SELF
SELF – An Ambitious and Surreal Text Adventure
SELF is a Kafkaesque text-based adventure that unfolds on an interactive CRT screen. The game claims to draw inspiration from titles such as Undertale and Just Shapes & Beats, striving to combine text-based narrative and choices with a variety of gameplay mechanics.
It is a decent interactive fiction that will provide around two hours of gameplay. The game has an interesting albeit confusing storyline that successfully captures the player’s attention. However, it oversells itself with exaggerated claims of puzzles and bullet hell sections, which although fun, are not overly challenging and often feel like a side note that would be better marketed as a unique take on decision making in games. I would recommend the game as a narrative experience, particularly to fans of text-based adventures, but would ward off anyone looking for more action-packed or high octane gameplay.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nonlinear Word Game Games.
Very creative and dreamlike with enough nudges to help you find all of the narrative branches without taking away the mystery. Very unique narrative and I would love to see more like this.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Incel Syndrome
“disgraceful caricature of us truecels”
Read the whole demo and i gotta say im not surprised at all what I read. Its another piece to put down lonely men in their 20s for not having success with women. The game has the same narrative that most media has on incels or adult virgin men. They are all either mass shooters waiting to happen or just smelly neets in their mother’s basement, while the game attempts to sound smart with its quotes from Otto. Notice how no where in the game a woman seems irrational. Of course that can change when they release the whole game but i highly doubt they will show the ugly side of women in todays society cuz truly lonely men are the worst of our race right? Normies will never understand the lonely male which is why they will just throw all of them in the extreme category of the incel group. Congrats on the cringey ass demo cant wait for the whole game so i can shit on it and laugh more
– Real player with 14.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nonlinear Dark Comedy Games.
Is a novel, no a game-novel, rather full novel with no relevant decisions. The following comment is therefore a review of the plot (No Spoilers).
This stuff is not for everyone, hardcore incel issues, 90% of the characters are assholes (except for Jhon, love that bastard), thick text, references to a certain goverment in Germany in the 1930´s, and so on. However, I would argue the plot is pretty well done, the conflict of the main character is real, the characters are all flesh-made weak-but-true people and one can even extract an idea or two from this philosophy-elevated 4chan rant. The backgrounds and the music are perfectly aligned with the plot and so on.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
Keeper of the Labyrinth
Keeper of the Labyrinth is an interactive fiction game about identity, self-discovery and learning to accept and overcome the flaws we find in ourselves.
You:
A young witch who, with the passing of your teacher last fall, must take on the mantle of Keeper of the Labyrinth.
The labyrinth:
A vast being which waits at the edge of the sea. It has been here longer than any can remember, and for as long, it has been the sacred duty of the village witch to explore its depths. But strange things happen within its halls, and that journey is not for the light-of-heart.
The solstice night:
It is the night of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and it is your turn to make the journey. Forced to eschew the festivities, you don your cloak and gather your tools of witchcraft: runes, candles, a piece of chalk, a wand, a knife. What rituals will take place within? What is your quarry, waiting in the centre, that your teacher once mentioned? And more pressing, perhaps: what watches you from the darkness?
Make your choices, find your path:
There are many paths through the labyrinth, many side chambers to explore and twists to find. Many beautiful realizations, strange encounters, and deep horrors await you at each turn. With each, find new truths about the labyrinth through which you pass, and perhaps, yourself. Your choices too, have consequences; are you too apathetic, rushing your task? too cowardly, avoiding difficult choices? or too doubtful, unsure of where you’re going?
Journal:
Retrace your steps with a dynamically updated journal and table of contents which keeps track of your version of the story, depending on the choices you make, and in which order.
Gallery:
Unlock a gallery of more than 14 hand-painted illustrations to accompany key scenes on your journey through the labyrinth.
Content warnings:
Offers a robust system of content warnings to pop up before possibly disturbing scenes.
Carefully crafted prose and music:
Original soundtrack composed by the author to accompany each scene in the story.
Read More: Best Nonlinear Text-Based Games.
