (or at least thought-provoking). I thought it was a flawed game in a lot of respects, but last year’s Please Sign Here was doing something thought-provoking in that it’s “you can accuse anyone and they will be arrested” mechanic was trying to comment on privilege etc. in the justice system.
I think I could have recovered from some of these not-landing-great-to-me elements alone, but in conjunction, after reaching a few endings my reaction was: “. . . I went through all that to not solve a mystery?”
In fact, warning for anti-spoilers, I would like to announce that the Real Truth is that this is all a training exercise concocted by Captain Chōl in conjunction with the crew (who give uneven performances due to their own varied acting ability) to test how Pearl (who is still a baby AI) responds to crisis situations. After the game ends they are all going to debrief (WITH Captain Chōl, who is perfectly fine [not me over here being emotionally compromised about this game I really struggled with]).
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, a mystery that’s frustratingly mysterious.
The Lost Artist: Prologue by Alejandro Ruiz del Sol, co-written by Martina Oyhenard
Playtime: 8 minutes
The one with: semi-connected scenes of a detective and an artist teasing a future game
As presaged in the front matter, this game is indeed just a prologue. I prefer games that feel complete. (If there is a longer game I want to find out more about this bank robbery, to me one of the more intriguing elements!)
The game feels a bit rough and unpolished. In terms of genre, there’s some magical realism (drawing a new logo by hand is a way a business would save money, communication occurs by throwing correspondence out of windows), and a lot of zaniness:
There was a whole thread a bit ago about zaniness in IF: Zany tone in IF?
One of the thoughts from that thread is that people may write in zaniness by default because it seems like an easy /accessible way to add interest. (Normally I like to h/t specific people, but since this is sort of a negative point I don’t really want to imply anyone else is involved in my criticism of this game). I think there’s something to that, and here I wonder if the game would have come across as more consequential if the connections and jumps had been selected to lead into some bigger theme.
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
“What would you do with a whole story?” Play it, presumably? I think it’s good to note it’s not a complete game, but maybe phrase that in a different way.
Overall, a short game with some interesting threads to pull in a potential follow-up, but not really a complete or completed feeling experience
Gameplay tips / typos
the description of the zombie story says “(humor added later) “
today’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games where the PC is significantly influenced by a trio of unearthly weirdos
Civil Service by Helen L Liston
Playtime: 25 minutes (16 minutes to first ending)
The one where: we haunt an office
Look, I can’t stop thinking this–could the game possibly be inspired by this real life event (erm, if you click the link it will spoil parts of the plot for you)? If so, the game must have been written INCREDIBLY quickly, but what a coincidence if not.
This game rejoices in making the player put together pieces to figure out what is going on, but to roughly shade in, it’s a sort of A Christmas Carol riff where the PC is the spirit of a dead person, sent on a redemption quest by three spooky witches supernatural figures from the afterlife. In their initial speech, they keep exhorting the PC to stay positive. (Like others, at this juncture I wondered if that was supposed to land as a sort of backhanded comment—am I about to be tortured and then criticized for not being upbeat enough about it?)
The “mission” turns out to be something like haunting an office. As we observe the PC’s actions, she does seem to take a negative view on most things, and she also has a quirk of rating things on a 1 to 5 star scale.
The writing was generally good, and appropriately conveyed the stakes:
I quite enjoyed it, the pieces of the mystery come together in a satisfying way. The star rating bit in particular is VERY well paid off. (My own take on the “stay positive” by the end was that that’s just perhaps good advice for this particular PC, but ymmv.)
It’s not a piece where you get any particularly consequential choices (I saw at least two endings, but others mentioned that’s just based on the star ratings), although you do get interesting and different background on the office workers depending on which you focus on.
There was some timed text, but it was at least forgivably quick.
The main aspect that didn’t land for me was the B-plot with Cafe Guy. It just didn’t particularly work for me as a romance (what do I see in him?) and I didn’t quite understand the ending (in the “good” ending, do I . . . give up on having him see me? Why? And in the “bad” ending it seems like Cafe Guy is affecting what happens to Jess, which I don’t get).
