jaclynhyde (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jaclynhyde) wrote2018-10-30 01:36 pm
jaclynhyde) wrote2018-10-30 01:36 pm
Entry tags:
IFComp 2018 Recommendations
After finally finishing all the games, I figured I'd put my thoughts down. Check them out at https://ifcomp.org/ballot/ or https://ifcomp.org/comp/2018 (once judging is finished).
TL;DR, my top five choice and parser games:
Choice: Animalia, Cannery Vale, Dead Man's Fiesta, Erstwhile, Grimnoir
Parser: Alias 'The Magpie', Bascilica de Sangre, Diddlebucker!, StupidRPG, The Temple of Shorgil
Favorites:
* Ailihphilia: Parser. Delightful fun with wordplay, with a robust hint system and extra surprises for upping your palindrome game. Leans a bit hard on the palindromes and makes the text difficult to read at times, but it's goofy enough fun that the plot really doesn't matter.
* Alias 'The Magpie': Parser. Raffles meets Poirot meets Wodehouse, and it's absolutely hilarious. You're a gentleman thief impersonating a psychoanalyst impersonating a detective, and there's a lot of hijinks to cause in the course of stealing a priceless scarab (and maybe some good to do, too).
* Animalia: Choice. Forest animals pretend to be a human child! It's hilariously dark. There's tons of variety in the gameplay, since you pick your team at the beginning and their skills and interactions change a lot.
* Bascilica de Sangre: Parser. You're a demon possessing nuns in order to save your captured mother. The possession mechanic is tons of fun and the characters are great; there's one person whose segments are especially clever. You can pet a cat.
* Bogeyman: Choice. A child is taken by the bogeyman. Incredibly creepy and depressing, and captures the mood of a dark fairytale perfectly.
* Cannery Vale: Choice. You're a horror author checking in to the Lovecraft Hotel to write your latest novel, alternating between controlling yourself and your new protagonist. This is amazingly well-done, funny, and creepy; the process of writing the novel and seeing what the changes you've made do it extremely fun.
* Diddlebucker!: Parser. Go on a goofy scavenger hunt to win a prize. The hunt and puzzles are really fun, and an added subplot adds a nice wrinkle to it. Some puzzles can be obtuse, but there's a great hint system.
* Dynamite Powers vs. the Ray of Night!: Parser. Exactly as pulp as it sounds. The writing is delightful, including in the hint system, and the puzzles are brutal but fun. Keep a save at the start of each area, for the love of god.
* Erstwhile: Choice. You're a ghost solving your own murder by diving into your friends (and suspects') memories. Really engaging, with great gameplay and lots of tantalizing personal mysteries left unsolved.
* Grimnoir: Choice. You're a noir supernatural detective--can you improve the lives of your clients, or even your own? Engaging characters and fun cases, and it's nice to see a gay noir protagonist. Get coffee at the start of every case. SPOILERS The main character's gay relationships have gone about as well as a noir protagonist's usually do, so beware of Bury Your Gays.
* The Master of the Land: Choice. In a fantastical festival, mingle, make connections, and prevent a murder or worse. This is a heavily time-based game (find characters at certain spots at certain times), which I don't enjoy enough to find the good endings, but there is so much to do in this game. The writing is delightful, and there are dozens of subplots to follow.
* Ostrich: Choice. You're a censor in an increasingly fascist government. Like 1984 and want to be depressed about the state of the world? It's chilling.
* StupidRPG: Parser. Title is bad, game is one of the most delightful in the competition. You're playing through an inexperienced GM's campaign, and it's a lot of fun. The different sections are disjointed (some very deliberately so) and there's plot hooks which go nowhere, but I'd play an expanded version of this in a heartbeat. The parser is incredible.
* The Temple of Shorgil: Parser. Solve puzzles and learn more about the inhabitants of a lost temple. Filling in your journal is just as fun as solving the very clever puzzles. The puzzles can be difficult--some mechanics are obtuse, and there's a meta-puzzle for the best ending I didn't even know existed--but it's worth playing through.
* Terminal Interface for Models RCM301-303: Parser. As a blind mech, help your pilot carry out his mission. The conceit of depending on someone else to describe your surroundings is really clever, and the game does a lot with it. Figuring out different outcomes is difficult--I only got two, and no one seems to have found the best one yet.
* They Will Not Return: Choice. You're an android waiting for your masters to return and watching the world change. The first segment is really powerful, and the rest is a thoughtful look at ethics and consciousness.
* Ürs: Choice. A rabbit investigates the big THUDs that are shaking his home. Gorgeous art and text; the puzzles are thin, but it's still an enjoyable experience.
