I came in expecting a collection of games, and what I got was a collection of games, fiction, interactive art, experiments, and sometimes just... vibes. While some games---or experiences I guess---are more technically impressive, polished, or even just longer than others they overall embody a messy, emotional, beautiful, meaningful, and often queer experience. As the kids say, it's hashtag relatable.
I ended up playing every game in one sitting and only learned afterwards that the intention was for the player to do a pull or spread once a day or so. I don't regret it but I also don't recommend it, though I can see myself getting frustrated if I did that because some games are much longer than others and it would mean that while I would spend 5 minutes in one session another would take a half hour.
Instead of reviewing each individual game, I'll just list my five favorites and why I like them without spoilers: Hierophant. Empress, Emperor, Magician, and Tower. Hierophant won me over with a very unique and beautiful art style, though the story also helped a lot. Empress and Emperor were both just Really Solid Games with great mechanics and execution, and while I could honestly see them as "full length" games they were also just perfect in length and didn't overstay their welcome, plus, once again, they both told great stories. Magician and Tower were probably the least interactive of the bunch but they stand out in art, audio, and especially the stories.
So yeah, many of these games tell great stories. There were a few that were lighter on the fiction (especially one that's an arcade score chaser) but even they had worldbuilding and themes and vibes. Overall these games all want to tell you a tale, and I found that almost all of them succeed.
There were some issues I had with this anthology, though. I felt that a few games were a bit longer than they needed to be and overstayed their welcome. I encountered some technical issues: most noticeably I could not run one of the games and another had a gamebreaking bug that made it impossible for me to progress. This leads me to another issue I had with some of the games: it makes sense that most games are short enough that they don't provide a save/continue feature, it is frustrating when a medium sized game doesn't have it so if someone had gone wrong I had to replay the whole thing.
Out of the 22 games I finished (or "finished" in the case of the endless games) all but 6 of them. As mentioned before, 2 games I couldn't play / didn't finish due to bugs. There were 2 that I gave up on because the in game explanations weren't really enough for me to figure out the game, and 2 that I quit halfway due to difficulty. I do plan on going back to the bugged game and 2 of the others because I really enjoyed the time I had with them. So overall I've enjoyed 19/22 games in this anthology (and maybe 20 once I see if I can fix the can't start game problem) which is a VERY GOOD ratio. Like, when was the last time I even enjoyed more than 3/8 games in a bundle?
Oh also you can pet a capybara in one of the games.
I ended up playing every game in one sitting and only learned afterwards that the intention was for the player to do a pull or spread once a day or so. I don't regret it but I also don't recommend it, though I can see myself getting frustrated if I did that because some games are much longer than others and it would mean that while I would spend 5 minutes in one session another would take a half hour.
Instead of reviewing each individual game, I'll just list my five favorites and why I like them without spoilers: Hierophant. Empress, Emperor, Magician, and Tower. Hierophant won me over with a very unique and beautiful art style, though the story also helped a lot. Empress and Emperor were both just Really Solid Games with great mechanics and execution, and while I could honestly see them as "full length" games they were also just perfect in length and didn't overstay their welcome, plus, once again, they both told great stories. Magician and Tower were probably the least interactive of the bunch but they stand out in art, audio, and especially the stories.
So yeah, many of these games tell great stories. There were a few that were lighter on the fiction (especially one that's an arcade score chaser) but even they had worldbuilding and themes and vibes. Overall these games all want to tell you a tale, and I found that almost all of them succeed.
There were some issues I had with this anthology, though. I felt that a few games were a bit longer than they needed to be and overstayed their welcome. I encountered some technical issues: most noticeably I could not run one of the games and another had a gamebreaking bug that made it impossible for me to progress. This leads me to another issue I had with some of the games: it makes sense that most games are short enough that they don't provide a save/continue feature, it is frustrating when a medium sized game doesn't have it so if someone had gone wrong I had to replay the whole thing.
Out of the 22 games I finished (or "finished" in the case of the endless games) all but 6 of them. As mentioned before, 2 games I couldn't play / didn't finish due to bugs. There were 2 that I gave up on because the in game explanations weren't really enough for me to figure out the game, and 2 that I quit halfway due to difficulty. I do plan on going back to the bugged game and 2 of the others because I really enjoyed the time I had with them. So overall I've enjoyed 19/22 games in this anthology (and maybe 20 once I see if I can fix the can't start game problem) which is a VERY GOOD ratio. Like, when was the last time I even enjoyed more than 3/8 games in a bundle?
Oh also you can pet a capybara in one of the games.