Dingo's Reviews - Brimstone Manor (Up Next: AI - Aftermath)

Nm6k · 2022-10-04T18:00:06.064Z

Oh boy you are in for a treat once it comes out same with Retribution

jasonstevanhill · 2022-10-04T19:30:30.155Z

Honestly, once you get further along, this makes me want to set up a YT chat with you, @Brian_Rushton, and @AletheiaKnights to discuss games.

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-04T19:31:31.740Z

I’d be more than happy. Got quite a bit more to go, though.

AletheiaKnights · 2022-10-04T21:13:58.087Z

I’d definitely be on board with that!

natwa · 2022-10-05T12:11:02.068Z

I’ve been enjoying reading your reviews of different COGs and HGs, including the SOH reviews. And for one thing, it’s made me even more sure that that series is probably not for me, but it has also, I think, made me understand the whys and hows of that series better. However, one thing that makes me wonder is that, despite you, as far as I can tell, saying that the HGs in that series don’t have much interactivity, they still seem to score quite high in your overall ranking( on place 5,6,7,8 and 10 in your rankings so far). Four out of five score higher than Temple of Endless Night, which you seemed to quite like, judging from your review of that HG.

The thing is, COGs and HGs are, as far as I can understand, meant to be an interactive story-game hybrid, which in turn means that them being truly interactive is as essential as a comedy being funny or a horror movie being scary. Just like I would find it really strange to recommend someone specifically looking for a good comedy a comedy you didn’t find funny at all, even though you still liked it overall or recommending someone looking for a good horror movie a horror movie that you didn’t really find scary, I do find it strange to basically recommend a HG series that you seem to think is bad when it comes to interactivity.

I’m not saying that it can’t be good in other ways. Just like a comedy or horror movie can have great actors and a story that draws you in despite not being(in the case of a comedy) funny or (in the case of a horror movie) scary and so still give you a good viewing experience, a COG or HG that isn’t really interactive can still have a good story and/or interesting and well-drawn characters and draw you in that way. But, just like a comedy is supposed to be funny, an interactive storygame is supposed to be really interactive, and although an interactive storygame that isn’t really that interactive can be good as a “pure” story, it doesn’t really work as an interactive storygame if it’s lacking in interactivity in the first place, the way that a comedy that isn’t really funny doesn’t really work as a comedy. Since this is supposed to be a series of reviews about interactive story-game hybrids, it seems more natural to me for the criterion of interactivity to be weighed more heavily in the final rankings than it seems to have been so far, in the same way the scariness of a movie, would naturally be weighed quite heavily in reviews and rankings of horror movies.

Havenstone · 2022-10-05T12:51:33.948Z

I should say first that as a CoG/HG reader I’m all in on Team Highly-Variable Interactivity. And I haven’t read SoH. In part, that’s because I never really got into the anime genre it’s based on; mostly it’s because while there were some things about Fatehaven I really liked, it was too firmly on rails for my tastes, and Devon was clear from the beginning that this was a feature of his writing, not a bug. (This is also, incidentally, why Devon is on Game 5 of his massively popular series and I’m plugging away deep in the weeds of Game 2 Chapter 1 of what will hopefully be mine.)

But in terms of how critics should rate the best CoG/HG games? I’m all in favor of that being about the holistic experience, and not necessarily privileging high interactivity.

natwa:

as essential as a comedy being funny or a horror movie being scary

If I were asked to list the best comedy movies, I’d rank movies like Royal Tenenbaums or Harold and Maude above much funnier movies like Borat or Bridesmaids. Ditto in horror for Midsommar, which never scared me, above Hereditary or The Exorcist, which did.

Plenty of reasonable people will reverse the order on those movies–but that’s the thing about taste, isn’t it? When you’re talking about what’s “best,” there isn’t anything resembling an objective definition that everyone coalesces around, or an agreed system for weighting the different factors we like. Despite my own love of high variability, I’d rank Fatehaven higher than plenty of games with more customization and variation, because I also like clever twists and metafiction.

