Guilded Youth (2012)
This is a short and sweet text adventure. You're a kid who, with his BBS RPG guild pals, goes on a "real" adventure of their own in an abandoned mansion, in what is mainly a story about the follies and nostalgia of youth (if the retro look and feel weren't enough of a clue). Despite being a text adventure it does contain visual cues in the shape of your inventory and avatar. When you log in to the BBS, the display changes to a sort of Commodore-like presentation. The game, however, is extremely easy, making this on the level of little more than interactive fiction (there are very few commands, locations and objects). It does give you different endings depending on a final choice, allowing you to skip through to there, after you finish, so you can read the others. Nonetheless it is fairly entertaining and well-written, and well worth the time. It certainly has charisma and interesting characters. In all a well made short story.
It can be played here: http://nomediakings.org/guildedyouth/
The Kite (2012)
This is a short point & click made in Ukraine. It certainly feels distinctive, especially due to its original art style and very rough translation. As such, the dialogue is exceedingly broken. You can guess that perhaps the original version would be more graceful, but still, this is a game that tries to impose its message, that of domestic violence and its consequences on children, in the rawest fashion possible. As such you play a mother who (for the most part) searches for her son (whose kite, from the title, is his favourite toy). While the art style is fresh and original and the score (all "Ludwig van") is quite adequate, the gameplay just didn't seem to click. While some of the puzzles were certainly interesting from a visual perspective, mechanically they just felt tremendously silly or even embarrassing in such a dark story. Perhaps the intention was to drive home the point of utter desperation but for all the sense of urgency the mother seems to exhude in the need to find her child they end up feeling extremely mechanical and contrived, to what should have been a more emotional response. On the other hand, the game is very short, taking between half an hour to an hour to finish depending on how well you do at puzzle-solving. Worth it for trying to tackle something different, but could certainly use more polish.
It can be played here: http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-kite/d ... glish-v12e (Desura)
Bientôt l'été / It's Nearly Summer (2012)
The latest game from Tale of Tales is less of a game, like Vanitas and The Graveyard, and more of an exercise in reflexion. Right from the start its starting menu is a giveaway to how different this experience is, as you find yourself zooming through the stars and planets as a mysterious counter goes on and on. You get to decide the gender of your avatar (the man looking straight out of "Assassin's Creed" and the woman a "Laura"-lookalike) and you find yourself on a beach, looking out to sea. You're encouraged to walk along the seaside, and as you do, words, phrases pop out. The beach however, is not endless, and as you reach its matrix-like wall, you'll see the avatar of the opposite sex looking at you. Furthermore you can experience a sort of vision if you close your eyes facing one of the objects that might be in the beach (anything from a dead dog to a tennis court) and, when you tire of this, there's a cafe where you'll meet other players. Here, you'll use chess pieces (which you collect after each vision) to communicate. This is surely the best part of the game, as not only are you attempting to communicate with this other player using an avatar, but at the same time trying to understand more about the respective relationships. The meaning of this detachment and layering of communication is central to the unraveling of the mysteries in this game.
This is, in the end, a game about relationships (or a relationship), with, certainly, no straight answers, but rather an attempted dissection. The simulated reality, the communication-based chess game, and the necessary introspection are the basis of this experience. From here, one makes as one wilt. On this basis, it's probably the purest and most thought provoking multimedia art form I've encountered. (Meaning any sort of entertainment was chucked out the door!) Unfortunately, since it has hardly any engaging gameplay or narrative it's very hard to recommend if your mind is not set up for it. One way or another it's best experienced for just a couple of sessions at a time.
On the technical side, it is certainly a treat, with a glorious day and night cycle with great use of colour, changing tides and very realistic animations. The music, while minimalistic is spot-on, and is by Belgian composer Walter Hus.
http://tale-of-tales.com/bientotlete/