* Writers Are Not Strangers: Choice. A writer faces the end of the world, and some more important things. The writing is extremely well done, and there's a lot of variety to the story; your choices are meaningful. There's some interesting meta parts that integrate into the story.
Also Enjoyed:
* Abbess Otilia's Life and Death: Choice. A really cool premise--you're reading a medieval manuscript covering an abbess' life, including illustrations and marginalia. The story is relatively low-key, but shaping her life is engaging. The text is extremely difficult to read.
* Bi Lines: Choice. A reporter who talks to the dead wrestles with his sexuality and his assault. The protagonist and world are really well done, but heed the content warnings, because it can be hard to play.
* Charming: Parser. You're a terrible witch and you need to fix everything you've exploded. Reading about and casting spells is really fun, but it can get a bit tedious. You can pet a cat.
* DEVOTIONALIA: Choice. Choose the perfect ritual for an odd religion. Very thoughtful, and a really cool take on Lovecraftian monsters that isn't actually horror.
* Dungeon Detective: Choice. You're a gnoll solving the mystery of the dragon's missing gold. Really fun premise, but the mystery doesn't quite live up to it. Still very charming.
* En Garde: Choice. A bunch of brains, from a mouse to a scientist, end up in one brain. The gameplay is really clever, with each new inhabitant adding new choices and understanding of the world. Also surprisingly heartwarming for something that seems to be purely horror and humor.
* Eunice: Parser. Explore and save a fantasy world. This was made to teach positive psychology, a pet interest of mine, and it's charming and integrated quite well.
* Instruction Set: Parser. Solve puzzles and slowly find out why. The puzzles are fun and so is the emerging story. Play if you like stock puzzles; the sliding puzzle is reasonably doable as someone who hates them.
* Into the Lair: Choice. You're an ex-thrall of a vampire, and you want to kill him and/or save the others in the same situation. Doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it's enjoyable.
* LET'S ROB A BANK: Choice. Pick your team, rob a bank. Short, violent, and fun.
* Lux: Choice. You wake up blind after an accident hit your space station, and you have to rely on the AI to get your to safety. Excellent plot--I haven't finished yet but I have some suspicions--and puzzles that can be tedious with the inventory system. Definitely draw a map if you have a bad sense of direction.
* I Should Have Been That I Am: Choice. A robot dealing cards in Vegas meets someone who changes their life. Short and sweet, with interesting philosophical questions.
* Junior Arithmancer: Parser. Do math magic! If you like math puzzles, definitely check this out--the story is light but charming.
* The Origin of Madame Time: Parser. You've discovered your superpowers by stopping time as disaster breaks out during a large-scale battle. Great premise and fun narration, but a lot more could be done with the powers and puzzles.
* Polish the Glass: Choice. You return to the bar where your mother worked, and where she obsessively polished the glass. Creepy, with great effects.
* Re:Dragon: Choice. A very meta game about fixing an unwinnable game from last year's competition. The execution is clever, but you really have to play the game it's referencing (which isn't very good).
* Six Silver Bullets: Parser. You're a secret agent who remembers nothing, and the world is not friendly. Another time-based game, and a very difficult one; it will take many playthroughs to have an idea what's going on, even with many elements randomized. Not my style, but for someone who likes digging their teeth into difficult puzzles, it'd be great.
* Tower: Choice. You ascend a tower, philosophically. Very atmospheric, and the final puzzle is pretty clever.
* Within A Circle of Water and Sand: Choice. After leaving your island on a quest for adulthood, you meet a girl from another tribe seeking her own. The story is great, and discovering how to survive is really fun. The introduction is really wordy, but it gets much more interactive.
Flawed but with Cool Bits:
* Adventures with Fido: Choice. You're a corgi, having corgi adventures! Quite buggy at times and the quiz-based minigames are strange, but very cute and full of things to do.
* A Final Grind: Choice. A worn-out adventurer embarks on yet another adventure. There are some really cool systems in here--self-loathing and exhaustion are stats, and parrying is done by solving math problems--but they aren't integrated well and gameplay is tedious. Don't break the safe, it's bugged.
* The Forgotten Tavern: Choice. Help save a run-down tavern by taking care of their vegetable problem. The gameplay is fairly tedious, but the concept is really charming and the little details are cute.
* The Mouse Who Woke Up For Christmas: Parser. You're a mouse getting ready for Christmas Charming world with a bit of bite, but the difficult puzzles and frustrating parser make it hard to get anywhere. Don't drop the ale, it's bugged.