Dingo’s reviews give plenty of info for fans of high interactivity to gauge whether they’re likely to enjoy the game he’s reviewing–and maybe reason to try a game they’d otherwise ignore. I don’t think he needs to nudge his ranking system to push less variable games down the “best” list (which is also going to look very different when he’s at game #220 rather than #22).

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-05T13:12:16.710Z

natwa:

Since this is supposed to be a series of reviews about interactive story-game hybrids, it seems more natural to me for the criterion of interactivity to be weighed more heavily in the final rankings than it seems to have been so far, in the same way the scariness of a movie, would naturally be weighed quite heavily in reviews and rankings of horror movies.

I can understand this desire, but I can absolutely guarantee there is no real science in my rankings. Purely subjective, and I’m only really providing it as a resource for someone who looks at my reviews and tends to agree with both the positive and negative to know that if they randomly pick something from the top 50%, it ‘might’ be something they find entertaining.

In the case of SoH, I came at the first game with the mindset that I was comparing it to the CoG format. This sort of did a disservice to the intent of the title, but I still found the titles enjoyable, and worth placing where I did. Part of the problem with any series, as well, is that I am going to have a hard time explaining what I really enjoy about a series in each consecutive entry, without feeling repetitive. This means that something like my SoH series (which is the longest full series I’ll be reviewing) had more and more focus on negatives as it went on, because I didn’t want to praise the same thing each time.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll still try to include a focus on variability and width in my reviews, even if it doesn’t reflect on my rankings directly.

Eric_Moser · 2022-10-05T14:04:39.866Z

@BourbonDingo I’ve really appreciated your blend of structured approach and holistic analysis. It’s been fun reading your reviews; you seem to have a knack for breaking down games’ strengths and weaknesses with a nuanced approach.

I just hope you don’t burn out! When you get to be in/near your 40s, sometimes you need a break!

Schliemannsghost · 2022-10-05T15:31:13.440Z

I always get antsy when people talk about what choice games are “supposed” to be like. The fact is, Choicescript is flexible, and can offer a really wide range of different experiences. As soon as you say “high variability is the main thing, and choice games should only ever be judged on that criterion!!!”, you’re limiting what these things can be and punishing games which risk trying to be different. I think Dingo’s doing it exactly right: judge a game subjectively on its fun factor, and on the overall experience it provides, rather than starting off with a prescriptive notion of what these games should be like.

I could say that “RPG games are all about loot and combat, and any RPG should only be judged on how satisfying those elements are!” Then I’d go and play “Disco Elysium”, and I’d be forced to conclude that it was trash because it doesn’t deliver those things. But surely it’s better to judge Disco Elysium based on what it’s trying to do and the experience that it offers, rather than punishing it for not ticking boxes on an inflexible list I’ve created dictating what rpgs can and can’t be?

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-05T20:02:03.127Z

Path of Light
By Ivailo Daskalov

A door opens and a creature comes in. Her gait has nothing to do with Sister Ulmia’s, swaying to the sides and dragging her left leg. When she comes closer to the only torch, you see a grotesque reminiscent of your friend, her lips twisted, her eyes filled with contempt.

Did you know that there is a Christological doctrine called Arianism (no, not that one) that questions the nature of the holy trinity? Neither did I, but that’s what happens when you type ‘gothic christianity’ in Google with a hankering for learnin’. It was declared by Emperor Constantine to be heresy, and I couldn’t figure out how to continue that segue back to the story.

Anyway, this story reminds me of the movie Constantine.

General Story:

You are a priest of the Light, and you have a soulmate, dubbed Sister ‘Soulmate’, who is fighting against a devilish heritage. You are sent with her on a special mission, but things fall through quickly and you must rescue her. The story follows and you deal with ghouls and guard dogs, all while trying to make sure you maintain your favour (no, Google Sheets, I did spell it right) with the Light.

The story reads like an outline for a future story, with moments of good descriptions and ambience, but the major issue is that the original ‘special mission’ falls to the wayside as you attempt to rescue your soulmate. Each page is often just a short description, and a choice. I found it hard to really understand any characters or motivation, as things just happened rapid-fire.

