You are supposed to studying English and building your vocabulary but you keep getting distracted by the man standing outside your window. It can be difficult to guess the right definition when you know that someone is hiding behind a tree and trying to get into your house. You text your friend. They suggest you call your mom. Is that the solution or is there another way to survive a visit from the man outside?
This is a simple but atmospheric game. There are three endings. It was pretty easy to get the good ending. I had to make some effort to trigger bad ending but it’s worth it because the bad ending is creepier than the good ending. Other than clicking on the right (or wrong) definitions of the words, there’s really only one decision to be made but make the wrong one or do bad enough on your vocabulary quiz and you’ll soon be getting a visit from the man outside!
The time is the near future. Earth has been invaded by the Hive. The sky is full of monsters. The surface is uninhabitable. You spend your days in an underground bunker, communicating with other survivors via the screen of your computer. Your user name is Blaze. Your friend, who you have never met in person, goes by the name of Topaz. One day, Topaz asks you if you remember what it was like to kiss. The two of you fantasize about the world that once was while trying to maintain a human connection in an inhumane world. What you don’t know is that the Hive is listening in as well, analyzing the conversation and trying to understand what makes humans tick.
There’s a lot more to this game than just sexting at the end of the world. (And the conversation between you and Topaz never gets that explicit so, if that’s what you’re looking for, you’re out of luck.) Instead, the game tells a story about how, even at the worst of times, people need to connect in order to survive. The conversation that you have with Topaz is about more than just getting off. It’s about surviving the bad times by remembering the good. Even though things are bad outside of your bunker, you and Topaz are capable of connecting. The Hive are not. All three of the characters come to life in this well-written, IF game. It’s a simple story that will leave you with a lot to think about.
Welcome to RetroCon 2021! You’ve just arrived in Las Vegas and now that you’ve unpacked, it’s time to decide what to do. You can go down to the hotel’s casino to gamble and try to add to the amount of money that you already have. Or you can head to the convention hall and check out Retrocon, where you can play three other unique games.
That’s pretty much the entire game. It’s simple but it’s also very addictive. Will you play poker? Will you bet on a horse race? Or will you save your money and play an old football game or maybe the zombie killing card game? There are several games to choose from and, what makes it even better, is that you can switch from one game to another. If you’re not winning any money, head on down to the convention hall and blow off some steam by playing Last Will and Testament. And when you’ve played enough for the day, head back to your hotel room and get ready to to play against then next day.
Retrocon 2021 is six games in one and they’re all enjoyable. It’s almost as good as going to Vegas yourself!
Ayn Rand- Libertarian, funny hat wearer, and author of that book your roommate wanted you to read in college, but you thought – If only there were an audiobook app. Imagine further, what if libertarians got funding and militant? This is the premise of what evolved into the Bioshock franchise.
Personally, I don’t play a lot of videogames. I used to be really into flying videogames and strategy videogames, BUT I unwind by watching dude’s play videogames. I’m assuming they’re dudes because they usually are. This is a fun way for Xennials and Zoommers to enjoy a game without …. ya know .. playing it.
Bioshock was created by Ken Levine. He was a theater major from Vassar- the last person who’d you’d expect to become a videogame development icon, but here we are. He started out with System Shock, a primitive AI gone evil game that featured a fairly new first person perspective that allowed you act as the bludgeoner of evil forces.
Bioshock was something new. Where Doom had you running around killing things, Bioshock created a World and Society. The graphics of course were amazing, but it created a civilization and culture. Any civilization needs a agreed upon political philosophy, which can attract or be imposed upon others. This civilization creation mixed with horror was Videogame gold!
Ken chose Objectivism to be the underpinning for his societal construct.
According to Ayn Rand, “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute”. This of course can lead to a life of solipsism and in Bioshock that’s what happens.
In the game, a rich industrialist, Andrew Ryan, leaves the terrestrial world to create a city of Rapture under the seas because the government was too intrusive. He wanted to fully unleash Man’s creative potential without rules or regulation. This allowed for scientific innovation in the form of “Plasmids” a drug which gives the user lethal superpowers, but it also led to the city failing because everyone started killing each other for dominance.
You play Jack and go through the game killing all kinds of freaks – BRUTALLY! As you go forward in the game, you are completely immersed in blood and libertarian political philosophy. You’re led by an Irish voice who says – “Would you kindly?” Before telling you to do things.
I don’t want to give away any ending. I do want you to give it a chance and watch below!
There are some games out there that are so surreal and borderline obscure that you’re either going to love them or you’re going to hate them but at least you won’t be bored. That was my reaction to An Aside About Everything, a surreal game that will either leave you feeling very frustrated or very intrigued. You are Him. You exist in a void that appears to be your office. You are searching for a girl whose flyer you have hanging in your office. At first, you only know that her name begins with a K. When you leave the Void, you walk around a strange city and you talk to the strange people within. Some of them seem to know you. Some of them seem to know the girl.
