IFComp 2012: Eurydice
Part Greek myth, part grief-stricken tale of bohemian angst and loss.
Eurydice opens in an empty room, once occupied by Celine, whom the narrator is deeply emo about. I mean, all Cure and Smiths mix tape emo. When I have him (though possibly her; I didn't try >HETERONORMATIVITY OFF but I don't recall anything specifically gendered) take a look in the empty wardrobe, he hops right in for a quick wallow. It's actually quite endearing.
Once you extract the narrator from the empty moping chamber, you can stumble downstairs and meet a host of unlikable moping characters. They're all quite detailed and irrelevent, which is both charming and confusing. It lends the illusion of depth to the story but leaves a lot of room for the player's imagination to fill in the gaps. I generally approve, actually, while still hating the characters, bohemian hipsters all. I suspect the author hates them too, or is at least having fun mocking them.
Filling in details is left to the player often, but in a way that works very well. Everybody has something to contribute, from the time you broke up with your first *friend to the time a relative died. The game becomes personal very quickly.
At first it's unclear exactly what happened to Celine. Thorough exploration initially suggested either death or suicide, which builds a lot of suspense, followed by a bit of optimistic relief when you explore the mythical side of the story further; she's either not dead or recoverable (like the game's namesake) and encountering the ferryman and Cerberos really sets the tone. Also I have a magical lyre.
It is likely the first playthrough will be very mythical; after this, the replayability asserts itself by suggesting there's a non-mythical outcome (and two other, lesser outcomes). I really liked this idea, but I do wish the line between mythical and nonmythical were drawn more heavily; for example, Cerberos always has three heads and even if you don't abuse the lyre you still interact with somebody the hint system informs you is Persephone. A minor quibble, but having the dog simply be a guard dog if you haven't used the lyre up to this point would have sold me more on the parallel-but-different endings.
The main criticism I'd have is the game is too short. This isn't really even a quibble so much as a desire to see more from this author; the game was internally consistant, told a good story (several, in fact), had a solid plot no matter which way it was played and was fairly deeply implemented.
I never did find the snake, though.
8/10. Easily the best so far. Please write more, Anonymous.
Eurydice opens in an empty room, once occupied by Celine, whom the narrator is deeply emo about. I mean, all Cure and Smiths mix tape emo. When I have him (though possibly her; I didn't try >HETERONORMATIVITY OFF but I don't recall anything specifically gendered) take a look in the empty wardrobe, he hops right in for a quick wallow. It's actually quite endearing.
Once you extract the narrator from the empty moping chamber, you can stumble downstairs and meet a host of unlikable moping characters. They're all quite detailed and irrelevent, which is both charming and confusing. It lends the illusion of depth to the story but leaves a lot of room for the player's imagination to fill in the gaps. I generally approve, actually, while still hating the characters, bohemian hipsters all. I suspect the author hates them too, or is at least having fun mocking them.
Filling in details is left to the player often, but in a way that works very well. Everybody has something to contribute, from the time you broke up with your first *friend to the time a relative died. The game becomes personal very quickly.
At first it's unclear exactly what happened to Celine. Thorough exploration initially suggested either death or suicide, which builds a lot of suspense, followed by a bit of optimistic relief when you explore the mythical side of the story further; she's either not dead or recoverable (like the game's namesake) and encountering the ferryman and Cerberos really sets the tone. Also I have a magical lyre.
It is likely the first playthrough will be very mythical; after this, the replayability asserts itself by suggesting there's a non-mythical outcome (and two other, lesser outcomes). I really liked this idea, but I do wish the line between mythical and nonmythical were drawn more heavily; for example, Cerberos always has three heads and even if you don't abuse the lyre you still interact with somebody the hint system informs you is Persephone. A minor quibble, but having the dog simply be a guard dog if you haven't used the lyre up to this point would have sold me more on the parallel-but-different endings.
The main criticism I'd have is the game is too short. This isn't really even a quibble so much as a desire to see more from this author; the game was internally consistant, told a good story (several, in fact), had a solid plot no matter which way it was played and was fairly deeply implemented.
I never did find the snake, though.
8/10. Easily the best so far. Please write more, Anonymous.