Format and Typos:

Having reviewed a later title by this author, I can say that this story seems to have fewer typos, even though it can be a little difficult to read. One egregious typo, though I have reported it, is that when you select your name to be Augustin, it is just ‘August’ after.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

I could almost get away with copy-pasting the stats page because there is a huge block that details stats in it. Mostly you make your character by selecting your background and interests, and this determines what kind of priest you are. Are you a healer, or do you lean more into the Paladin type (smite smite smite)? There are some stats to maintain with your soulmate, and most important, your ‘favour’ stat. Which is a finite resource that determines your power usage. It seems pretty strict, and honestly, I died multiple times. Even after opening and following code, it feels like there is a ‘correct’ way to make your character be able to progress through the title. At certain points, the game will check to see if you’ve collected enough pieces to progress successfully through the challenges.

Even with that explanation, I still couldn’t understand when picking a ‘swordsmanship’ priest was supposed to be used when there were combat options.

Replayability:

Your romance option is set in stone, and there are few branching paths. You may find yourself getting one or two full playthroughs out of the title, if only to try a different priest class.

Dislikes:

Some character choices feel like the correct ones, in terms of deciding what class you are choosing for your priest.
Dialogue jumps between devout priest to contemporary teenager sometimes in the same sentence.
Damsel in distress happens 3 times within the first 15 choices.

Likes:

Good skeleton to hang a future, or more fleshed out story on. It is obvious the author often has the theme and one really good idea for each scene.
Sister Soulmate is another Heavy Metal-esque devil nun with a dagger, so there is that for you again.
Writing this and coming up with the Sister Soulmate name reminded me of the song by Train, and that made me laugh.

No announcement thread on this one. Thanks for reading!

Game Rankings and Completed Reviews

CC_Hill · 2022-10-05T20:31:04.152Z

Ummm… the hunters is book 2 and its only a demo… The monster is book one that will be released tomorrow. Also I can’t wait to read your thoughts. Thank you.

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-05T20:34:04.102Z

Oof. Got those mixed up. Will get that handled. Thanks!

natwa · 2022-10-06T18:20:18.803Z

Just to be clear, I’m not saying, like commenters seem to have suggested, that the level of interactivity should be the only criterion for judging the quality of a cog or hg. I won’t deny that I’m, like you, on team interactive, and that it’s important for me personally that the cogs or hgs that I play feel interactive and I also really enjoy cogs and hgs with a high level of interactivity. But that doesn’t mean that that as long as cog or hg is really interactive, I’d automatically love it. Granted, my favorite hg, Life of a Wizard and my favorite cog, Jolly Good-Cakes and ale are both among the cogs and hgs with the highest level of interactivity. But Pon Para- The great southern labyrinth(along with the second book in that series) and The Lost Heir Trilogy are also in my top 5 list af favorite cogs/hgs and I like them more than Choice of Magics Faeries Bargain-the price of business and (sorry to say, @Havenstone ) much more than Choice of Rebels, despite all of the last third, as far as I can tell scoring higher on interactivity than the first two. So there are definitely other elements that are important to me and that I would have taken into account if I should ever write a review of a cog or hg. And apart from me being sceptical to cogs and hgs that aren’t interactive enough, I like cogs and hgs with many different approaches, both more gamey ones and story- or romance-focused ones and in genres inlcuding fantasy,sci-fi and real world or sort of real world ones. I also enjoy the different approaches of cogs or hgs and many different “writer styles”, so I want to make it clear that I don’t want to cogs and hgs to be “just one thing”, although I do think a certain a level of interactivity is important and I personally enjoy lots of interactivity.