It’s not always an easy game to figure out and it’s easy to get trapped in a loop so I would suggest saving the game every chance that you get. Playing the game, I got the feeling that it wasn’t meant to be totally understood by the person experiencing it. The author, though, seems to know what she was trying to say, even if it wasn’t always clear to the player. As a result, this game is surreal but it’s not random. It’s leading somewhere but where is a question that you may have to answer for yourself. The game was well-written, with brief but memorable descriptions of each location and character and, for a Twine game, you had a lot of options for what you wanted to say or do. It’s not an easy game to figure out and definitely not for everyone but I enjoyed it.
You are a doctor, working in a dystopian hellscape. You and your clinic are the last stop for many desperate people. Supplies are running low. You are frequently tired and discouraged. But the needy keep coming. One night, a very important patient shows up unannounced at your clinic. He needs your help but does he deserve it? That’s your decision to make.
This is a pretty simple Twine game. It took me less than ten minutes to play it and I get the feeling that it’s actually a part of a bigger story. That’s not really a problem, though. The IF Comp is a good place for writers to show off their work and test whether there’s an audience for a full or more detailed version of their game. The Last Doctor is short and I would have liked more options but it was also well-written. From the opening lines, I could visualize the game’s world and, as I played, I felt like I was in the middle of that clinic, making life and death decisions. It’s easy to see how the game could be expanded and hopefully, it will be. If The Last Doctor were expanded into a bigger game, I would definitely play it.
The world has ended. Chaos reigns. Only savagery remains. At the start of this game, you and your partner are in your hovercraft, making your away across the wasteland, when you’re attacked by a crew straight out of a Mad Max film. From the start, there’s more to do than to just sit down in gunner’s seat and open fire. The hovercraft has been damaged and it’s up to you to make the repairs as quickly as possible. Once you do start shooting, the game’s not over. Ammo is limited and your pursuers are relentless.
How The Monsters Appeared In The Wasteland is a game devoted to the best part of any action movie, the chase. Though the game sounds simple, some of the puzzles do require some attention to detail. There’s more to winning than just being a good shot. This is a well-written Twine game that puts your right at the heart of the action.
Finally! You and your heavy mental band are scheduled to perform at Blood Furnace! But what’s this!? The Infurnal Stage (as it’s called) has been taken over by a glam metal band and they’re playing over their allotted time! They’re not only eating into your set but they’re spreading glam! Can you track down the other members of your band, pull them away from their distractions, and save metal? You can if you try and if you remember that there’s no problem that can’t be solved by jamming!
Codex Sadistica is an enjoyable text adventure. The Blood Furnace was a memorable location and the members of your band were all well-developed. Some of the puzzles took some effort but none of them were impossible and the game comes with a walk-through in case you get stuck. Not surprisingly, this game will be most enjoyed by people who know about the metal scene and are familiar with all of the different subsets but the writing is clever and witty enough that I think even people who cover their ears whenever they hear a screech guitar will be able to enjoy it. Be sure to jam with every member of your band. As the game goes on, you find new ways to jam and each style that you play will have a different effect on the people listening.
This is a simple game about nature. The miller is dead. The old mill is gone. Every day, you visit the miller’s garden. You take care of the lawn. You take care of the flowerbed. You tend to the river, which has now changed course without the presence of the mill to hold it back. With each visit, things change a little until eventually, the landscape becomes something new. That’s the game. It’s simple but it works. It only takes about 15 minutes to play and the poignant ending makes it worth the time. I know that this is the type of IF game that drives some players crazy because the choices are limited and there really aren’t any puzzles to be solved but I like the way The Miller’s Garden used the IF format to make its point. The garden and the river came alive for me.
In Smart Theory, you’re a college student who is woken up one morning by Paul “Big” Brother, who is excited to have the chance to teach you about Smart Theory, the new academic theory that is sweeping the campus. Whether you go willingly or not, you will eventually end up at the assembly and you will discover what Smart Theory is all about. (Personally, it’s more enjoyable and morally more rewarding to go unwillingly.)
Originated by a Texas fertilizer salesman who was trying to win a bet, Smart Theory may seem like a bunch of movie quotes but it’s actually the new way that you are going to be expected to view the world. And while some of it may sound dumb, it can’t actually be dumb because then it wouldn’t be a smart theory! Get it?
Designed with the Twine operating system, this is less of a game than a satirical short story about the current culture of conformity on campus. The more Smart Theory is explained, the more obvious it becomes that no one is willing to point out that the emperor is wearing no clothes. The game has something important to say about being weary of any ideology that doesn’t allow its followers to question it. To enjoy this game, it probably helps if you already agree with the point that it’s making but that doesn’t make that point any less relevant.
Through the Shattered Lens 