Category Archives: IFComp 2020

Move On is a short game in which you play a spy racing across a city on a motorcycle. Your character has to make a series of split-second decisions concerning different obstacles thrown in his way — cars, mainly, but also a train at one point. As the player, though, all you have to doContinue reading “Move On”

(mild spoilers) In The Eidolon’s Escape you play a spirit trapped by a mage inside a crystal prison. As the game begins, you’re provided your first good opportunity in many years to escape. Leaving the crystal prison is fairly easy at this point, but escaping the tower is a whole other question. Nearly all ofContinue reading “The Eidolon’s Escape”

In What the Bus? you play an urban commuter trying to get to work on time. It’s a normal work day, with just a short bus trip and two subway rides. Easy, right? Of course not! You’ll experience delays, technical problems, unannounced changes to the transit system, and landscape that clearly doesn’t belong on yourContinue reading “What the Bus?”

It doesn’t take long to realize that the plot of (s)wordsmyth is indicated in its title. You’re a samurai who has been training in the way of the “bladeless,” studying ways to resolve conflict without bloodshed. While you do carry a sword, and you’ll fight a succession of opponents over the course of the game,Continue reading “(s)wordsmyth”

In SOUND you play a therapist helping a young woman, Orange, with her difficulties communicating. She stutters, suffers from a lack of confidence, and is very sensitive to particular sounds. Her treatment program includes working a succession of customer-service jobs, and you’re mostly interviewing her about how those went. The game is quite short —Continue reading “SOUND”

A Catalan Summer describes itself as a “historical gay melodrama.” It’s certainly that, but there’s a lot more to A Catalan Summer as well. Over the course of the game you’ll play as four different members of the Vidal family, only one of whom could be considered gay. All four characters will have to makeContinue reading “A Catalan Summer”

Ghostfinder: Shift is a paranormal murder mystery. I’ve seen a few of these in IFComp the past few years; the ones that stick out most in my mind are Grimnoir and Erstwhile. Both placed in the top five of IFComp 2018, and they are very good games. I think Ghostfinder: Shift is of the sameContinue reading “Ghostfinder: Shift”

Sheep Crossing is an implementation of a classic logical puzzle. I know the puzzle as wolf/goat/cabbage; this game’s version is bear/sheep/cabbage. Either way, the logic is exactly the same. There’s little to the game besides this puzzle, but that little is implemented to the hilt, with minimalist responses that are somewhat poetic, occasionally bizarre, andContinue reading “Sheep Crossing”

In Red Radish Robotics you play as a robot, waking up to find that some disaster has befallen the laboratory area where you live. You’re also missing all your fingers. Over the course of the game you have to recover these fingers, allowing you to access more areas and manipulate more objects. You also haveContinue reading “Red Radish Robotics”

The word “putrid” screams at you in the title of this game. It sounds ugly, and the word means something repellent. Yet the cover art shows us a young girl, dressed in bright yellow, on the deck of a boat entering a harbor. The implied anticipation and hopefulness in that image contrast greatly with theContinue reading “For a Place by the Putrid Sea”