199X

Waking up in a hospital she has no recollection of being admitted to, Clara discovers she is no longer alone in her head. You, the player, are now in control, and it’s all she can do not to mentally collapse under the realization that her body is no longer hers to command. 199X constantly borders on an epiphany it can see but not touch. Through its bold obliteration of the fourth wall it attempts to question not only how we view the agency we hold over our video game avatars, but also how we fit into the larger social system that often has more power over what we do and how we act than we ourselves. The boldness with which 199X asserts itself grants it a lot of leeway in arriving at what it wishes to say and how, but through these possibilities it fails to hold on to any of the ideas which have been hastily unpacked and mixed together. The problem is not so much the number of parallel narratives vying for attention as it is their incompatibility with one another. One of 199X’s most disturbing plot points involves the violating procedures being forced on women who exhibit symptoms of “female hysteria” (which effectively means anything that makes them human and more than happy-go-lucky sex machines), but despite the obvious correlations between discussions of agency and the lack thereof of women living in an extremely sexist society, these lines are never drawn or given time to develop beyond a gross aspect of this otherwise fairly ordinary world. This is the case with every character and plotline 199X introduces, which in the absence of a binding central narrative all float uncomfortably somewhere between here and there, trying to get a word in before the curtain call. It doesn’t completely rob the narrative of its humanity, but it does make it difficult to comprehend and even harder to swallow given its often horrifically grim nature and minimal ability to justify it. The only thing holding 199X back from the abyss is its flawed and terrified lead, Clara, incapable of acting for herself and yet the most honest and affecting character here. She feels authentic and relatable in a way that’s atypical of video game characters, as ultimately she’s talking directly to you as much as anyone in the game, which created a bond that made me want to help her despite how much harder I was finding it to connect to her world. Perhaps most responsible for pulling 199X apart is its design and basic function. Level designs are plodding and tediously large, often failing to properly account for scale (rooms are often bigger than the entire building that houses them) and feeling contextually disruptive through a consistent juxtaposition of styles for narrative’s sake. It’s just too easy to see through the 199X’s seams, with minimal animation, static characters, and a lifeless color palate making it an onerous task to be drawn into the experience when it keeps reminding you of its superficiality. Perhaps that could have been turned around as an intentional reminder that you’re playing a game and thus feeding back into the premise, but it doesn’t succeed well enough to feel like anything but engine restraints and developer inexperience. For all its failings 199X is always just on the verge of a breakthrough, and in very isolated moments it feels like it’s even arrived at it. 199X isn’t a complete loss, but it can’t maintain itself, and with such a volatile instability I don’t know if I could say it’s worth the journey. But there are great things happening here. They’re small and they’re unrecognized, but I hope they’ll be picked up again at some point. 199X could have been something exceptional, if only it could bring itself into focus. [b]You can read more of my writing on [url=http://kritiqal.com/2015/07/17/199x-review/]Kritiqal[/url].[/b]

[h1]Review: 199x [i]A game without mechanics[/i] [/h1] It happens now and then that finding words can be tough so I try to make this quick and easy. Ever heard of female hysteria? Does Celes ring a bell? Would you like to take over control of somebody who even knows that you are in his head? Are you interested in a good story, no matter how much lack of graphics or gameplay to overcome? If you said [i]“Yes” [/i]at least once, you should read further. [i]Sorry for making the last one so catchy..[/i] At first, let`s have a quick look at the overall appearance. The game was made with RPG-Maker and looks unpolished. If you liked the graphics of To the Moon, expect to be disappointed. There is no interface, no map, no questlog. no inventory. The map is not big at all but since you have no Button for “running” prepare to be patient. Like the title says, it aims to be a game without mechanics so you shouldn't expect it to have one. What we have here instead is an interactive story that mixes mature topics, including homosexual relationships, sexual violence and sexual behaviour in general, with childhood experiences and puts the player in [b]real [/b]charge of control. Clara, our pink-haired main protagonist, does not only hear a voice in her head, she has also lost command of controlling her body. You already guessed: You, the player, act like the puppet master now. Why do I make this sound so special? You may have played many games in which you forced one, two, a group or even thousands of characters to move, fight or even kill, but Clara knows that you are there. She knows that you are in charge and even talks to you. So prepare to feel responsible for everything that happens with and around Clara. And don`t be scared upon the start after exploring the same dialogue trees over and over again - It won`t happen twice. You should finish the game after 2-3 hours. That sounds quite short but is in fact enough time to understand what the author wanted to show. Or at least try to understand. I`m not sure if I really got the point but moving Clara trough all her struggles with relationships, her past and her future while knowing that it was ME who forced her into this mess after all, made this game a real unique experience. Thus said I want to bring up that the soundtrack, which is available for free, adds a bunch of nice but also disturbing tones and tracks, that made me shiver sometimes. [h1][u]Summary:[/u][/h1] Advertised as a game without mechanics, there is no Pro vs Con here since this is not really a game at all. Graphics, UI and gameplay are non existent or at least on a basic level. Sound and especially story are the columns that keep 199x not only a successful attempt to break the narrative wall but offers lots of heart, cruelty and references for 90s kids. If you liked To the Moon or Always Sometimes Monsters and hearing stories about antiquated sexual treatments and lesbian relationships doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, you get rewarded with the joy but also pain that sole responsibility has to offer, for only 1,99. And don`t forget: Soundtrack included. [code][i]If you like reviews about indie games, consider joining [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/indiestructible]INDIEstructible[/url] and follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41972991/]my curations[/url].

