#swanchime

[manonamora-if-reviews]

wretched star by swanchime

An Anti-Romance Jam entry.

Entry - IFDB - More by swanchime CW: sex trafficking, sexual abuse, violence, brief traumagenic sexual fantasies not acted on, internalized homophobic use of slurs, suicidal ideation

Dark confusion... I've had trouble putting my thoughts in order for this one, as I honestly was confused about the story throughout the whole thing. Parsing bits together from what seemed a memory and what was "current time" was a bit of a struggle, as the formatting for either part were quite similar. I did take from it a story of broken (maybe more than) friendship, filial duties, expectations from status, and feelings kept secret. I was quite disoriented trying to keep up with it (not knowing where to click probably didn't help). I did find the aesthetic quite artsy, even if a bit strange for my taste.

If someone understood the game, please explain it to me...

[manonamora-if-reviews]

THAT WHICH IS EXEMPT FROM RESURRECTION by swanchime

IFDB - Game Note: this was a La Petite Mort entry. Note 2: this game can only be played on Android devices or through an emulator.

Summary: nothing is exempt from resurrection: THE SWAMP RAMBLINGS OF A MAD SCIENTIST

This was a short VN, a sort of sequel to wretched star, where, during a resurrection of a loved(?) one, you ramble to them about your past and your motivation for this resurrection, like a madman would. There seemed to be multiple actors at play, but it was not always clear who was talking when (or which sprite represented who); as well as some required background/knowledge was required to understand what was going on (and since I found the other linked game super confusing, I didn't end up with much when I was done with this game). The prose here is very cryptic, bordering at times on nonsensical, which is very much the author's style.

I didn't really get it...

[manonamora-if-reviews]

YOUNGBLOOD; YELLOWBELLY by swanchime

IFDB - Game Note: this was a La Petite Mort entry.

Summary: a hannibal inspired cookbook…of sorts

You know how cooking blogs have those insanely long recipe posts, in which they talk about their whole life, often mentioning things that have absolutely no link with the recipe, tongs of pictures (but not of the dish!) and sometime parsing the steps of the recipe throughout those irrelevant bits, so that it becomes impossible to get clear instructions? To me, the entry emulated that to almost a T.

Though, instead of your run-of-the-mill regular folks with quirky recipes, this one is much more eerie and uneasy to read through, emanating a more sinister vibe than you'd expect from a cookbook (unless you read the blurb before hand). There is something quite wrong there, pushed forward by the interface and the eerie music, but it is not explicit in what - though the game hints at it with wink-wink-nudge-nudge jokes enough.

Some frustrating elements in with the interface: the animated background is pretty distracting as it is much brighter than any other element on the page (I had to turn it of with the console); the text block is quite small, especially for the length of the passage, forcing you to scroll a lot; and the typed text speed is way too slow (can be helped by pressing the Spacebar, though).