hey y'all, you might know me as ode or chloe, depending on how you got here, and this is my sideblog for posting about games I've played, both solo and multiplayer but with an emphasis on journaling, interactive fiction, literature, and writing in general!
atm I'm working on playing through my insane backlog of solo rpgs that I've acquired through itch bundles (and impulse buying), so I'll be reviewing those as I get through them, and maybe posting samples of writing from those sessions :) however I also have an intense love of interactive fiction so probably there'll be some discussion of those intermittently
my main blog is here, and the sidebar links on this blog will eventually link to different tags I'll use for sorting reviews (i am lazy so haven't done this yet lmao). this post will probably be updated occasionally as well depending on what I want to be using it for. thanks for stopping by!
It's that time of year again! I'll be crossposting these reviews on intfiction.net, where you can find reviews by many other interactive fiction freaks such as myself, links to the comp website, and other such information. Onto the review.
I'll put this all under the cut because it's... very long, but please be aware that there are spoilers in the technical section!
Time played: About an hour
Completion: 2 out of maybe 3 endings? I got to the normal ending, a bit of a silly ending, and I know there’s a third ending that has a bit more substance, but I was satisfied with the run I had. Could be more “try it and find out” endings than the one I found, but I have no clue.
TLDR; Conceptually, I like this game a lot, but there were a few things that prevented me from enjoying the gameplay experience as much as I could have. Solid entry.
The writing: No noticeable typos or grammar errors, and the writing style is consistent, with some great touches of deadpan humor which I found entertaining. The characters were distinct enough to not be flat, even with the limited descriptions and interactions there are.
The gameplay: I love a time loop when done well, and I think the ability to change the timeline by switching perspectives is a really great way to keep the game engaging and interesting. I also enjoyed the variety of different puzzles – some based on interaction with others, some with the environment. It’s a small game, so there’s not very many, but none of them felt like reskinned versions of each other, which I appreciated.
The technical: I struggled a lot with interactions with other people. Different authors and engines do dialogue in many different ways, without an ABOUT or a HELP menu to explain how to talk to people or ask people things, I found myself blindly trying dialogue options, mostly to no avail. You can talk to people directly with the “person, verb” structure, or you can ask someone for something, but only rarely about anything, which I found unusual – an explanation of this early on would have gone a long way to alleviating some of the frustration I had.
The biggest problem I had was similar to the verb-guessing issue, but which probably would have made the game impossible for me to finish without the walkthrough; there are some objects which aren’t mentioned in the text (that I could find) but are required. This was most evident to me with the taxi, which I hadn’t seen in the text at all, but which was necessary to examine in order to continue. Examining the street it was on yielded no description beyond the direction the traffic was going, and I never would have known to look at it.
This is also applicable to the traffic puzzle, which was particularly aggravating to me for being much simpler than I thought it was. I’d go so far as to say it’s a bit misleading. I’ll spoiler this one for anyone who doesn’t want to see the solution: If you ask John about the panel, he explains how it works, and says you need to input the correct number to fix the traffic lights. The solution to this is to unscrew the panel (which has no mention of being screwed in) with a screwdriver you get from John (who doesn’t appear to have anything on him except a clipboard). The solution is NOT to do the math required to algebraically find the correct number needed (which is very possible, and requires only addition and subtraction). I chose the algebra on my first time around. Frustratingly, when you correctly solve this puzzle via screwdriver method and press a button to set the number, it gives a number which is different from the one you get when you do the math. I understand that this might be a serious case of me paying way too much attention to one thing, but I think given that the actual solution to the puzzle is much less obvious than the one which requires the player to do algebra with a pen and paper, it might as well have been a puzzle with two different ways to get to the same solution. If the number provided in the game matched the one you get with the correct math, this wouldn’t have been nearly as annoying to me, but the in-game math being wrong in conjunction with the puzzle having completely unmentioned components drove me kind of bonkers.