Of Bird and Cage
After waiting patiently for this game to release, I can firmly say the end product being so much more than I expected. The game plays on some very intense situations as you join Gitta on her downward spiral into addiction. You’re placed in scenarios where bad decisions can cost you your sanity and really throws out the question of how far are you willing to go for your next fix. One thing I absolutely loved about this game is that you can choose to not partake in Gitta’s vices, but will equally struggle with getting by. Indulging in her addiction will lead you down a broken path, but choosing to stay sober will give you a chance to experience the mind-numbing struggle of needing to take one more hit, but refusing to do so. That is really well done in this game.
– Real player with 10.5 hrs in game
Of Bird and Cage doesn’t really start until you approach the sound guy and ask to have your demo CD played. It is this very CD that provides the non-stop musical engine that drives the rest of this two-hour experience divided across three multi-part Acts and a summary credit sequence and epilogue. Once the music starts to play each and every scene in the game will unfold at the pace and length of each song, as displayed by the track progression meter at the bottom. When the music stops, the level ends regardless of what you have or haven’t done. You could simply stand there and do nothing for the duration of the song and the story will continue, albeit taking the failure path vs. a potentially different path if you were to accomplish the listed objectives. A list of tasks and sometimes collectibles will tell you what needs done before the music stops.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
EPONYMOUS
DISCLAIMER: This is a first impressions review, and NOT a full review
EPONYMOUS is a game developed and published by Minor Key Games
The game offers some nice graphics, although some ugly glitches here and there, it is pleasant all the same
The game does suffer with some repetitiveness at certain areas of the game but a fun game nonetheless
EPONYMOUS overall, however, is a fun game to play, yet sometimes repetitive and it does get boring and tedious if being played for a long time, but is a great little horror game to play in short bursts!
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Not really sure what or even if there was a story or message, but as a visual experience I enjoyed this. Plenty of options for sound controls fov to make it a comfortable experience and really let you get lost in the game for a bit. Levels aren’t too confusing, but the dialog is. Maybe it’s because I haven’t put in the time to read the footnoted content in the credits before playing to understand the placement of quotes and such, or maybe it’s just simply meant to be confusing as part of the experience. Also Found a potato so that was the most rewarding thing I got from this game lol. I appreciated the potato. I played through it a second time to look at the things I missed which was nothing major, just a few quotes as far as I can tell. Anyways, it’s cheap, takes a few minutes give it a try if the screenshots look appealing to you.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Astrobase Command
Salvage the remnants of your civilization by starting anew in uncharted space, with a small crew and the beginnings of an Astrobase. Grow your base by constructing modules on all three axes, put out fires both literal and metaphorical, and send characters with real personalities and emotions on non-linear text-based adventures across a procedural galaxy.
The only mode is ironman and every section, module, deck and crew member added to your Astrobase comes with implicit risks and reward, so choices matter. How long can you keep from succumbing to the dangers of space?
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Grow - Expand your Astrobase in all three directions.
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Nurture - Build a home for your crew and their daily lives
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Design - Layout the Astrobase to counter crises such conduit leaks, compartment failures, explosions, fires, personnel issues, and more
The Astrobase can be constructed along three axes. Your crew can expand the base by building modules or contract it by salvaging them. They can add or remove functionality by building up or tearing down sections in the modules. They can even build ships that lets you explore the galaxy.
You choose what to build and when to build it. The crew needs to rest and they need to breathe, do you rush the construction of the Enlisted Quarters or the Air Pump first? What’s the optimal placement of the new module? Is it better to have the Plasma Reactor closer to storage or to the crew’s quarters? Keep the station well maintained and stocked with supplies or disastrous consequences may result.
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Characters - Your crew make their own decisions as they interact with each other and the world around them.
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Full AI lifecycle - They work, eat, sleep, use the bathroom, relax, and socialize all as part of their daily lives.
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Morale - Your crew can get exhausted, or suffer from low morale which affects the quality of their lives and how they perform tasks.
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Relationships - Your crew form personal, professional, and romantic relationships. The relationships can be either positive or negative based on how their personalities and actions align.
