Bad End Theater (NomnomNami) presents a simple narrative. A hero is sent to rescue a maiden from the clutches of a demon overlord. But with this visual novel, the player is able to select which character they want to be — hero, maiden, minion, or overlord — and the choices you make as one character effects how things turn out when you switch over and play as one of the other characters. As the player continues, they are able to turn on or off certain personality traits, which impacts all of the possible outcomes. And all of those outcomes are inevitably bad — terrible deaths, failure, and isolation. At first, it might seem like that’s all there is, but the game actually builds to a sweet and satisfying ending. It was a delightful little game.

Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ) is a psychological horror game about a crew left stranded in space after their ship collides with an asteroid. The five person crew operates a long-haul transport ship, and are constantly reminded by the company’s mascot Polly to stay focused on work and to not linger to long in idle distractions. The isolation on the ship and the slim chance of being rescued reveals dark secrets and the crew’s hidden selves.

The game approaches the narrative as a puzzle, presenting scenes from two points of view — Curly, the captain, and Jimmy, his second in command — and arranges these fragmented scenes out of chronological order. This puzzle structure allows for an emotional escalation, building tension through mystery, rather than a straightforward progression of the plot. It also reflects a sense of workers being trapped in the flow of their lives, struggling to take responsibility for the mistakes they’ve made as the story cycles back on itself and grows increasingly surreal. I was particularly haunted by the Curly’s looming eye swirling in its socket, like the Tell-Tale Heart’s ever beating heart beneath the floorboards.

Braid: Anniversary Edition (Thekla, Inc.) is a classic indie puzzle-platformer known for its innovative time-based gameplay, in which the player rewinds time to solve puzzles. These puzzles often require a combination intuition and precise button timing to accomplish. Since I’m not great at platforming and suck at precise time-based actions, some of these sections were a challenge for me. In other cases, I could manage the platforming, but struggled with the puzzle, so I unabashedly looked up hints as needed.

Most of the narrative is presented at the beginning of each level through a series of pedestals holding books. As the player passes each one a passage opens, revealing pieces of the story. It’s a lot of text up front, and I can imagine some players skipping most of it. However, I like the way the gameplay elements (specifically time manipulation) reflect the game’s overall themes regarding memory, regret, and the desire to do things differently. The final level — essentially a boss fight — also provides a twist on expectations, demonstrating the unreliable narration of the player-character up until this point.

A couple of weeks ago, I appeared on Indiepocalypse Radio – Episode 0123 along with Kaile Hultner, editor of No Escape, and ebi-hime, developer of Girlfriend Simulator and other visual novels. During my segment, I got to speak with host Andrew about my game What Lies Underneath (which appeared in No. 32 of the Indiepocalypse zine). We talked about game design, the value of constraints, and the crossover between poetry and games.

Listen to the episode below or on Spotify here.