Category Archives: Game Review

Interactive Fiction Review: A Blank Page (2021, Edu Sanchez)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Where to begin?

That is the question at the heart of A Blank Page, a work of interactive fiction that anyone with a creative spirit should be able to understand.  In A Blank Page, you are the writer, sitting in front of a blank screen and trying to figure out how to begin.  It seems like it should be so easy.  You’re smart.  You’re imaginative.  You have ideas.  The keyboard is right there in front of you.  

So, why is it so easy to find something else to do?

You can look out the window.  You can chat with your friends.  You can go for a walk.  You can even go through your notebook and look at all of the ideas that you’ve had, ideas that seemed good at the time but which now add up to a big pile of What Was I Thinking?  Why can you do all of that but you can’t start your masterpiece?

Trust me, I’ve been there. 

In fact, I’m there right now. 

I have been playing and reading interactive fiction like A Blank Page for years but I’ve never actually written one.  I have had ideas for a few.  I’ve even started on a few.  But I’ve never gotten past the first room description or the solution for the first puzzle.  In October, when I was playing the entries in the 2021 Interactive Fiction Competition, I decided that 2022 was going to be the year that I was not only going to  finally write a game but I was also going to let the rest of the world see it.  It’s been tough getting started, though.  I’ve played some good games and I’ve played some bad and really sloppy games and I would definitely rather be responsible for a good one.  My hope is that I’ll have something to enter into the 2022 Interactive Fiction Competition.  I don’t care if my game is ranked in top ten of the entries.  I just don’t want it to be dead last.

That’s where something like A Blank Page is helpful.  It’s a reminder that I’m not the only one who sometimes doesn’t know where to begin.  It’s good to know that I’m not the first person to have ever struggled with this.  Somewhere, someone else is also struggling to write their first game or their first story or create their first painting and they’re hoping that, whatever the final result of their efforts may be, it will be good enough to justify a second one.  As A Blank Page‘s creator says in the introduction to the game, “all arts have their own version of the ‘Blank Page Syndrome.'”

A Blank Page is a short Twine game, full of details that will resonate with any artist who has struggled.  It’s good and comforting to know that I’m not the only person who has ever spent more than one day looking at a blank page or screen and asking, Where to Begin?

Play A Blank Page.

Game Review: How it was then and how it is now (2021, Pseudavid)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

How it was then and how it is now is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

In this Twine game, you are attempting to navigate a maze with your ex, Clara.  You and Clara still have complicated feelings for each other and as much of the game is spent remembering the past as it is navigating the maze.  The maze is made up of unusual geometric shapes that you have to identify.  You are usually given three options to choose from.  Often the correct answer is deliberately not among the options.  Eventually, you find yourself in situations where you have to pick three numbers but it does not seem to make much difference which numbers your pick.  Is the narrator’s mind deteriorating, is a geometric apocalypse coming, or is it something else?  I played the game and I don’t know.

Twine is a good format for surreal games and they don’t get more surreal than How it was then and how it is now.  In short, it’s not a game for everyone but it is also obviously not meant for everyone.  For the matter, it’s also not really a game as much as its a short story with occasional choices.  (It literally is Interactive Fiction.)  Don’t worry about solving the maze because that will only frustrate you.  Instead, just click on an answer and see where the story is heading.

Play How it was then and how it is now.

Game Review: Goat Game (2021, Kathryn Li)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Goat Game is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

You are a research assistant at Yobel Industries. You’re also a humanoid goat, as is almost everyone else in this game. That doesn’t really play much into the game’s plot but it is does make the illustrations that go with each chapter interesting to look at. When you discover that there is a potential safety violation at the lab, you have to decide how to respond to both it and the subsequent scandal. There are a lot of decisions to make, most of which have to do with how you feel about your job and the animals that you work with. The decisions you make influence three key stats, all of which play into determining which one of the 15 potential endings that you’ll end up with.

The number of different endings is the main appeal of Goat Game. Because it’s a quick game, it’s interesting to see how much one choice can totally change how things go for you. The endings are determined by how much you hate or like your job and the city, and also how many friends you’ve made. I haven’t seen all the endings yet but I’m going to keep playing until I do. Along with the endings, Goat Game is well-written and it does a good job of transporting the player into the world that the game’s created.