Your crew live their own lives on the Astrobase. They have things to do and people to meet. Exactly how well they perform depends on how good they fit into their job, what adventures they’ve had, and what horrors they have survived; even how well matched they are with their peers matters, some will become romantic partners while others become bitter work rivals.
You will run into stumbling blocks, maybe your crew is exhausted because you’ve pushed them too hard, or low morale makes slacking off more enticing, or maybe Jenkins and Rodriguez spend too much time arguing while the Fission Reactor goes critical. Figure out your problems and fix them!
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Explore - Build and dispatch ships across the galaxy to explore planets, fight killbots, extract resources, and interact with other civilizations.
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Delegate - The ranking officer of each ship will make decisions based on their personality, and take recommendations from their team.
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Overrule - Change the decisions in the logs they send back, or let them make their own mistakes.
The procedural adventures of the crew assigned to your ships can be read and interacted with in the logs they send back. Carefully handpick the crew for each ship you send out. Monitor their progress or leave them to their own fate. Whatever you choose to do, the outcomes of their adventures will be felt in what resources they get, what injuries they suffer, and in how it changes their emotional state.
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Assign - Choose the best person for each job based on their stats, personalities, and over 50 different skills.
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Manage - Prioritize tasks, clear task blockers, optimize the routes that the crew take during their day.
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Observe - Calculate resource depletion and stay on top of tasks to prevent the reactors from exploding, the conduits leaking, and compartments failing,
The desk is where you design the Astrobase into a functioning home for your crew, promote leaders, manage tasks, monitor resource consumption, read reports from your ships and give them your input.
Running the station means manning your desk. Be efficient, and use your time wisely or take a break and play some Asteroid Shooter.
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Individuality - Characters maintain emotional memory, and experience psychological growth over time depending on how results align with expectations.
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Expression - Each character’s personality is expressed in their conversations, thoughts, and ship log entries
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Story - Over 100 personality traits and 42 intertwined emotions combine to author narratives that reflect how the crew are actually thinking and feeling.
The Astrobase’s crew will have conversations with each other, or insights about their lives. Crew members join the Astrobase with revealed personality traits that drive the emotions that effect their job suitability, choices and actions. More traits become unlocked as they experience emotional growth.
Ensure that your crew’s psychological needs are met and they have the ability to grow as people. When you’re processing recruit applications you’ll want to keep an eye out for personalities that might clash with your existing crew, or will be compatible and create lasting friendships.
Raziel
“They say Hell lies in other people, but I don’t think it’s worse than living with your own past. Those people barely grasp what Hell can really be."
Synopsis
You are Avoir Cafard, a miserable, dull man that lives in a dirty and deplorable apartment, in a forsaken town with sad people and monotonous situations.
Avoir works in a local church as a spiritual counselor for people who have problems with life, either because of friendships, love, work, or family.
During five days, he will attend five different people with different situations that are disturbing them.
Taking them for a walk.
Talking to them for a while.
Making them see that things are not so bad as they imagine.
Maybe that will help them, somehow.
While at it, Avoir is also trying to solve his own problems. Problems about his own past.
He wishes to forget it at all costs.
Sadly, memories from an eternity seem impossible to forget.
About
Raziel (Rah-ziih-ell) is an adventure_-esque_, atmospheric and utterly poetic game where you wander about solving small tasks and talking to people. It aims to be a character study of five distinct people and their stream of consciousness, while also being a tale about introspection, alienation, nostalgia, loneliness, and the human condition.
The game is set within five days of Avoir’s life. In each of them, you meet a different person which you must help to ease their struggles about life while discovering new things about Avoir himself.
While not taking care of them, you are free to wander about in the city talking to its inhabitants and maybe even helping them along the way.
It revolves in five chapters with a prologue, two interludes, and an epilogue.
It was made using RPG Maker 2000, using everything the engine has to offer.