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
The blurb uses a lot of questions in a row, might want mix that up. Together, nothing in the front matter really conveys to me the supernatural elements (and those elements are in the prologue to the game, so it doesn’t seem like it’s a spoiler concern)
Overall, a spooky story with some well-observed details and an emotional kick
Gameplay tips / typos
coworkers toward the end “this is wierd” should be “weird”
A Very Strong Gland by Arthur DiBianca
Playtime: 2 hours (ran out of time, did not reach an ending)
I think I have a good bit left. (I just started working on the Finder, so I think there are multiple full segments to go.)
The one where: alien abduction meets IQ test
As I expected from the author’s past work, this is an absolute puzzle-fest. Here the parser is stripped down to single letter nouns (!!). (I felt neutral-warm about this—it did definitely save time. The system requires that then number of implemented nouns be pretty low [i.e., when Josho appears it strongly indicates we will never encounter a plot-relevant jellyfish], which is my preference in puzzle games. I could get into the swing of it during a play session, but whenever I came back to the game [or wanted to “save”] I would realize I had sent like four incorrect commands before remembering . . .)
Some highlights:
There’s a lot of good humor, especially early on as the set-up is established. And when the meaning of the title lands about 2 minutes in.
(spoiler alert: death is not coming)
And there’s a diegetic explanation for why we start with nothing in our inventory—however, this also made me confront the possibility that I was playing the whole game starkers . . .
I liked that we got a bit more interaction with the NPCs than in past games by this author. I recall thinking during last IFComp that I wished I could do something nice for the NPCs—well, here you get to save Zona’s life, which definitely counts, and the interactions with them are just fun.
The NPCs were very well coded to do useful/helpful things at appropriate times (and dispense mild guidance), and not get in the way at other times.
The puzzles! They were all very smooth and very fair feeling. At their best these do have that cool frictionless feel of solving a spatial puzzle, or a riddle, or a word game, etc. The game seems to be carefully designed to avoid any ways to make it unwinnable. (I particularly enjoyed the puzzle where you provide an accessibility device).
The main issues for me were:
The puzzles all feel very abstract and disconnected from our world. This fits with the conceit (and it makes the whole game feel sort of like the intelligence-testing has never ended . . .) but it also risks making the puzzles less engaging. At least with puzzles involving objects we’re familiar with people can fall back on their physical intuitions etc., but it really feels like you just have nothing to grasp as you contemplate if you should touch the ladybug icon with your aura or not. (The upside of this is that you can teach the player exactly how things work and they won’t be infected with preconceptions contrary to how the game works.)
I will say the game works hard to avoid my least favorite type of puzzle—use an arcane apparatus you don’t understand, walk around the entire map and try to figure out what changed—most of the things that act out of sight make an announcement of some kind about what they do. Although since you’re not _confident_ that this is how it works as you are playing, you still walk around a bit when you’re stuck because you need to confirm that ____ is actually not doing anything.
(And at several points I was thinking, “how do these guys fix their ship when I’m not here?”)
I do wish there had been a walkthrough. I didn’t get irretrievably stuck within my 2 hours, but when I see one it’s a sign to me that the author wants people to finish. It looks like there are some hints for the later puzzles in the thread for the game. I also wrote up some progressive hints for a few of the puzzles I had trouble with in the first half below the cut.
The high points were high (there is no rush like finally finding something that calls to be stacked after spending the whole game being followed by a stacking robot). But at the low, walkthrough-less points, I admit I was looking at my timer with a vague sense that it would liberate me from pacing around.
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, a long sequence of abstract puzzles, with a frictionless UI
Gameplay tips / typos
very general guidance for the front half, barely a hint: often when I had trouble, I was making it too hard / trying to work on something I didn’t need to be working on yet. You will sometimes have access to apparatus you don’t need.
slightly more specifically, if the aliens are talking about something you haven’t done, try to do that
a slightly more specific elaboration on the previous general thought: For example, if you haven’t yet reunited with each of the three aliens, focus on doing that, they each have useful skills and abilities for you
what am I supposed to do with this thing in the Bumpy Room (that has a funnel, an egg, and a plum on it)
well, if you haven’t yet reunited with Klanku, you will need to use just the funnel to do that
if you play with the funnel you will see it changes the starting room into one of several different rooms
Klanku moves around on a fixed path to avoid you, as indicated by the quiet sounds
is there anything we could put in that room that would help?
after each one you have to wait for him to say the next one
OK but it’s still not working. In fact, every time he gets to the fourth one it messes up
After this happens, he says something like ”I mistook.” That’s the key thing.
