Solitary Stars is a hyperlink fiction game. I was tempted to write that the game circles around questions about the nature of memories, remorse, relations, or the entanglement of individuals within an imperfect world – and this would have been somewhat true, as these themes are present, yet it also would not do justice to […]
Inflorescence City / cartography of known spaces
Inflorescence City is a city with inhabitants, a graveyard, a public library, and citizens. Whenever you visit it, you’ll experience a wholly different town: The graveyard will have another name and other people lying there; the library will have other books in its shelves, different poems will be around, and the omnipresent mandalas (that might […]
Of Olden Tymes: A review of Nox Archaist
It has been a while since I’ve been asked by the editor of this blog to write review for the retro-CRPG Nox Archaist; since then, some things have happened that pushed my experience with the game into the hinterlands on my memory. A vacation in Norway, for one, a gruesome accident as well, but – […]
Blobworld / Henry is Hungry
Henry is Hungry and Blobworld are two short 2D platformer games. Henry is Hungry lives mainly through its charm; you control a goat that’s dedicated to eat everything possible in its reach. The game comes with custom sprites and an unique OST, different levels and enemy types, grandiose cutscenes (featuring not only a pissed farmer […]
Absent minded
Absent minded is a ultra short hypertext fiction story accompanied by color distorted pixelized photos. Set on a deserted beach, a person wanders through the ravages of their life; unable to escape both from the place and the circle thoughts of despair and grieve; despite the grim theme, this is nothing like a horror game […]
The liberation
A room under the roofs, with lime-coated walls. An iron basin on the floor. Clothes on a chair… The liberation is a short hyperlink fiction game done with the Twine-Engine (the developer told me that the game was made with Texture-Writer – interesting!). The story is about a revolutionary who is sitting in an embassy, […]
Winter break
No review in the last week of December. Have a nice holidays and a good end of the year; the arcane cache will return early in January with new reviews to great underground games.
Carcosa
Carcosa is a poem that was turned into a short video game. You read the poem of the same name while walking through images, probably the one the quoted verses evoked in the developers mind. The poet, Robert W. Chambers, was popular among the early weird fantasy authors including H.P. Lovecraft (and shared their virulent […]
Crystal Slaves
Crystal Slaves might be described as a story-focused dungeon crawler, but this honestly doesn’t cut it. A short and more fitting description: This game is experimental, bold, and rather challenging – but not in the sense of difficulty. Returning readers might have noticed (or know otherwise) that I only do positive reviews on this blog. […]
The games of Ondřej Trhoň
Ondřej Throň is a game developer who seems to be mainly interested in exploring the possibilities of narration and storytelling over the means of interactivity. The games that they created over the last five years are connected not only by common themes (among politics, mental health, social inequality, and the bleakness of a world shaped […]