* Space Punk Moon Tour: Parser. Take a trip to see your favorite band, and maybe confront an evil corporation and work through some trauma at the same time. I adore the setting, art, and characters, but the gameplay is frustrating enough that it brings it down. Each section or day requires certain tasks to be completed, and many are obscure and with no hints; the parser is also very picky (you need to "pop pills", not take or swallow them). You can pet a cat.
TL;DR, my top five choice and parser games:
Choice: Animalia, Cannery Vale, Dead Man's Fiesta, Erstwhile, Grimnoir
Parser: Alias 'The Magpie', Bascilica de Sangre, Diddlebucker!, StupidRPG, The Temple of Shorgil
Favorites:
* Ailihphilia: Parser. Delightful fun with wordplay, with a robust hint system and extra surprises for upping your palindrome game. Leans a bit hard on the palindromes and makes the text difficult to read at times, but it's goofy enough fun that the plot really doesn't matter.
* Alias 'The Magpie': Parser. Raffles meets Poirot meets Wodehouse, and it's absolutely hilarious. You're a gentleman thief impersonating a psychoanalyst impersonating a detective, and there's a lot of hijinks to cause in the course of stealing a priceless scarab (and maybe some good to do, too).
* Animalia: Choice. Forest animals pretend to be a human child! It's hilariously dark. There's tons of variety in the gameplay, since you pick your team at the beginning and their skills and interactions change a lot.
* Bascilica de Sangre: Parser. You're a demon possessing nuns in order to save your captured mother. The possession mechanic is tons of fun and the characters are great; there's one person whose segments are especially clever. You can pet a cat.
* Bogeyman: Choice. A child is taken by the bogeyman. Incredibly creepy and depressing, and captures the mood of a dark fairytale perfectly.
* Cannery Vale: Choice. You're a horror author checking in to the Lovecraft Hotel to write your latest novel, alternating between controlling yourself and your new protagonist. This is amazingly well-done, funny, and creepy; the process of writing the novel and seeing what the changes you've made do it extremely fun.
* Diddlebucker!: Parser. Go on a goofy scavenger hunt to win a prize. The hunt and puzzles are really fun, and an added subplot adds a nice wrinkle to it. Some puzzles can be obtuse, but there's a great hint system.
* Dynamite Powers vs. the Ray of Night!: Parser. Exactly as pulp as it sounds. The writing is delightful, including in the hint system, and the puzzles are brutal but fun. Keep a save at the start of each area, for the love of god.
* Erstwhile: Choice. You're a ghost solving your own murder by diving into your friends (and suspects') memories. Really engaging, with great gameplay and lots of tantalizing personal mysteries left unsolved.
* Grimnoir: Choice. You're a noir supernatural detective--can you improve the lives of your clients, or even your own? Engaging characters and fun cases, and it's nice to see a gay noir protagonist. Get coffee at the start of every case. SPOILERS The main character's gay relationships have gone about as well as a noir protagonist's usually do, so beware of Bury Your Gays.
* The Master of the Land: Choice. In a fantastical festival, mingle, make connections, and prevent a murder or worse. This is a heavily time-based game (find characters at certain spots at certain times), which I don't enjoy enough to find the good endings, but there is so much to do in this game. The writing is delightful, and there are dozens of subplots to follow.
* Ostrich: Choice. You're a censor in an increasingly fascist government. Like 1984 and want to be depressed about the state of the world? It's chilling.
* StupidRPG: Parser. Title is bad, game is one of the most delightful in the competition. You're playing through an inexperienced GM's campaign, and it's a lot of fun. The different sections are disjointed (some very deliberately so) and there's plot hooks which go nowhere, but I'd play an expanded version of this in a heartbeat. The parser is incredible.
* The Temple of Shorgil: Parser. Solve puzzles and learn more about the inhabitants of a lost temple. Filling in your journal is just as fun as solving the very clever puzzles. The puzzles can be difficult--some mechanics are obtuse, and there's a meta-puzzle for the best ending I didn't even know existed--but it's worth playing through.
* Terminal Interface for Models RCM301-303: Parser. As a blind mech, help your pilot carry out his mission. The conceit of depending on someone else to describe your surroundings is really clever, and the game does a lot with it. Figuring out different outcomes is difficult--I only got two, and no one seems to have found the best one yet.
* They Will Not Return: Choice. You're an android waiting for your masters to return and watching the world change. The first segment is really powerful, and the rest is a thoughtful look at ethics and consciousness.
* Ürs: Choice. A rabbit investigates the big THUDs that are shaking his home. Gorgeous art and text; the puzzles are thin, but it's still an enjoyable experience.
* Writers Are Not Strangers: Choice. A writer faces the end of the world, and some more important things. The writing is extremely well done, and there's a lot of variety to the story; your choices are meaningful. There's some interesting meta parts that integrate into the story.
