COMPLETE: Basilica de Sangre
Oct. 6th, 2018 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjorteoAs xyzzysqrl has pointed out, it's IFComp time!
I am normally not a huge IF buff, nor was I even familiar with IFComp before Xyzzy pointed it out. My only experience with last year's contest was "The Dragon Will Tell Your Future Now," which I'm not linking to because it was a literally unwinnable troll game that got my hopes up before revealing itself as such. But something about this year's "You only need to play five games, come on please get everyone you know (even if they're not normally IF people) to join in, we're gonna have so many judges and everyone will pitch in and it'll be great" sell convinced me. So I hit the random shuffle button... I was going to shuffle three times just to make sure it was really shuffled, but shuffle #2 landed on Basilica de Sangre by Bitter Karella and I mean come on, look at it. With that cover art and that premise, you know I had to check this one out.
Like the blurb says, you are a demon trying to rescue your mom from the infamous convent. There's a possession mechanic that basically turns the game into an IF version of Space Station Silicon Valley, where you surf around a ton of bodies and use each one to solve puzzles. If I have any criticism, it's that the high number of NPCs makes it somewhat difficult to keep track of which person is where and who's keeping what inventory items, leading to a lot of backtracking in the form of "Crap, I need the sexton for this. I left him in the... kitchen, I think? Wait, no... hold on, who has the brass key again?"
That's a minor complaint, though, and the rest of the game is great. The premise and gameplay gimmicks are creative, the puzzles are clever without being walkthrough-requiring obtuse, the sense of accomplishment when you make progress is nice, and the ending is sweet and satisfying.
I'm not going to spend like eleven pages on this one because it's a one-hour game jam competition title and I still have four more to play, but yeah we're off to a great start.
Edit: Oh, there's a technical engine failure note that's worth mentioning as a warning but not worth holding against this game, because I don't think it's a game-specific flaw: The "play online" mode kind of chugs and takes a bit to return responses sometimes, and one time it froze on me entirely, making me restart. Just download the game (and Quest) and play it offline instead. I didn't experience any issues that way.
xyzzysqrl has pointed out, it's IFComp time!I am normally not a huge IF buff, nor was I even familiar with IFComp before Xyzzy pointed it out. My only experience with last year's contest was "The Dragon Will Tell Your Future Now," which I'm not linking to because it was a literally unwinnable troll game that got my hopes up before revealing itself as such. But something about this year's "You only need to play five games, come on please get everyone you know (even if they're not normally IF people) to join in, we're gonna have so many judges and everyone will pitch in and it'll be great" sell convinced me. So I hit the random shuffle button... I was going to shuffle three times just to make sure it was really shuffled, but shuffle #2 landed on Basilica de Sangre by Bitter Karella and I mean come on, look at it. With that cover art and that premise, you know I had to check this one out.
Like the blurb says, you are a demon trying to rescue your mom from the infamous convent. There's a possession mechanic that basically turns the game into an IF version of Space Station Silicon Valley, where you surf around a ton of bodies and use each one to solve puzzles. If I have any criticism, it's that the high number of NPCs makes it somewhat difficult to keep track of which person is where and who's keeping what inventory items, leading to a lot of backtracking in the form of "Crap, I need the sexton for this. I left him in the... kitchen, I think? Wait, no... hold on, who has the brass key again?"
That's a minor complaint, though, and the rest of the game is great. The premise and gameplay gimmicks are creative, the puzzles are clever without being walkthrough-requiring obtuse, the sense of accomplishment when you make progress is nice, and the ending is sweet and satisfying.
I'm not going to spend like eleven pages on this one because it's a one-hour game jam competition title and I still have four more to play, but yeah we're off to a great start.
Edit: Oh, there's a technical engine failure note that's worth mentioning as a warning but not worth holding against this game, because I don't think it's a game-specific flaw: The "play online" mode kind of chugs and takes a bit to return responses sometimes, and one time it froze on me entirely, making me restart. Just download the game (and Quest) and play it offline instead. I didn't experience any issues that way.
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Date: 2018-10-07 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-07 01:14 am (UTC)