Category: Uncategorized

Impossible to discuss without spoilering: I kind of assume that the name of this game, Keepsake, is play on the name “Memento,” which of course is a movie that told a story in the way similar to the way this game tells a story. I don’t actually intend to spoil Memento, since most people know…

I might be running out of steam for how to evaluate puzzle games in my reviews. There are a lot of games this year! This one was… okay! Although the theme of it is fairly well-worn, it had a nice little twist. The theme: solve puzzles based on the Seven Deadly Sins… the twist: …using…

A Christmas-themed puzzle game, this felt suitable for today, as it’s snowing like a winter wonderland outside in October. This is basically purely a puzzle exercise, but it’s very user-friendly. I particularly liked that exits were flagged with where they lead after you passed through them once, making traveling around the area easy. The puzzle content is…

This is an interactive fairy story, of sorts. It’s pretty well-written, well-executed, and super short. It ends just as I was getting interested, really. The game does have kind of a confusing conceit. You start out as one character, a country man who is interested and inspired by folk stories. Then at some point, without much…

I have time for one more today.  There sure are a lot of detective games in this year’s comp! Yes, I know I’m not the first person to notice this. PataNoir is a detective game based on extended metaphors. The game is full of things that have (occasionally forced) metaphors applied to them, such as…

Now this was pretty cool, a sort of Steampunk fairy tale told from the eyes of a little girl who seems to be dreaming it.  I’ll spoiler-cut the rest just in case. Your character here is a little girl. She has a white rabbit on her skirt, so for a second I thought I was…

This one is pretty underwhelming, but I played it for over an hour anyway.  It’s kind of the opposite of Cana According to Micah.  I could tell that one was “good,” but it wasn’t really “fun,” whereas I found this one sort of interesting, but it isn’t actually good. Luster is a basic treasure hunt.…

This is a well-done piece, a retelling of a Biblical story: specifically, the wedding where Jesus turns water to wine, but interactive.  The verb implementation is great, there’s some nice NPC interaction, clear writing, and multiple paths to victory. It didn’t really grab me much, though, which I blame entirely on the theme. I confess…

If you enjoy the writing I’ve done about games in general, you might enjoy this little feminist editorial I wrote today for Tap Repeatedly! It’s about Halloween. If you don’t enjoy that, well, then… stay tuned for more IF Comp reviews a bit later!

I got through this one in about 15 minutes. That, I guess, is if you don’t count the five solid minutes I stared at the first room thinking, “What is my goal here?” The Guardian is a game where you wander across fantasy landscapes while pining for your lost love.  The goal of the game…