When it comes to reviews and rankings like these, it seems to me that there are two main schools of thought, when it comes to how to approach this. This also seems to be at least partly connected to where the review is placed on a sliding scale where you on one end have those reviews that are solely based on whether the reviewer enjoyed what was reviewed or not and other hand those reviews that are based on a set of explicit criteria for whether what was being reviewed is good or not. It seems to me that your reviews and rankings are somewhere in the middle of that sliding scale, @BourbonDingo, with you always stating what you liked and didn’t like about a particular hg or cog, but still not having a set of general criteria that you always for deciding whether you think a cog or hg is good or not. Anyway. this brings me to the first school of thought, where you have a more general approach and focus on whether a movie is a good viewing experience, not to what extent it fulfils the particular criteria of its particular genre, like a comedy being funny or a horror movie being scary, and in the same way music being a good listening experience, instead of focusing on particular criteria, like hip hop albums having good rapping and lyrics, all the way to reviews of cogs and hgs where the focus is on whether it’s a good reading and/or gaming experience, more than whether it’s got a high or at least decent level of interactivity and any other elements that are specific(though not necessarily unique) to interactive storygames such as these. This seems, at least for the most part, to be your approach, @BourbonDingo.

But the other school of thought, which I briefly underlined in my previous comments. is that, (at least) when making reviews and/or rankings focusing on a specific genre or sub-genre, if there are any elements in that genre that can be said to be particularly important and genre-defining, so to speak, those elements should be given particular importance and hugely so. One argument for viewing it this way, is that good reviews and high rankings can be considered to be a form of recommendations and bad reviews and low can be considered to be a form of anti-recommendations, so that people based on your reviews and rankings (though not necessarily only that) will decide will whether what is being reviewed is for them or not. And the thing is, when people are asking for particular recommendations, like asking for a good comedy or good horror movie, they are very often asking for recommendations that fulfil the criteria or criterion specific to that particular genre. Like, if someone is asking for comedy recommendations, it’s likely that they are looking for a movie that is laugh out loud-funny and if someone is asking for a horror movie recommendation they are also likely looking for a movie that is really scary. I think there are also other elements that come into play, even with horror movies and comedies, so I won’t deny that, for instance a comedy that is laugh out loud- funny but also makes you think is better than one who is just laugh out loud-funny and also may be a better recommendation. But the fact still remains that when most people are asking for comedy recommendations, they are likely looking for something that is really funny I like Wes Anderson’s movies myself, but( with the possible exception of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) I don’t find any of them particularly funny although they are, at least nominally, comedies, and I don’t think it would recommend them to anyone looking for a good comedy in particular, at least unless I knew they liked other movies by him(but if they were asking for general movie recommendations on the other hand, I’d be happy to recommend them).

And I’d argue that in a similar way, what a lot of people are looking for in a cog or hg is interactivity. It could be that this is of less primary importance than a comedy being funny or a horror movie being scary, after all the first three SOH books are among the top 20 HG bestsellers, despite according to your review, @BourbonDingo, having a low level of interactivity. And compared to a comedy or a horror movie there are probably more elements that come into play when deciding whether you like a cog/hg or not. But based on both the many people who have stated how important interactivity is to them and the fact that cogs and hgs being interactive seems to one of the main things that drew many people to cogs and hgs in the first place, I still think it’s a major concern for many of the people reading/playing cogs and hgs. And that’s why I, when it comes to these reviews and rankings, still subscribe to the school of though that says that the level of interactivity in a HG or COG should be weighed heavily in reviews and rankings. I’m not saying that it should be a goal that all cogs and hgs have a, say, choice of magics level of width, it’s more about all cogs and hgs reaching a certain treshold of interactivity, where there’s never really any doubt about whether you are just reading a regular book or playing/reading a cog or hg and you don’t feel like merely a passenger in another’s story and that it should be shown both in the reviews and the rankings when a cog or hg doesn’t reach that particular treshold.

Thinking more about this, it also becomes more clear to me, that while your rankings doesn’t weigh the level of interactivity in a cog or hg that heavily, @BourbonDingo, your reviews certainly seem to reflect the level of interactivity in the different cogs and hgs that you’ve played. So on one level they could actually work as anti-recommendations for those who want their cogs and hgs to be really interactive, when that subject comes up in one of your review. YMMV, though, if the reviews are enough for it to work that way if the rankings are more positive.