Misc notes: Don’t sell yourself short! Saying things like “this game is unlikely to change your life in any meaningful way” in the description of the game won’t do you any favors in convincing people to play it. It’s a well-written game, and only a few edits short of being something really polished. You should be proud of it. Plus, when combined with the depressing attitude of the main character, the game starts to feel a little too dreary, in my opinion. Despite my algebra rant, I did like this game a lot, and I’m really glad it was the first entry I tried this year! It’s setting a good bar for the rest of the parser games.
IFComp Reviews: We're Not Sailing in Circles... Right?
Here's the next three reviews from the comp! For some reason, all three of these involved going back in time/UNDOing/time loops. Makes you wonder how random that randomizer is.
Last Valentine's Day by Daniel Gao
Polished little time loop. Fun to play, thoughtful commentary on love, romance, and relationships. Short and sweet; I actually couldn't find any meaningful difference between options (this one is choice-based), which I don't love, but if you're looking for a ten-minute piece that'll make you think, this is the one for you.
One King to Loot Them All by Onno Brouwer
TLDR: Linear parser about wearing a loincloth and swinging an axe. Fun to play, and I'd actually recommend this to players just starting out in IF (though you should probably play a game with standard commands first).
DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS by Hubert Janus
TLDR: Don't give up after the first ending you reach. Nor the second. Nor the tenth. And if you see flashing neon lights, you've got the wrong file.
Full reviews (and spoilers!) below the cut.
No full length reveiw for Last Valentine's Day. It's so short that what I wrote above is really all I have to say.
OKtLTA: My favorite part about this game was actually the custom commands. They added an extra element to the tone of the game without being so outlandish as to confuse the player into checking the command list every other turn. The writing was very consistent with no obvious mistakes (the combat scenes were especially engaging and fun to read), and I encountered no bugs while playing.
The game is very linear, with no red herrings; don’t go into this game expecting a puzzle adventure, because that’s really not what the focus is.
The one thing which was unexpected and moderately confusing (moreso to a seasoned player than a new one, which is interesting) was [SPOILERS] the use of the UNDO command in the game. I struggled with how far back I had to go with it before the end goal became obvious. This was mostly confusing because it’s a new use of a mechanic which is typically unused or relatively ignored within games, so seeing something different done with it was jarring. However, once you get used to it, it’s actually really cool. Make sure you read the descriptions as you’re going.
To players used to twisty, puzzle-y parsers, this game might feel a little too linear. That was certainly how I felt, but I don’t think it makes it a bad game: just one that I didn’t feel as engaged in as some other parsers I’ve played. I do think it would be a great game for a beginning IF player or a player looking for some more slashing and hacking than they might normally find in a parser game. The helpful hints and storymode contribute to that rec for beginners as well. It’s clever, funny, and a strong debut work which I had fun playing, so. There you go.
DMGKitN:
Okay, I’ll be honest: this game wasn’t next in my randomly assigned list. But after reading through the confusion regarding the two versions of this game floating around, I just had to play it. I managed to access both versions of the game. When I chose the “Play Online” version, I was given the crazy one, with flashing colors and words and general confusion. I do think this version is elevated by the fact that there’s an actual game to be played elsewhere, or else it would definitely be a very confusing entry (as we’ve seen already). To be so honest, as someone who’s never used twine, I actually thought the flashing colors and weird changing perspective of the page was kind of impressive, but maybe that’s actually easy to do. I wouldn’t know.
The longer and visually calmer version of the game was fun, though. This one I got by downloading the game file, by the way. I did suffer through a few iterations before realizing that the undo button was not there for decoration and I could just go back if I made a choice I didn’t like. That said, I saw quite a few of the endings, and I’m pretty sure I made it to the fullest ending, which was definitely worth the wait. While it took me a minute to get into the story, once it’s really going and you’re exploring the different options, it’s actually a pretty funny experience.
And as a checkmark, all the writing, grammar, coding, etc. was perfect. Points for polish.
