It’s the triannual event you’ve all been waiting for: a shiny new issue of ChoiceBeat, the zine all about interactive fiction and visual novels.
In this issue, I take a good long look at Jax Ivy’s Leas: City of the Sun, the best-received Hosted Games debut so far this year. If you haven’t played it yet, there’s a coupon in this issue for 40% off - and if you’re already a fan, you’ll want to read the accompanying interview, in which Jax opens up about their unique take on the fae, what they have planned for the sequel, and whether they can be safely left alone in a room full of restricted magical devices (spoiler: no).
If your tastes run more “vintage” than “new and now,” we’ve got you covered, as Chest Butlerhome and I have tag-teamed Dr. Peter J. Favaro’s 1986 classic, Alter Ego. I open with a review (originally posted on this forum last year) that discusses the game in detail (and includes the two-sentence version of CoG’s origin story, if you like that kind of thing). Then Chest takes over with a detailed account of their playthrough, which made me laugh out loud several times even before I got to the line “Fuck you, Mom, I’ll wear the dog collar if I want.” Even if you’ve already read my review - or you just don’t want to read my review for some reason - you should definitely read Chest’s.
There’s a lot of other great stuff, too, including close looks at the creative approaches of Fiction Factory Games, Sometimes You, and Thunder Perfect Witchcraft. There’s a quiz. I managed to finagle a reference to the Nebula-winning A Death in Hyperspace. Plus, there’s a flowchart. Flowcharts are cool.
I love this zine 
This whole issue was great and I’ll be sharing it with all my friends!