Finally, just to be clear, although I do have quite strong opinions about this subject, at the end of the day, I’m aware that it’s far from a matter of life and death. Unlike with politics, where decisions that I strongly disagree with, may affect me greatly, when it comes to art and other creative endeavours, it, fortunately, won’t have such a huge effect what people decide and as long as there’s still new enjoyable COGs and HGs for me to buy, I won’t complain too much. And expecting a consensus when it comes to creative endeavours like these is probably as pointless as trying to herd cats. Still doesn’t mean that I won’t try to convince other people of my point of view, but I like to think that I have at least some sense of perspective and am aware of my different limits and limitations.

Havenstone · 2022-10-07T21:39:45.169Z

Some repetitive cut-and-paste text had crept into your original post – I’ve taken the liberty of editing it down so that you’re only saying things once!

And I’m glad you felt free to mention that Rebels wasn’t your cup of tea. I know that I haven’t always succeeded in what I was trying to do with it, and that what I was trying to do isn’t for everyone. The games you praise are some of my favorites too.

You’re right that interactivity is a defining part of the medium. If someone ever makes a ChoiceScript game with zero interactivity… well, you can do a John Cage once, I guess, and with that you’ve pretty much exhausted the bottom-end potential. But beyond that, it’s not clear where we’d set a threshold, or that the amount of variability is as central to most readers as you’re arguing.

People mean different things when they talk about wanting “interactivity”:

Does the game let me self-insert/role-play with the MC, or does the MC have more of an author-defined personality? (When you write about being “merely a passenger in another’s story,” it sounds like this is what you’re driving at – but it’s worth noting that this is a separate thing to having a “narrow” or “wide” structure.)
Does the game break up the text with frequent choices, giving a sense that I’m steering the action? (Whether or not that sense is backed up by actual variation.)
Is the game “narrow” or “wide” in terms of its choices leading to actual variations in story text and outcomes? This is the most demanding definition, relevant to readers who re-read multiple times trying different things each time…

…and while that last definition is what satisfies folks like you and me, I don’t think it’s the basis for a majority consensus. It’s always been the case that many of CSG’s all-time bestsellers are narrow rather than wide, Heroes Rise and Samurai of Hyuga being the first two that leap first to mind.

You write that “what a lot of people are looking for in a cog or hg is interactivity” – and sure, there’s a lot of us. But I think Devon is right that even more readers are satisfied with the illusion of choice:

Samurai of Hyuga Book 5

I would be very interested in knowing what the average number of play-throughs a typical choicegame has. If we take out the outliers, like those who didn’t finish and those who’ve played through it dozens of times for achievements and perfect stats, my guess is that the number would be something like ‘1.x’.

In a popularity battle between “wide, but short” choicegames versus “narrow, but long” ones, it’s not even a fight. It’s a massacre. Long, narrow choicegames, like SoH, [are] better suited for the casual audience who will only play through it once,

I’d add that I think the “wide, but long” games of e.g. Kevin Gold, Kyle Marquis, and Kreg Segall have done great and can go toe-to-toe with “long/narrow” on any measure of success. But I agree with Devon that on all the evidence I’ve seen, the average number of playthroughs per reader is probably between 1 and 2, and that the readers who are vocally dissatisfied with narrowly interactive CSGs are a definite minority.

If we’re concerned about the recommendation implicit in a review ranking, I think Dingo’s reviews give more than enough information on interactivity for people to make an informed call. If someone goes solely by a game’s position in the ranking chart without reading the actual review which is only a link-click away…mmmit’s kind of on them.

natwa · 2022-10-08T14:55:28.046Z

When it comes to the different defintions of interactivity, I meant all of them, but particularly definition 1 and definition 3. The definition of passenger is, after all, someone who doesn’t steer the vehicle in question and if you play/read a very “narrow” cog or hg where it seems like the story will basically move along on the same rails, so to speak, and with (at least mostly) the same outcomes whatever you do, it would certainly make me as a player/reader feel more like a passenger. So I think that both forms of interactivity are important, they certainly both feel important to me. Being able to shape your MCs the way you want them to be, whether by self-inserting or creating and “acting out” a particular kind of personality, allows you more control over the personality of your MCs and how they are in general and make them feel more like your own characters, as compared to a character that you (at best) “borrow” from the writer. Having more choices that make a significant difference to the plot, in turn gives you more a feeling of control over the plot and that plot will respond to and change according to your choices, so that you can in some sense be said to steer the plot in a certain direction…

