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============= Synopsis
Survive as a monster that has taken up residence underneath a bridge, interact with strangers who pass over your bride and see if you can not only survive the encounters, but create a home for yourself.
============= Other Info
Under the Bridge is a Twine (Harlowe) visual novel*, submitted to the 2022 Edition of the IFComp. It ranked 17th overall.
*according to the itch page, though I feel it fits more the "rules" of IF than VN
Status: Completed
Genre: Horror
CW: Violence, death, gore, and profanity
Note: the game contains SFX (with a volume slider) and animated text
============= Playthrough
First Played: 3-Oct-2022*
Last Played: 22-May-2023
Playtime: about 1h (found all endings)
Rating: 3 /5
Thoughts: The monster under the bridge is not always a frightening one.
*I had reviewed the game during the IFComp in the Author's section (which was hidden to the public). I forgot to keep track of the notes I gave though... You can find the OG review under the cut.
============= Review
Under the Bridge puts the player in the shoes (hooves?) of a monster having taken residence under the bridge. Your survival will depend on the interaction with passersby...
Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.
Under the Bridge is a fairly short and contained game, with 4+ endings, with a heavy themes of otherness, exclusion and survival. Playing as some sort of lonely eldritch abomination, forced to leave the comfort of the forest to end up hiding under a bridge, your main task is to survive. Peering above the bridge might bring sustenance or deadly confrontation.
Through the otherness of the main character, we get to see mundane aspects shown in a different light. The writing brings a strange uneasiness to the setting, from the large eyes of the frog to the stomping of the armed men. With how other characters react to you, you can't help but feel unwanted.
While the writing focuses on the senses and basic description of elements, there is something very unnerving about its simpleness. The use of 1st plural POV brings questions about who the player is supposed to be: are we but a lost monster or a collective? Is our loneliness turning us mad? It makes for a horror moody piece, enhanced by the darkness of the UI and the choice of animation and formatting of the text.
I really enjoy the addition of assets into this game. The different SFX added to the text, bringing the setting into life, with the wind rustling the branches in the forest, the sound of water flowing by the bridge, the threatening footsteps of the guards... Similarly the illustration, especially of the monster, helped to bring forth the horror-y aspect of the game.
Through the binary choices, you get to interact with the different characters approaching the bridge, with interesting variation for each. However, it is after you reach the end, that things got a bit... dull. You are prompted only with a Play Again? link, sending you right back at the start. If you are replaying the game as soon as you reached the end, you have to go through all the non-choice passages, and things get repetitive pretty fast (the variation only happens on the passages right after your choice or just before an ending).
I also had some little issues with the styling of the game:
the page would not size properly to the screen, often cutting the beautiful illustration (even changing the zoom would not help, neither did full screen), for some, scrolling would still not bring the full picture on the screen (which is a shame considering the illustrations).
the volume sidebar clashed with the rest of the formatting, with the light grey background, breaking a bit the immersion (a move to a black background would have fixed it all).
the formatting of the page felt awkward at times, with the choice links being awkwardly placed, or having the basic dark blue/purple colour on the links (i think a shade of grey or a more muted colour would have worked a bit better).
=======================
OG Review during the IFComp
Short and contained game. I think I ended up finding all endings within the 2h limit.
It had a really nice vibe and using the main Styling from Harlowe was a great fit for the story. I enjoyed having some background audio to go along with the story, it made it feel a bit more alive (I could feel my heart go all anxious at some points). The illustrations were also impeccable (and creepy, the good kind)!
A few points:
I think the game would have benefited from getting a bit of touch up in the CSS styling (the grey sidebar felt out of place) or in the formatting (the choice links were a bit awkwardly placed too). While it was a great idea to play with the text animation options, some texts (especially the blurry or flashing ones) were a bit harder to read.
After the second playthrough, the replay-ability gets a bit dull, especially at the beginning and if you are replaying the game as soon as you finished it.
Overall, this was a neat short game that gave me the feels (the anxiety feels).
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