Also Enjoyed:
* Abbess Otilia's Life and Death: Choice. A really cool premise--you're reading a medieval manuscript covering an abbess' life, including illustrations and marginalia. The story is relatively low-key, but shaping her life is engaging. The text is extremely difficult to read.
* Bi Lines: Choice. A reporter who talks to the dead wrestles with his sexuality and his assault. The protagonist and world are really well done, but heed the content warnings, because it can be hard to play.
* Charming: Parser. You're a terrible witch and you need to fix everything you've exploded. Reading about and casting spells is really fun, but it can get a bit tedious. You can pet a cat.
* DEVOTIONALIA: Choice. Choose the perfect ritual for an odd religion. Very thoughtful, and a really cool take on Lovecraftian monsters that isn't actually horror.
* Dungeon Detective: Choice. You're a gnoll solving the mystery of the dragon's missing gold. Really fun premise, but the mystery doesn't quite live up to it. Still very charming.
* En Garde: Choice. A bunch of brains, from a mouse to a scientist, end up in one brain. The gameplay is really clever, with each new inhabitant adding new choices and understanding of the world. Also surprisingly heartwarming for something that seems to be purely horror and humor.
* Eunice: Parser. Explore and save a fantasy world. This was made to teach positive psychology, a pet interest of mine, and it's charming and integrated quite well.
* Instruction Set: Parser. Solve puzzles and slowly find out why. The puzzles are fun and so is the emerging story. Play if you like stock puzzles; the sliding puzzle is reasonably doable as someone who hates them.
* Into the Lair: Choice. You're an ex-thrall of a vampire, and you want to kill him and/or save the others in the same situation. Doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it's enjoyable.
* LET'S ROB A BANK: Choice. Pick your team, rob a bank. Short, violent, and fun.
* Lux: Choice. You wake up blind after an accident hit your space station, and you have to rely on the AI to get your to safety. Excellent plot--I haven't finished yet but I have some suspicions--and puzzles that can be tedious with the inventory system. Definitely draw a map if you have a bad sense of direction.
* I Should Have Been That I Am: Choice. A robot dealing cards in Vegas meets someone who changes their life. Short and sweet, with interesting philosophical questions.
* Junior Arithmancer: Parser. Do math magic! If you like math puzzles, definitely check this out--the story is light but charming.
* The Origin of Madame Time: Parser. You've discovered your superpowers by stopping time as disaster breaks out during a large-scale battle. Great premise and fun narration, but a lot more could be done with the powers and puzzles.
* Polish the Glass: Choice. You return to the bar where your mother worked, and where she obsessively polished the glass. Creepy, with great effects.
* Re:Dragon: Choice. A very meta game about fixing an unwinnable game from last year's competition. The execution is clever, but you really have to play the game it's referencing (which isn't very good).
* Six Silver Bullets: Parser. You're a secret agent who remembers nothing, and the world is not friendly. Another time-based game, and a very difficult one; it will take many playthroughs to have an idea what's going on, even with many elements randomized. Not my style, but for someone who likes digging their teeth into difficult puzzles, it'd be great.
* Tower: Choice. You ascend a tower, philosophically. Very atmospheric, and the final puzzle is pretty clever.
* Within A Circle of Water and Sand: Choice. After leaving your island on a quest for adulthood, you meet a girl from another tribe seeking her own. The story is great, and discovering how to survive is really fun. The introduction is really wordy, but it gets much more interactive.
Flawed but with Cool Bits:
* Adventures with Fido: Choice. You're a corgi, having corgi adventures! Quite buggy at times and the quiz-based minigames are strange, but very cute and full of things to do.
* A Final Grind: Choice. A worn-out adventurer embarks on yet another adventure. There are some really cool systems in here--self-loathing and exhaustion are stats, and parrying is done by solving math problems--but they aren't integrated well and gameplay is tedious. Don't break the safe, it's bugged.
* The Forgotten Tavern: Choice. Help save a run-down tavern by taking care of their vegetable problem. The gameplay is fairly tedious, but the concept is really charming and the little details are cute.
* The Mouse Who Woke Up For Christmas: Parser. You're a mouse getting ready for Christmas Charming world with a bit of bite, but the difficult puzzles and frustrating parser make it hard to get anywhere. Don't drop the ale, it's bugged.
* Space Punk Moon Tour: Parser. Take a trip to see your favorite band, and maybe confront an evil corporation and work through some trauma at the same time. I adore the setting, art, and characters, but the gameplay is frustrating enough that it brings it down. Each section or day requires certain tasks to be completed, and many are obscure and with no hints; the parser is also very picky (you need to "pop pills", not take or swallow them). You can pet a cat.