And so they can be said to be two different aspects of interactivity that, at least when done right, together will ensure that you as a reader feel like you’re in the driver’s seat, so to speak, of the cog or hg in question. The second defintion of interactivity is to a large extent about ensuring about ensuring that a cog or hg “reads right”. Just like you can’t have, for instance, have a rap record without any rapping, if you don’t get any choices in a cog or hg game, there wouldn’t be anything to separate it from a regular e-book as far as I can see, at least unless you don’t use randomization instead. And without the cog or hg giving you any choices, the two other forms of interactivity would,as far as I can see, also be basically impossible. But the way I see it, that second form of interactivity is not sufficient for a cog or hg to be really interactive. Instead you need at least one of the others to be present for a cog or hg to be really interactive and I’d argue that you need at least a certain baseline in both interactivity 1 and (at least)interactivity 3 as well for the interactivity to not be lackluster or worse.

And yes, I’ve heard it mentioned before that the majority of people who buy a cog or hg barely or hardly replay it. But I am bit curious if there’s any actual data on that and, if so, what the sources are for that data. Both because it’s always good to look more closely at the reliability of any such sources, just in case and because having direct access to such sources may also lead to a better understanding of what is going on.

Although I don’t want to minimize the importance of any sources indicating that most buyers barely or hardly replay cogs or hgs, I do think it’s important to make a distinction between casual buyers who don’t necessarily buy more than one or two cogs or hgs or cog or hg series and the fans, who are frequent buyers of cogs and hgs and, I guess often are important drivers of the cog and hg market and, I think, also an important group of customers. Although I don’t have any “official” data to back this up, I have a strong suspicion that interactivity, in the sense of being able to create your own MC and/or cog and hgs being wide is much more important to them than the casual buyers. As far as I can remember interactivity and/or replayability(which is strongly connected to interactivity 1 and to) have been stated to be really important by many of the redditors in both the COG and the HG reddit and considering the outlook of people who frequent this forum, I have a hard time believing that this is much less of a concern here. So although it may very well be, at least when it comes to the total number of people buying cogs and hgs, that I’ve overestimated the number for whom interactivity 1 and/or 3 is an important issue, I still think that there’s plenty of people, particularly among those who really care about cog and hgs, the true fans, who care deeply about it, enough for it to be an important issue to consider. Excactly how important it should be, on the other hand, is another discussion. And as long the level of interactivity in cogs and most hgs doesn’t still doesn’t seem to go below the treshold of how much I think it should be and often far beyond that, I’ll still be happy with the current stat of affairs(at least when it comes to interactivity) and fortunately I don’t see any sign of that changing soon.

P.S: If you’re curious about why I don’t rate your COG higher, @Havenstone I’d be happy to tell you more about that, but probably outside of this thread, since I don’t want to derail it too much.

Nm6k · 2022-10-08T15:35:23.743Z

Well I don’t like SOH either but I understand it’s because I’m really not it’s intended audience in more ways then one. Like the authors here said there shouldn’t be a right way to write interactive fiction (besides not being an offensive jerk of course) because it limits creativity and makes authors afraid of getting it wrong

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-09T01:15:24.879Z

The Midnight Saga: The Monster
By C.C. Hill

"It is said that from October 31 to November 2, The Keeper travels to the world of the living and abducts innocent children.”

"So, those of you going trick-or-treating tomorrow with your little cousins, nephews, and nieces, be sure to keep an eye out for The Keeper of Midnight, as you never know who or what is lurking in the dark.”

Ghost stories around a campfire are as ‘October’ as Jewel Staite in ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’. Which is odd, because usually fireflies are gone by Fall. This story actually reminds me a lot of those days when you’d finish watching an episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete, follow it up with Clarissa Explains It All, and end your spooky night (around 830pm) with Are You Afraid of The Dark. I am now realizing I spent a lot of the early 90’s watching people in flannel.

