I’d love to see what everyone’s favorite games from IFComp are so far! I don’t like to read the reviews before I play games, because they’re almost always spoilers. So I thought this could be a place where we could list our favorite games from this first week, along with a non-spoilery sentence or two about it, to help everyone decide what to play next!
My favorite game of the week was The Best Man, by Stephen Bond. Which was really surprising, because I almost never love choice-based games. But this one is so well-written, and so disturbing, with new (to me, anyway) uses of the format. It left me thinking about it, and feeling unsettled, for a long while after.
Well, I’ve only managed to play one so far, owing to a deadly combination of being a slow player and having a busy life, but it was a good one: You Are SpamZapper 3.1,, by Leon Arnott. A great story, well told with a lot of humour and a philosophical bent. Really enjoyed it. Choice-based games are ordinarily not my preference but I decided to take whatever the random shuffle offered up and got lucky.
I’m in the same camp: only played one game so far, and it was this one, and it was great. I’ve got some time off next week, though, so I’m hoping to hit some more! Speaking of which:
Oh dang, I hadn’t noticed Stephen Bond had an entry this year. I’ll keep an eye out for this one.
Ooh, tricky question. Of the ones I’ve played so far, I’d say Universal Hologram or Off-Season at the Dream Factory have been my favorites. Long ways to go yet, though (plus I beta tested like 10 of the entries, which were uniformly great!)
The one that’s stuck with me the most after week one is And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One. It’s both fresh and nostalgic, and I loved the story and all its layers of complexity.
I haven’t had a chance to really look at much yet, but decided I wanted to start with something light hearted (there are so many dark games/games with heavy themes this year, (which is fine, nothing wrong with that. I just needed to hunt for one that looked like being lighter) and picked up You Are SpamZapper and found it a lot of fun. Even though it’s one of the first I’ve had a chance to read, I can already tell it’s going to be up near the top of my list I think.
I don’t think this is a good way to give an opinion. MB is playing first odd system games, I am playing full lenght parser games this year, so anyone can be his favourite game regardless other player say.
So I’m giveing a list of some full lenght parser based games I like in any order.
What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed.
D-Arkun
The house on highfield lane.
The ghost within.
…
I don’t think it’s fair to say which I liked best, but I can give the good news that there really hasn’t been a game I’ve played so far that I think was a waste of my time. I’ve got something out of all that I have played.
Haven’t played much, but so far, my favorite (out of the ones I didn’t test before the comp opened) has been And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One.
To be really clear on my intentions in starting this thread: this is just intended as a way to recommend games to people wondering what to play next, not as serious reviews or as a way to marginalize authors whose games you haven’t played yet. I certainly hope no one thinks I (or anyone) thinks that this is intended to be a hard and fast decision that anyone will hold you to- obviously our opinions will evolve as we play more games. I meant it to be just a snapshot of what we are playing, and liking, at this early date.
And of course I have played quite a few games that I simply loved (some of which other people have mentioned here) and which I would highly recommend if I were going to do a big list.
I certainly didn’t take it in a negative way. After the first week, I’d think a lot of people have only had a chance to read a small proportion of the overall field. (I’ve already read another which I enjoyed since I replied to this post, and have seen a few returning authors in there whose work I’ve liked in the past so plan to play their games when I have time.) I felt it was kind of more a “get hyped about the games entered this year” kind of thread. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with giving a shout out a game that has impressed you so far. There’s full length reviews coming out for in depth thoughts on the games for anyone that wants a better breakdown for whats on offer if you want it before you play .
I completely appreciate your intentions and enthusiasm, so this isn’t a knock on you.
Perhaps another way to approach this is, what games aren’t getting enough attention? I worry about entries being overlooked due to “book cover” reasons.
I’m looking for my next game to review, so if anyone can recommend one that’s not appearing often in these review threads: I’m listening.
That said, I’m limiting myself to parser-based games. Other folks might be interested beyond that scope, though.
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