Well, imagine the reason he is saying that is NOT because he looked at the display and saw that the sequence didn’t work
imagine it’s more like, when you say the wrong person’s name and immediately realize you goofed
that’s right, I’m telling you you have to wait even more before touching things to give him a chance to correct himself
So you’re telling me it has nothing to do with the fact that the moccasin and the yo-yo make the same sound but the other two make different sounds, making me think something something about how DNA base pairs match up in certain ways? that’s right
Ah, nicely done! I did think about writing up hints for the whole thing right after I finished it but then I went on to playing other games and never got back to it…
Thanks for this fantastic, in-depth review – my favourite so far!
This game was an experiment in a lot of ways, and it definitely feels like some of that experimentation didn’t work out very well… lol
Still, I’m glad you felt some kind of way about it, and if nothing else am pleased to know I’m not the only one who has “am I about to go to the next page?” anxiety.
today’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games ft. a visit to a supernatural being in their home
An Account of Your Visit to the Enchanted House & What You Found There by Mandy Benanav
Playtime: 55 minutes
The one where: pretty much the title, plus a lot of cute interactions with the occupants of the house
This is a warm, gentle, fairytale-feeling story set in an enchanted house. You’re not alone—the house is chock full of eccentric inhabitants. The mood the game evoked in me was . . . slightly supernaturally charged, but in a safe, soul-expanding way (like a deep purple sky at night after a warm summer day?).
The writing is really a highlight throughout:
The writing style reminded me a bit of Diana Wynn Jones, a bit of Clive Barker if Clive Barker were happy.
I really like the ending and the theme. And the game panders directly to my personal preferences, in this case meaning that there is an octopus:
I particularly appreciated that the occupants of the house all had opinions about, and feuds with, each other. It would have been easy to leave them all sectioned off, and un-interacting, but giving them those interrelationships really makes the house feel a lot more . . . lived in.
Probably the set piece of the game is a delightful bookcase, full of texts real (We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay) and imagined (Oneiric Orology: Mountaineering in the Realm of Dreams by Shaz Guillard, The First Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, my personal favorite: Eight Arms for Hugging).
This game was very well done. I felt an appropriate amount of challenge throughout to fit the mood (not zero, but not a lot either). At one point I got hung up, but a quick glance at the walkthrough sorted me out (making the mouse mousse—I was concerned because I knew I had seen eggs in the kitchen before but now the kitchen didn’t even have any selectable options—turns out the eggs are sort of just auto-provided by the game, but that could have been better signaled since you just finished collecting all of the other ingredients).
The one nagging question the game left me with—does The Lady like, say goodbye to everyone else in the house? She must, right? RIGHT?
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
Love the cover art, don’t know if I’m ready to identify as a spooky batch.
Overall, just a very well-done execution of what it’s trying to do.
Gameplay tips / typos
in the study, the dialogue starts referring to the owner of the house as The Lady before the PC gets that information from the skull
Quest for the Teacup of Minor Sentimental Value by Damon L. Wakes
Playtime: 48 minutes
The one where: an everyday search escalates hilariously in a CRPG-esque setting
This game has a lot of non-text elements—it’s fully illustrated in a top-down, sprite-based style (like I would associate with a lot of JRPGs, Stardew Valley, etc). There’s animated character portraits; building with improbably large, empty interiors (because the floor tile of the building should fill pretty much the entire screen when you’re inside), etc.
I really liked watching the sprite representing the PC navigate around the little paths (which all happens automatically). There’s some great visual humor in the forest sequence as the side-path takes the world’s most circuitous path. And I enjoyed the background music (is this . . . from something? Or just reminding me of a lot of RPGs?).
It was indeed very funny. The humor comes in part from the jokes, as well as the constant escalation of the plot and the series of “bad end”s (many of which would not really be identifiable as bad without the label, for example, I’m sure I did a lot of good leading that guy’s guard).
Most of the game is very well designed to funnel you along the story path (and if you reach a Bad End, you can restart from the last [frequent] autosave), with perhaps the notable exception of fighting the demons in hell. Look I needed the walkthrough to tell me to stop my quixotic struggles with them. And I feel somewhat justified still, in general this is a game that is telling you to select the most extreme choices!).
And the plot is simple but has a satisfying symmetry.