Day one of IFComp is finally here, and I've already started playing through the 75 entries we have this year. With a plethora of new authors, an abundance of nautical stories, and a fuckton of mysteries (not to mention the amount of nautical mysteries!), I have high hopes for the season. In order to give the uninterested less to scroll through, I'll leave my full impressions of games under the cut, with a TLDR for each one above.
I'm using IFComp's personal randomized list as my playing order to do my part in eliminating the quantity-of-votes bias that can occur in comps like this one. Thank you to whoever implemented that; I love the IF community so much.
Anyway, the first three games of the day are as follows:
Lake Starlight by SummersViaEarth
TLDR: Polished, complete, with no (discovered) bugs and only a few comma mistakes, but I am very much not the target audience and as such didn’t enjoy playing it.
How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title by John Ziegler
TLDR: Hot Diggity Fizz! Play this game. Right Now. Seriously, it's one of the best parser games I've ever played, and I had to stop at the two hour limit. Be warned though, it's long as hell. Two hours is probably about 10% of time needed to complete.
All Hands by Natasha Ramoutar
TLDR: Short, haunting, and while not (in my opinion) worthy of a place on the podium, it's definitely worthy of an attentive playthrough.
Full reviews below the cut!
Lake Starlight: This game was fairly short (took me less than half the listed time to finish it, although I’m admittedly a pretty fast reader). You play as a teenage girl who finds out she has magic and is whisked away to magic summer camp. Plus, the world is dystopian eco-hell. My first playthrough took me 35 minutes, and then I spent another five or so exploring different endings.
Overall, the writing has a very consistent voice and style, and I didn’t encounter any bugs during my playthrough, so the polish is definitely there, technically speaking. I found the themes to be a bit too cluttered to really get much out of the game, though - the author incorporates so many different mystical ideas and cultures that the whole thing starts to feel overdone. Additionally, the use of slang was a bit outdated and awkward? It very much felt like someone was trying to write a teenager, or a story that appeals to teenagers, without actually interacting with teenagers on a regular basis.
This game wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t for me. I do think my 13-year-old sister would’ve liked it more than I did, but as a college student with the ability to read and think critically AND with a better grasp on the language teens use today, I found it difficult to get through. If not for the comp, I don’t think it’s a game I would’ve played through to the end.
HPQtFSHT: I spent the morning reading through every summary of each game to get a feel for this year’s comp ✨vibe✨ and this one definitely grabbed my interest from the start. I’m honestly a bit disappointed it was second on my list to play because I like to save bigger parser games for the end.
And boy, is this game big. The first part/chapter/section of the game, intended to be assessed by the judges (estimated to take the allotted two hours) had me in an absolute chokehold. The world is so fun to explore, and the characters are all hilarious. The writing overall is probably my favorite part of the game, which is always a good omen in a long parser. The expressions used by characters, the names of locations and people, as well as the descriptions are all very consistently written, and written incredibly well. The narrative voice is hilarious, and I honestly laughed out loud at points in this game (the hamster dam, for example. love it.). Although it will take longer, I highly recommend reading the full text of the story when given the option, as it is just so much fun. I spent the entire time wondering whether or not fruitlet is a real word, laughing at PQ trying to whistle on that damn blade of grass, and searching for needles in haystacks and forks in the road.
In terms of gameplay, the puzzles were clever, and the use of Prince Quisborne as an assistant/squire/pet-adjacent companion is so fun. The flavor text describing his behavior gradually changes over time, reflecting his growth, which is just. So awesome. I only needed to use a hint once, and when I did, I realized I was struggling because I’d forgotten to examine something that was obviously important. Unnecessary items are automatically left behind (probably a good thing, as I probably would’ve raided a poor child’s treehouse if not for this feature).
Also, points for feelies! This game comes with a pdf map of the land you and PQ explore, and it’s gorgeously hand-drawn and easy to follow. You can also use the command MAP to pull it up in the interpreter, but I prefer keeping them both open on the same window for reference. Also, not a feelie, but the option to keep your inventory showing on the side of the window is super helpful. Oh, and the borders of the game are great, too! Not distracting, and very much add to the atmosphere.
