The Golden Rose: Book One

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 97: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (9/10) One of the richest, most emotionally intelligent interactive fiction (IF) games I’ve ever played—and maybe the most romantic, in the truest sense of the word. Not swooning romance (though it has that), but Romantic in the way it holds onto longing, war, memory, the divine. (IF games, for those new to the genre, are strictly-text based games that tell a story. Think the heavy narrative of [i] Disco Elysium [/i] but with no images or music or anything. Just words on a screen.) [i] The Golden Rose: Book One [/i] is a masterclass in interactive storytelling. It’s not trying to be the flashiest, the most stat-heavy, or the most twist-filled game out there. Instead, it gives you a world that feels worn-in, characters that feel like people, and a journey that leaves you changed±not because you killed a dragon or saved a kingdom, but because you survived. B...

This was a waste of time... The writing is simplistic yet littered with awkward sentences. "A great black-feathered owl perches on his right shoulder. Its long talons sink into the giant's skin, and two small rivers of blood flow downwards. The owl's curved beak faces her, his neck turned around completely, so that the head is facing forward from his back." I understand how owls work, but this sentence structure, these "it" and "he" and "her"are killing me. It's killing me, Jerry! What matters in the end is a good story. This isn't one. I would barely call it a story. You talk to cats, dogs, horses, some random people; learn bits of lore here and there... and then it ends. By the end, the three main characters are still just placeholders with some basic attributes. There were no interesting revelations, turns of events or drama. My character could react to things in 5 different ways, but I failed to notice any impact. When it comes to romance, I saw a review talking about h...