I had perhaps two more constructive thoughts:
There should be more insults available in the fight with Satan. I should never repeat one. I want to be concerned about the amount of time the author spent writing insults.
The line is pretty subjective, but there is a line between parodying something with affection, and making fun of the thing you’re doing in a way that undercuts any sincerity (I’ve seen a lot of this criticism directed at say, Marvel movies lately). There were a few beats here that landed in the danger zone for me (e.g., the joke about how Jasmine rummages in people’s houses because she’s the protagonist).
Front matter
Could better set the table for the gam
Successfully sets the table for the game
Successfully sets the table for the game PLUS
I really liked the JRPG / sprite art style for the game and wish that had been featured on the cover!
Overall, I thought just a delightful interlude. A romp, if you will
Gameplay tips / typos
this is mentioned in the walkthrough, but you can “fast forward” sections without options by holding the space bar. Although I accidentally pressed space during the demon fight and the whole game quit, so maybe use with caution.
today’s today and tomorrow’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games ft. titles that start with a question word
When the Millennium Made Marvelous Moves by Michael Baltes
Playtime: 1 hour 8 minutes (multiple endings)
The one where: timeloop meets grocery store robbery
Jo and Finley (the PC) are a working-class couple struggling with their conflicting day shift/ night shift schedules, money problems (including a debt to some shady characters), and at least one disapproving parent). But they’re very much in love, and love is all you need, right? Well, here they need a little bit more since Jo keeps getting killed in a robbery-gone-wrong unless you can fix things . . . A straightforward set-up but one I found plenty motivating.
I really like the diagram in the corner that visually indicates the directions. It took me a bit to adjust to the acronyms, but then in made navigating a lot easier.
The game was well implemented. For some reason saving, restoring, and transcripts didn’t seem to work in the online client, but other than that everything was technically smooth.
I quite enjoyed the dialogue for Jo and Finley in the “cut-scenes,” it was appropriately endearing. Strangely, in the rest of the game, the game would offer suggested conversation topics for people that . . . didn’t work (although they didn’t seem to be necessary, either).
The biggest obstacle between me and really enjoying this game was that it took me a while to grok what I was supposed to be doing. We see the whole murder in the first time-loop iteration, and there are a lot of potential jumping off points to fix things (disable the thieves get-away vehicle? Attack them? Clear our own escape route?) and it’s not exactly that these are the wrong ideas, but there’s one specific avenue the game requires you to focus on first: figuring out your wake-up time. In fact, actually the main puzzle of the game is managing your sleep. And that’s actually actually a funny and fresh concept for a puzzle, and it’s well implemented (the callback to the Sopranos-watching was top-shelf). Unfortunately by the time I learned that I had spent so long banging my head into all of the other possible avenues, fruitlessly, that I was mainly just frustrated.
Anyhow, I gave the game a rest and when I came back I explored some of the endings and had a good time (several are quite funny), but that was kind of a low-point for me.
I think what would have helped me was:
If the game had done more to motivate the player to focus on the correct puzzle. I think the set-up was working a bit against me here. It seemed like there should be so many ways for the PC to deal with this (errr . . . SET THE ALARM CLOCK TO A DIFFERENT TIME) that it seemed like it was being abstracted away because I didn’t need to deal with it. If the PC had had some thoughts like “oh no, I’m out of energy drinks but I’m about to pass out . . . how can I make sure I make it to the supermarket in time to save Jo”–that could definitely be improved but it would have helped me understand that that was the puzzle.
Relatedly, I was a bit confused by the PC’s thought process during the time loop. It seems like they don’t change, but they very much should? (“hey babe, I had this terrible vision that if you went to work you’d be shot, let’s play hooky”? I mean the PC keeps waking up with new items in their inventory, they can’t be unaware?).
It was great that there was a walkthrough and that’s where I eventually went, but progressive-style hints would have addressed my one issue more subtly. Actually, from reading the text of the walkthrough it’s not at all clear why you would do these things so I was just typing it in mechanically and it was kind of funny to find out.
To offer a very mild, high-level spoiler: this is not really a game about making an exhaustive plan—this is a game where you kind of just want to explore what it’s possible to do and solutions will present themselves.
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
I like that the blurb and tag both mention he time-loop element. It could be hard to figure out (and the first run-through would be much sadder).
Overall, a smooth-running parser with fun-to-explore endings, but took a while to come into view for me