This first, intended-to-be-judged, part of time game took me the better part of an hour, so I still had loads of time to spare to keep exploring and playing. And, as stated before, by me and others, it’s so, so massive. For context, the predicted two-hour-mark (one hour for me) ends with you at 15/300 points. An hour later than that, I was at 24/300 points.
I love this game so much already, and I’m not even 10% done, if the points system is to be believed. Also, I cannot believe this was written by a new author. Absolutely insane debut, Mr. Ziegler. My hats are off and my marbles are lost.
All Hands: This was the shortest game I’ve played so far (an admittedly low bar considering that I’ve only played three, and one of those was definitely in the top three longest games in this whole comp), but what it lacks in length it makes up for in atmosphere. A spooky story about revenge (or lack thereof), and my first nautical story of the comp, with many more sure to follow.
This one was predicted an at hour to play, but it only took me about 20 minutes to get through the whole thing, and then play again to explore some alternate possibilities. The writing is gorgeous and haunting, and I like that the three interaction options stay consistent throughout the game. Overall, I really enjoyed playing it. You’ve got a spooky ship to explore, spooky songs to listen to, and a spooky story to discover. It’s a great little reflective and atmospheric piece, and while I don’t think it really gets points for ambition or scale, it’s worth a playthrough.
The first version of this game originally appeared in Ryan Veeder's ECTOCOMP 2021 entry, "Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone." In this remastered version, it's been expanded and further polished into an incredible game which I very much enjoyed spending my Saturday afternoon on. I've unfortunately never played any of Veeder's Balderstone games, so I can't speak to the changes and/or improvements made in this new version, but Visit Skuga Lake is one of those games which embodies everything I think makes a great IF game.
This game has everything, honestly. A fun, simple, and effective magic system, exploring a town at night, theft with no punishment at all, and a hagfish god living in a hagfish world. Need I say more? (According to the following thousand words, I guess so.)
I'm honestly astonished that prior to playing this game, I'd never even heard of Ryan Veeder - a quick look through his IFDB profile shows just how prolific he's become in the last decade he's been making these games. Visit Skuga Lake was my first of his works to play, but undoubtedly not the last.
Now I'm going to talk about the game at unnecessary length. Feel free to tap out at this point if you feel sold on my love for this game already. Spoilers below the cut, although I won't be going into detail about how to solve any specific problems.
Scene One: The Interview. The premise of Skuga Lake is that you are the main character living out the events of a horror (though I'd prefer "spooky" for this one) novel. This "novel" has an author - also an invention of the game, which. I'm going to be honest. I didn't originally realize. Don't bother googling Leah Naidu. Our prologue scene is simply interviewing the author, which is a cute introduction to the story. I was immediately drawn in by the writing and descriptions; atmosphere is so important in text-based games, and Veeder was immediately off to a great start. It DID take me a minute to figure out everything to ask Leah about, but overall a great time.
Scene Two: The Closet! I love the closet scene so very much. It introduces our main problem-solving mechanic and immediately shows the player that out-of-the-box solutions and experimentation are wholeheartedly encouraged in the game. There's not much more to say. It's a short part of the game, but a perfect introduction to gameplay without holding the hand of the player.
Scene Three: Also Known as 90% of the Game!! Visit Skuga Lake is just soooo interactive fiction. It's immediately topped my list of games I'd recommend to literally anyone, regardless of experience with IF. The one thing that was slightly annoying for me at first was going "IN" buildings rather than entering them via a cardinal direction, but you get used to that pretty quickly, and in retrospect, I think I like it more, especially when you're in an urban location. The gradual discovery of more amulets and eyestones made continuing the game incredibly rewarding, and I feel like nearly everything mentioned in the game was implemented in some way, which is always impressive. Experimenting with the different combinations was so exciting, though I probably should've kept track of them all because I kept forgetting which stone did what with which amulet. The characters all had very distinct voices and helped direct the player's next choices without railroading. Overall just. A fantastic time.