Play Goat Game.

Game Review: Unfortunate (2021, Jess Elizabeth Reed)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Unfortunate is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

You are a fortune teller at a party. The person throwing the party has called your abilities into question and has dared you to correctly tell everyone’s fortune before the night is finished. Throughout the game, you observe and talk to the seven other party guests. You ask them questions and then, once you feel you have enough information about them and their relationships with everyone else at the party, you give them their fortune. Then, a few turns later, you discover whether or not you were correct.

I liked the idea behind this game. It may be puzzle-based but, instead of trying to guess the verb or figure out what part of the room you have yet to search, you’re trying to ask the right questions and correctly interpret the answers. That’s a challenge and there’s enough characters in the game and they move around enough that Unfortunate is the type of game that will be worth replaying.

There’s a few bugs in the game, though. At one point, I got trapped in the kitchen and could not get the game to respond to any of my commands. In that case, I had to restart the game from the beginning. Overall, though, this is a challenging game with a good idea at the center of it.

Play Unfortunate.

Game Review: Brave Bear (2021, John Evans)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Brave Bear is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

In Brave Bear, you are a teddy bear.  In the tradition of Toy Story, you can walk and communicate with all of the other toys and devices in the house.  The game is short and simple.  You are walking around the house.  In each room, there is a dark phantom (each representing things like insecurity and depression) that you must defeat in order to continue on your way.  Some of the phantoms you can defeat on your own because you’re a brave bear.  Others are going to require you to make friends and get help from the other toys in the house.

It’s a cute game, ideal for it you’re looking for something that you can play quickly.  There are puzzles and puzzles are traditionally my downfall but, for once, I was able to solve most of them on my own.  And if you do find yourself stuck, there’s a walk-through.  It’s a simple game but who doesn’t like a brave bear?

Play Brave Bear.

Game Review: The Song Of The Mockingbird (2021, Mike Carletta)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The Song of the Mockingbird is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

You’re not just a cowboy. You’re a singing cowboy! You’re as fast with your guitar as you were with your six shooter. You’re in love with Rosa, a sensuous dancer. Unfortunately, Black Blade’s gang of outlaws have not only abducted Rosa but they also stole your gun! If you’re going to rescue, Rosa you’re going to have to use your wits and your ability to pay attention to all the little details of your surroundings. It won’t be easy. From the minute you start the game, you go from happily singing The Yellow Rose of Texas to being ambushed by Black Blade’s men.

The Song of the Mockingbird is a western. There really haven’t been that many western IF games, which is strange because the western genre seems like it would be a natural fit for the Interactive Fiction format. The Song of the Mockingbird makes a good case that maybe there should be more western games. Well-written and full of memorable details, The Song of the Mockingbird is an entertaining and fun Inform game. It’s a text adventures but the descriptions are so vivid that you don’t really need any fancy graphics to help you visualize the world of the game. The game mixes serious western action with some satirical but affectionate digs at the whole singing cowboy genre.

There are a lot of puzzles in The Song of the Mockingbird. Some of them are simple and some of them are not. Of course, having to solve puzzles have always been my downfall when it comes to IF games. Fortunately, Song of the Mockingbird comes with a walk-through, which you can use as a last resort. I will admit that I referred to it a few times but, when I did, I discovered that Song of the Mockingbird’s puzzles aren’t really difficult. They just require the play to pay attention to every detail of their surroundings. This is a game where it pays to be attentive.

Play The Song of the Mockingbird.

Game Review: The Best Man (2021, Stephen Bond)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The Best Man is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

In The Best Man, you take control of Aiden.  He seems like a classic “nice guy” and that’s the problem.  When his best friend Laura calls him and asks if he would be willing to step in at the least minute and serve as the best man at her wedding to John, Aiden agrees.  Just from the opening conversation between you and Laura, it first seems that The Best Man is going to be one of those romantic comedy games where a nerdy guy goes on an everyday quest (like getting the wedding rings before the ceremony) and eventually “wins the girl.”