So, submitted for the approval of the Midnight Sag… I mean, Midnight Society, I call this review…

General Story:

You are a young adult who is sent to live with family in the US, bringing seemingly traditional Haitian ghost stories along with you. Turns out, some of those stories might be true and now you have to save those closest to you with powers you didn’t even know you had. You’ll brave the scary stories from your childhood, and try to find your way back to a candy-filled Halloween night.

Honestly, the story works pretty well; especially for a first entry in a series. It’s your semi-standard young adult novel romp, with a chosen one and multiple romance interests… Not a live parent in sight. There are some twists and turns, and everything lends itself to the feeling of a sleepy Halloween in a sparse town, even though I’m not sure it’s supposed to be a small population town. The title honestly cribs a lot of themes from Stranger Things and pairs it with your standard Super Sentai. It’s a super powered team mentored by dead papa Zordon, roaming the Upside Down taking on “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” made sentient.

Format and Typos:

A few typos, grammar, and formatting mistakes. I’ve submitted a few for corrections, and with new release HG titles, this is pretty common as beta testing and proofreading is often crowd-sourced. Nothing egregious, and readability was pretty good.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

Okay, everything really feels like a false front in the stats screen. So often I had trouble figuring out what choices would affect which stat (except romance option selection, those were marked very well) and reviewing the stats screen never really helped. After reviewing the code, it’s because as of right now; the stats don’t do anything but accumulate. I don’t believe I ever saw a check against the stats. You can fail if you choose the least correct option, but it never really matters if you’ve been focusing on using energy blasts or shields, as it depends more on what choice the author decided was correct. It usually goes like this, you choose the best option you get resources (a weapon, some candy, crafting items). Second best option gets you status quo, no losing anything but potential. Worst option usually results in death or damage, which isn’t normally a permanent failstate but an ever increasing death score.

The above isn’t to say that I felt railroaded at any point, but more that I was never really rewarded for focusing on a stat or trying to stay true to the character in my head because there was never any consequence related to the number value of any stat.

Tracked resources are a thing however. How many times have you used that meat cleaver? Weapons can break, but I found the usage very forgiving. So, if you can find a weapon even sporadically, you won’t run into much issue. The majority of your actual game mechanics is just making sure you’ve collected as much as possible during the time given to you.

Replayability:

Replayability is pretty high, and this is because of the romance options. There are quite a few options (some set in stone, others gender variable), and even some polyamory. The title features some (optional) steamy scenes, and they were well written. The majority of your playthroughs will feel the same with only your romance options changing, but there are a few different things you can accomplish in the title that change up major events like whether specific people will survive.

Dislikes:

Stats are not really used for anything. You can spend your entire time focusing on being an awesome energy blaster, but if you use shields when the author implies you should, it will always succeed.
Creating the ultimate weapon lacked the fanfare I wanted with it.
The sense of horror and helplessness does not stay at the forefront long enough before you start getting powers more fitting for spandex warriors.

Likes:

The romances are the main show here, and work well.
There is a lot of potential in the main villain, and I am super interested to see how the relationship (non-romantic or otherwise) develops with them. So, for those that like enemy-to-lover, there is a good bullet point for you.
“However, the real reason is that Mr. Audbawl is a strange one.” Never would have guessed.

New Hosted Game! "Midnight Saga: The Monster" by CC Hill Announcements

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play! [image] After finding yourself trapped in another dimension, you and your friends must fight for survival and defeat the monsters that lurk in the shadows. Make sure to grab a weapon as your quiet Halloween night turns into an adventure out of this world! It’s 33% off until October 12th! The Midnight Saga: The Monster is a thrilling 355,000 word interactive fantasy horror novel by C.C. Hill, where your choices control the story. The game is text-b…

Game Rankings and Completed Reviews

CC_Hill · 2022-10-09T02:06:05.334Z

That’s a great review. I like how it highlights what’s lacking and need to be worked on and what’s done well that the reader should expect to enjoy. Thank you so much.

My favorite part was this:

BourbonDingo:

The title features some (optional) steamy scenes, and they were well written.

That’s going to be my elevator pitch.

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-09T02:08:48.273Z

Thank you for the story. I really enjoyed it, and I’m happy I got to play it during October (I usually spend the month playing games like The Quarry, Until Dawn, and The Walking Dead Telltale), and it was fun to add it to the rotation.