Scene Four: HAGFISH. Here's my one tip for anyone playing for the first time - if you want to collect all the worry dolls (not necessary for anything besides a special little achievement), you need to do it before you get on the boat! I did not know this and was quite sad to find out I couldn't go back and get all of them (I managed 6/10 on this run, though I might go back and try to find them all at some point). Honestly, the ending felt a bit underwhelming to me? There's fairly low stakes in the fight against everyone's favorite hagfish god (our primary antagonist. sort of) since he doesn't try to fight back at all. No ticking clock. Just trying to figure out how to hurt a giant slime creature. I mean, I'm not complaining that much. It suits the game, which is more about experimenting and exploring than worrying about the slime lake or the ghosts or your boss, who's turned into a slime (or was it oil? I forget) puddle. It does feel a bit funny though, that the most powerful witch of the town, who's scared them all into locking outsiders into closets and who makes deals with slime gods couldn't save herself from said slime god until you, the player, showed up, hit the hagfish with a couple spells, and saved the day in approximately ten commands. There's a few different possible endings (to take or leave Terlissa, for example), which, again, is always a pleasure in games like these.
The end!! I clearly love the sound of my own voice. My own keyboard? Not sure. This game is fantastic though, so please play it. I need more people to be into IF please please please <3 bye
Do not buy this. Do not download this. It is not fun.
Well... if it's listed on itch as an RPG, then that's what it is... right?? In any case, this was one of the evenings I've ever had. Truly spectacular.
To play this game, you open 1000 nested zip files. Every file is numbered, so you can see how far you have left to go, and occasionally Elliot (@morebluebs) has left a comment in a file name. It's a dialogue between two people slowly losing their minds, in a way.
I spent two hours of my life on this game, and to be completely honest, I wish I hadn't. I also think Elliot wishes he hadn't made it, so at least all's fair in love and zipped files. This "game" is only for those with immense hubris and a growing to-do list filled with tasks they don't want to complete. That said, I'd rate it a 10/10 if I were a rating type of woman, which I'm not.
In order to keep myself sane, I took notes on the thoughts going through my mind as I played this game. Read under the cut to witness my descent into madness. Perhaps that will be enough to deter you from playing it yourself.
File 999. Let's do it.
950. I appreciate the title. Hoping for more of these as we keep going
900. No, it wasn’t that bad. I don’t know why I’m not listening to music while I do this. Perhaps I intuitively understand that this needs to be done in as boring an environment as possible.
899. okay
819. AH!
801. wouldn’t open. I’ve been opening these within each other, so I assume 200 nested files is the limit on my laptop. I moved file 802 to be by itself in my downloads folder and tried again. 801 opened. Huzzah, and the journey continues.
I also can’t believe this took Elliot over a year to make this. I assume this was a boredom and procrastination project. Kudos for ever finishing it tbh
800. I know. I’m doing it anyway
750. doesn’t have a comment in the file name. I didn’t realize I’d started to look forward to the names ever fifty files. Disappointed, I carry on.
743. I see we’re being unpredictable. Does the creator know that by making the opening of each file a gamble, opening these becomes more fun? Belatedly I realize that the opening of file 750 marked a quarter of the journey. Am even more disappointed op didn’t say anything to commemorate this moment.
700. I lost the ability to quit when I opened the first file. I’m committing to the bit. Fuck you.
650. once again, no mid-hundred title. I’m taking this moment to comment that as I do this, my sister is sitting next to me watching a frankly terrible horror movie. I am, I think, ashamed to say I find this activity more enjoyable.
627. Divisible by three, but not by nine.
608. Huzzah! My sister has decided to skip ahead in her movie because it’s boring her. I cannot do the same for my chosen entertainment tonight.
607 is empty. I tried opening it again. 607 2 is also empty. Migration attempt incoming.
