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  • “Winter Break at Hogwarts” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 15, 2019 by

    Disclaimer: You should know that I do not consider myself a scholar of the fictional universe of Harry Potter™; and I do not think that having all of the seven ‘Harry Potter’ books on the first day (yes, even the first one, it is a long story…), or the equivalent, makes me special… [now that… Read more

  • “The Mysterious Stories of Caroline” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 14, 2019 by

    Disclaimer: My tolerance for some grim realities in my interactive fiction is low to very low, but even anticipating that this was difficult material I chose to continue reading. The happy family is a myth for many… This Twine makes a creditable attempt to represent the problem at matter: as a child the protagonist received… Read more

  • “Fat Fair” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 14, 2019 by

    Seriously, I do not know what to say of this entry… On the one hand the writing is smooth and clear, with really vivid images, on the other hand, it borderline trolls the player. I am sorry to say that the third-person narration by the brute, obnoxious protagonist Borsch in this bizarre and crass game… Read more

  • “Remedial Witchcraft” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 14, 2019 by

    The premise for the game is neither wonderfully original nor a nice spin on the whole witchcraft genre, but I will write in its defense that this is surely a haphazard adventure filled with magical items, mishaps and an all-too-amiable protagonist. The game was reasonably polished. I did my usual hunt for unimplemented nouns and… Read more

  • “Gone Out For Gruyere” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 14, 2019 by

    Note: I noticed that this is another entry by the author of “Frenemies” (read the review here). This game offers the kind of pleasant experience that is not often indulged by IFComp entries. (We are not talking about a story here, so forget about character development). I liked the episodic approach of it, it allowed… Read more

  • “Very Vile Fairy File” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 14, 2019 by

    I am on a bit of focused on solving games without hints, and I very much wanted to add this one to the list. I failed to, however, because I did not quite get what was going on with this guess-the-verb/guess-the-action hybrid. The exploration is not particularly rich, and is only second to the task… Read more

  • “Skies Above” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 14, 2019 by

    Minimalist and unexciting, although it has an ostensible goal (getting 100 floatrons), it is basically just an interactive map of an excuse for mini-games. In short, it would have taken some skill to make such a game compelling—and though there is a hint of some wit here, this entry is only marginally interesting. [Oh, and… Read more

  • “Under the Sea” — IFComp 2019 Short Review

    November 13, 2019 by

    The plot is nothing terribly involving—a great adventurer discovers uncharted places, learns new skills, and makes fishy friends—but that’s not really the focus of this offering. It gets kind of Zen after a while, life is a dive, time is a blue ocean, the fish looks at you with a calm, almost human demeanor… I… Read more

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