And honestly, the steamy scenes felt grounded and well-described; which can sometimes be an issue when you have some variability.

BourbonDingo · 2022-10-10T13:22:02.373Z

The Nascent Necromancer
By Samuel Young

The corner of the demon’s lips twitch upward in amusement. “Creative, ambitious, and most of all hungry for revenge,” she notes. “All admirable qualities in a nascent necromancer.”

Supernatural romance might be one of the most common romps in interactive fiction, but almost as comfortable is the ‘deal with the devil’ sacrifice. What are you willing to give up in order to get the power you need to do the things that need doing? Ghost Rider to Constantine, Spawn to The Phantom of the Opera. This makes these stories feel like a well-worn glove, one where it needs some major twists to really stand out.

General Story:

After an alleged goblin assault on your village, you begin to realize your brother may have gained powers. But before you can get answers, witch hunters arrive and begin terrorizing you and your friends in the search for your brother. As the story progresses, you realize you may have the same potential for power that your brother does.

This story leans pretty hard initially on the ‘bullied gains power’ trope, replete with the moral quandaries involving nebulous means and justifications. You’ll spend most of your read on the run, learning about the world and lore. The villains are pretty simple fare, with no redeeming qualities, but are interesting nonetheless.

For a story which is a literal power fantasy, I do have some issue with almost every single choice in combat ending with you slightly injuring your foe and then being knocked out (and this is with successful checks). Seriously, you’ll see ‘then you blacked out’ fairly often.

Side note,I was expecting a bit more ‘spooky’ in an October release with Necromancer in the title, but that doesn’t really harm the story.

Format and Typos:

Readability is high. There are a few typos, and there are a few unfortunate coding issues that stymied my first choice romance during my playthrough, with the medic, Tozi. This is already reported in the announcement thread, so I assume it won’t last for too long.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

As the game continues, you’ll build up your various stats like Combat and Agility. Choices can be locked away if you don’t meet certain requirements, but these are visible and easy to understand. The personality section eschews the normal opposed pairs (sort of), There are three stats, Introverted, Extroverted, and Thoughtful. Most choices that affect Introverted or Extroverted will reduce or increase the opposite. Thoughtful doesn’t have a reduction, and this actually becomes an issue because there are plenty of instances where the game checks against your Introverted vs Extroverted vs Thoughtful. Unless you are purposefully trying to be crude and unlikeable, you’ll likely outpace your other two stats, and will be locked out of the choices that require those to be your highest stats. As you progress through the title, you’ll gain one of three separate sets of powers.

Replayability:

Those powers sort of add some basic replayability, but the real draw is pursuing the various romance options. There are 5 romance options (3 female, two male) and each of them have quite a few scenes throughout the story.

Dislikes:

So many instances of your character almost seeming to do something cool, but just being worse than your opponent and depending on some form of deus ex machina. A pervading sense of powerlessness until the end of the story, and almost no payoff.
Feels like opposing pairs, adding something to oppose Thoughtful specifically, would have been helpful to be able to see more of the options the author wrote.
For as much as you spend in close proximity with everyone, there are very few reactions to your romantic actions. I think that someone I knew as a friend for a long time kissing another friend would elicit at least some reaction if we were all sitting within five feet of each other.

Likes:

Romantic options are varied enough to make it worth playing through each of them.
The demon that grants you power is interesting and can make you understand what moral choices are needed to end up at the end of the story.
There is quite a bit of good writing involved in action parts, and I’m looking forward to instances of actual powerful scenes in future titles.

New Hosted Game! "The Nascent Necromancer" by Samuel Harrison Young Announcements

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play! [image] Sorcery is forbidden and punishable by death. These punishments are summarily handed out by the Witch Hunters, a powerful organization of inquisitors. It’s 33% off until October 12th! When a group of corrupt witch hunters comes to your village, accusing your brother of sorcery and wrongly accusing you of abetting him, your life takes a violent and abrupt change for the worse. After you’ve suffered more than you can bear, and endured terrib…

Game Rankings and Completed Reviews