Second migration of the night worked. continuing on. While I can’t say I’m enjoying this anymore, I’m glad that this does in fact appear to be 1000 nested files. I would never forgive Elliot if it ended prematurely
600. Don’t ask me to explain my decisions.
564. Elliot, do you feed on the part of my soul that I’m losing while playing this?
525. What does carpal tunnel feel like?
499. I feel nothing.
492. My sister asked me what I was doing. I explained to her. She asked me why I was doing this. I told her I didn’t know. She said nothing and then left. About as much of a response as I could’ve hoped for
461. Hey now. I could have done any number of things to procrastinate. You’re not special, Elliot.
432. Also divisible by three. Obviously I’m not listing every number divisible by three. But it just occurred to me here. As long as I’m taking a break from clicking, I’m going to move from the kitchen to my bedroom now that my sister has finished her movie and gone to bed. My wrist won’t stop cracking.
40 minutes later and I’m back at it.
425. In anticipation of the next file failure, I migrate this one earlier. plus if there’s a comment on 420 I can enjoy it unimpeded by the 200 file limit
407. A number that feels like it should be prime but isn’t
351. This isn’t getting any easier. However, it isn’t getting harder, either. That forty minute break did wonders for the one wrist muscle I’m using to do this.
333. Roughly 2/3 of the way there, although obviously not exactly. I think it would be an interesting psychology study to see how different people react to having to do this.
321. favorite one so far, definitely made me smile
294. Some people could probably find it in them to quit now.
284. I believe it. Why would you make this. Just to prove you could? Was 1000 the maximum files you could nest, or could you have kept going? Maybe one day we’ll have a sequel and it’ll just be 2000 files. I’d probably play that too. I don’t know why. But I think I would.
260. Another migration. This was definitely less than 200 files, but whatever. Will migrate again at 100 for the auspiciousness.
250. 75% done. I started this an hour and forty minutes ago. 100 minutes ago. So probably half an hour left. It feels like it should be less.
219. If I told my mom about this, she’d probably tell me that downloading things like this off the internet is a one way trip to getting malware on your computer. While I trust itch.io strangers much more than she does, can you imagine explaining that to the person you hire to fix your computer? “Yeah, I downloaded a file off the internet. It contained 1000 zip files nested within each other. I opened every single one and then the last one had this gnarly virus.” Like,,,,, you’d really be bringing that upon yourself. My friend hopes the last file contains something; he predicts the game of thrones shame gif. While I’d appreciate a fun little image, I fully expect there to be nothing except the last file just being called something like “you did it. Congrats on the most pointless accomplishment ever” well. Back to it
198. Elliot, if you had to go through the pain of making this, some of us might as well go through the pain of playing it.
135. I’m obviously tired. I did the math all wrong. Forgot to subtract the forty minutes I spent not doing this. This began at roughly 8:40 PM. It’s 10:34. So 1 hour 54 minutes minus forty. 74 minutes to open 865 files. Those numbers aren’t nice enough for me to do mental math, but I think I’ll be done in like ten minutes. Lets go!!
117. marks the first time the zipped file had a comment. Before this you had to unzip the file to see the comment. Which begs the question, is this something Elliot changed partway through, or will this be the only time it happens? I guess we’ll see.
I also realized 111 will be the last time we have repeating digit in a 3 digit number. 999 was the first… how far we’ve come.
111!!!! I feel like Elliot a bit. Is anyone going to read this? Am I screaming to the void?? Par for the course, I suppose.
100. Zipped file also has the comment. Clearly Elliot didn’t know how to do it differently at first. Anyway. Time for the final migration!
85. Seeing 2-digit numbers is jarring after all this time.
69 nice.
40. You know what would be so fucking funny? If we got to file 1 and it was labeled 1000 and then there were 1000 more files. I know Elliot didn’t do this - he doesn’t have it in him. But it would be so fucked up. I think that would make me quit. 1000 is enough
19. My favorite number. I can’t believe this is almost over.