Features
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3+ hours of gameplay;
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Original Soundtrack;
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Charismatic characters;
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Pixel Art cutscenes;
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No random battles (actually, no battles at all);
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Various minigames, such as fishing and blackjack;
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Free city-roaming;
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NPCs that don’t have just one meaningless line of dialogue;
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Customizable settings such as Text box transparency and style, text speed, fonts, and more;
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Various button layouts for different controllers;
Yuha’s Nightmares
Yuha’s Nightmares
This is a simulation game about the nightmares that our main character Yuha suffers from. The primary goal of the player is to explore the surrealistic world that is full of strange things and unexpected events. The deeper part of Yua’s consciousness is depicted through the «flip side» of the 3d world. You will frequently get stuck in textures, see through mesh and wander around at every level in «inappropriate» places. The glitches in the game are accordingly integrated to make for an intense and exciting gameplay experience. «Yuha’s Nightmares» is a balanced combination of thriller, drama and comedy.
Who is Yuha?
Yuha is the virtual counterpart of the game developer Yuliya Kozhemyako. Yuha creates games, takes part in modern art exhibitions and feminist movements but does have some bad habits. Her body and form sometimes look like a polygon mesh and change textures.
Episode one: The Catastrophe
In this episode, Yuha is in a hurry to collect all her belongings so as to leave her crumbling house. Perhaps, her house is not the only thing getting destroyed, but rather the whole world? Even so what if there is a safe and secure place somewhere out there?
Creep
Creep is a 2D platform game that takes place inside a struggled person’s inner world represented as a worm world. You control the worm form of the same person as he shows why this world exists and how it’s like to live there.
I have no friends and life is full of obstacles
Yes, it is hard to say the other worms in the world are friendly, and there are lots of other dangers you will encounter. There is no one else other than you to cope with all these. Your only weapon is your wit against this crooked world until you reach the point to hell with it. This won’t just go forever like that. Your relationship with other worms will change as you progress.
I once loved too
Throughout the story, you will occasionally visit some memories or analogical mini levels with different gameplay than the main part of the game. These levels will unlock new abilities the worm can use. These abilities are not mere powers. They are part of the actual character progression itself and they will start to change the main gameplay and story.
Train of Afterlife
Train of afterlife is a game which is all about the atmosphere. To appreciate that Visual Novel, you must like that essential part lingering during the entire game. All is thought for that aspect with the low pace and the musics.
The story is a little masterpiece, as it plunges the reader little by little in the understanding in the form of a kind of puzzle which unknots itself in the very end. The atmosphere and the story together give form to a very emotionnal grand finale which might make you cry because of its intensity.
– Real player with 9.5 hrs in game
This game takes a perspective of the afterlife. The train stands as a common ground of a setting where you have windows and other passengers. Each one having their own existence shadowed. In this game, you are caught between decisions and if you like fortunes (Tarot Cards specifically) or have an interest in them; making a psychological aspect of who or what you are. The story resolves around hours and you are drawn to specific cards, these cards you choose also grant you the cards in Steam for players unless you idle and lose the choice of chance then. You have to get through those points. The cards all have an interesting connection of past. The more you go through you find a way to identify the people around you as well as yourself. For instance, these people/shadows leave and move around. DIfferent choices lead to different status and depending on them, the choice shows a significant effect on dialogue. If you are to think of VNs and routes this has a very basic but understandable concept. However the text shows deep insight into the creation or “memory recall” of yourself or another. Basically you got to play it a bit to understand what it gets at. Summarizing it so far it’s one of those games that it’s a choice that can matter. As stated you can only choose 9 cards but events and discussions show up that will make you go along the story. However as for anymore to spoil, the game shows it’s bits of mystery and suspense. For those seeking a good read and play evaluation, try this. However if price is not for you wait. It doesn’t have to be rushed this game is a patience on time and sadly there is no Screen shot button as well as an auto play. So you’ll be clicking quite a lot. Enjoy it if you do. The game makes you view death in a certain way as well as questions of life. Throughout the game on each end you get the password. I will not spoil it for you however there are some online guides. Although there is an extras gallery it cannot be unlocked without a code. Alas this game trult did play quite a bunch of high replayable moments. If you take the time to decipher and figure out all the characters and names in the story while playing the routes. You will find a deeper appreciation.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game