Instead, the game reveals that Aiden is not a reliable narrator.  He spends a lot of time in a fantasy world, where he and Laura are together and have a beautiful future but actually, it’s obvious that Laura has never considered him to be anything more than just a friend.  Aiden is so delusional and obsessive that, about halfway through the game, I wasn’t even sure that Laura had actually called him or that Laura even existed to begin with.  The game itself features a lot of minor tasks that need to get done before the wedding but the fact that the whole thing might be in Aiden’s head adds a new wrinkle to the usual romantic comedy.  Aiden may think about Laura abandoning her husband-to-be for him but the player knows that would be the worst thing that could happen.  It takes courage to write a game where you actively root against the person you’re playing and considerable skill to actually make it work.  Fortunately, Stephen Bond has both.

The Best Man is well-written with enough interesting details to make it worth replaying.  The mix of dark comedy and disturbing drama really pays off,

Play The Best Man.

Game Review: we, the remainder (2021, Charm Cochran)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

we, the reminder is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

Something has happened. Everyone that you ever knew, including your mother, vanished nearly a month ago. They went up into the air. You are alone in a dilapidated apartment building, confined to a wheelchair and running out of food. Through the living room window, you can see what appears to be a dead body on the street below. Go out into the hallway and you’ll discover the elevator is broken. The stairs are going to be a struggle to get down on your own. But it’s either that or starve to death. If you make it down the stairs, the world outside is a dangerous place and bad memories of your life in a religious cult are triggered. If you can find food, you’ll then be able to solve the mystery of where everyone has gone.

we, the remainder is a vividly written, horror and religious-themed Twine game, one that features a fair number of puzzles and which can be unforgiving if you don’t quickly figure out how to find food. (As I’ve said, puzzles are always my downfall when it comes to IF so I starved to death a few times.) Once you eat, though, the game is a rewarding exploration of a surreal but intriguing world. Play it, solve the mysteries, and be sure to keep a Bible nearby because having a working knowledge of the Book of Revelations will definitely help you out.

Play we, the remainder.

Game Review: What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (2021, Amanda Walker)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

First, I need to warn you that there’s a SPOILER in this review.  It’s not a huge spoiler but it might effect how you react to certain things that you discover while playing this game.

In What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed, you discover yourself in a large gothic mansion.  You have no memories of how you came to be there.  You also have a very limited set of actions available to you.  This is because, and this is the SPOILER, you’re a ghost and you no longer know how to communicate with the world of the living.  Fortunately, if you were smart enough to accept the game’s opening offer of “helpful information,” you’ll have a list of a few verbs that you can use to escape the room that you’ve found yourself in and explore the house.  As you explore, you learn how to do things in your ghostly form, which in game terms means that you learn new verbs.  You also start to remember the disturbing circumstances of what led to you becoming a ghost in the first place.

This is a long but rewarding game, a throwback to the type of Interactive Fiction that balanced solving puzzles with telling stories instead of favoring one over the other.  The game’s unique command system takes some getting used to but it pays off.  Fortunately, there’s not only a very helpful Hints system but there’s also a walk-through, in case you really get stuck.  I got stuck but I always struggle with IF puzzles.  This is a well-written and thought-provoking game and one of the best of the entrants that I’ve played.  I highly recommend it.

Play What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed.

Game Review: Universal Hologram (2021, Kit Riemer)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Universal Hologram is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition.  Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

Some games just aren’t going to be for everyone and that’s definitely the case with Universal Hologram, a Twine game where you live in a Martian colony and you learn how to astral project.  Astral projection leads to some wild dreams but it also leads to the discovery that you are living in a simulation.  It’s a long game, one that is more concerned with philosophy than it is with its plot.  Each action and decision is a chance for the game’s characters to discuss man’s place in the universe and the nature of reality.  If that’s your thing, you’re going to enjoy the game’s mix of the profane and the profound.  If you’re not into it and just looking for something more straightforward, you may get frustrated with Universal Hologram‘s deliberately enigmatic narrative.

Myself, though, I enjoyed it.  Twine games, by their nature, are best used for games that are like short stories with occasional choices as opposed o traditional puzzle-solving Interactive Fiction.  Twine games, above all else, reward good writing and Universal Hologram is very well-written.  Mars, the simulation, and the eccentric characters all come to life.  The game also includes computer-generated visuals, the better to put you into a dream state.  That the game is willing to risk alienating its players is one of the things that makes Universal Hologram stand out from so many other recent Interactive Fiction games.  I like games that take risks.

Play Universal Hologram.