It's got an interesting story - no, sorry, that sounds like a backhanded compliment. It's a GREAT story, but the mechanics don't manage to hold it up. Getting from place to place is slow and boring. The environments are too large and full of empty spaces, and there's nothing showing me which way to go. All I'm told is the colour of the building I'm looking for. The *colour*. Nobody refers to buildings by colour, but it's their only distinguishing feature in this game. And if I didn't write down the dialogue where I'm told where to go next, there's nothing to remind me, forcing me to search the entire oversized city to find the next plot event. Loading a savegame made before that dialogue is my only recourse. There's no map, no quest log. At least there are constant messages informing me that a particular piece of knowledge has been stored in my inventory - which is a very clever twist on standard RPG mechanics. But I was completely disillusioned when I went to consult a piece of information I'd acquired earlier, because as far as I can tell, the game doesn't actually have an inventory at all! The mechanics flat-out lie to the player about what is possible! And because there's no way to get a reminder of what you're supposed to do next, loading a savegame is an exercise in frustration. I load the game, and it plonks me down outside my house (or wherever) with no context. If I don't remember when I saved, I don't even know what in-game day it is. And all this is a great shame, because as long as you stay on the path the designer intended, it's a very engaging story. Lots of love and betrayal, brilliant characters, a dystopian future with some very weird ideas about women, and some scary-trippy segments where Clara questions her own sanity. All the characters are well thought out and developed, there's no background NPCs who repeat the same lines over and over. It's moving and thoughtful and just a little bit silly, if you can get into it. But it doesn't take much to break my immersion. One minute, Clara's happy to babble about fire extinguishers and vending machines for pages on end - the next, there's no text for examining her neighbours' homes, not even to tell me who lives where. Yes/no choices pop up, but my response is barely acknowledged, and forgotten at the end of the scene. Some rooms don't have visible exits, leaving me to hunt for the invisible trigger block. So there's a lot of small frustrations to distract from the story. Now, it's cheap, so if you're not sure whether you'll like it I advise you to get it anyway. I don't regret buying this game. I just think it could have been a lot better.

The bad: I was disappointed that this isn't really a game. The entire "game" is on rails, and even many of the interactions yield the same dialogue (or at best a small deviation before returning to the main dialogue), so at best this is the illusion of the game. Honestly writing additional dialogue would not have strained development and would have been pretty easy to do considering the game, so it comes off as lazy. Sure you move the character and press a button to examine things and trigger dialogue but you can't deviate from the linear path of the game. There is also quite a bit of social justice in this game which makes parts feel a little bit like a "educational game" or propaganda. Certain other parts just feel a bit amateurish, such as forced consequence-less battles and flat characterization. Don't expect any male characters to have any depth or role in the plot, it's all about the ladies and the male characters are there for window dressing. The good: The tone and music of this "game" is spot on. I felt creeped out in a good way by the setting. I was decently engaged in the plot and figuring out more about the setting. It's a short game you can finish in an evening, and I think the price is fair for the experience, if you won't be turned off by the bad things I mentioned above. I got it on sale for cheap so I can't complain. Overall I was let down by this title, as it really isn't a game, isn't interactive as it pretends to be, and has some political messages I found distracting and annoying. I think Tognotti could really make something good if he focuses on making his games more interactive and making characters less of caricatures. I would enjoy something longer with actual choices to be made. You know, like a game might have.

I am very glad this games exists. At first, I only bought it because of its sarcastic title and after a couple of minutes of play I thought that the game is in an amusing way strange but has maybe some rather poorly written dialogues. But wow – may whole perception of the game changed. Like games as “to the moon” or “Richard & Alice” it shows very good, what one can achieve even with very limited technology if it is used not to create a generic JRPG but to focus on the story and create some unexpected and creative narration. Surely, some people might be angered or outraged because the game clearly shows tendencies to discuss some issues about misogyny, gender relations and the social construction of gender. It has by times some strong statements even if they are good incorporated in the narration. Besides that, the story is simply strong! The weird sci-fi story mixed with a tragic love story and a young woman looking for her destiny in a pretty strange world that gets day per day more twisted. The whole story about love, violence, friendship, terrorism, sects, sex and the hate for women in the history of medicine is brought to you with the help of great way of narration: A surreal way of breaking the fourth wall (breaking? Devastation of the forth wall and half of the stage) and strange “Sophie’s World interaction” without the consciousness of the main character, which you control, and what indeed is the problem.

199X starts off with a trigger warning. Yeah, it’s going to be that kind of game: a homebrew RPG Maker affair with stock graphics and a preachy message that aims to make the player feel like an awful human being. Not even fifteen minutes in, you find yourself trapped in a hospital that an invisible narrator won't let you leave until you’ve explored five nearby hot spots. Which is fine; this is a thing that happens. Only 199X demands more of you. If you want to do something as monumental as go outside, you need to advance every dialogue option for every hot spot, revisiting and exhausting every conversation bracket available because it’s very important you take the time to digest every little thing the game has to say. Only then are you permitted to leave. I’ve been in these kinds of situations before, so I settled down and prepared myself for a couple of hours of being arrogantly lectured by a clumsily constructed video game. Only, that never happened. There’s a saving grace to 199X: it builds around a reasonably clever setup, and and it is brilliantly written. You control 20-something Clara. And that, as the game’s byline goes, is the problem. You’re not actually playing as Clara, but rather as yourself, exerting an external force that guides her every move like an ethereal puppeteer. For her part, Clara wakes up in a hospital room without the ability to move by her own power and, after an understandable bit of panic, seems to take to her situation quite well. Though you interact with each other through the game’s limited conversation branches, the exchanges are lively and full or personality. An early test of your newly-hijacked body asks you to wander over and examine a fire extinguisher. Should you continue to enforce a keen interest in fire safety equipment, that moment develops into an in-joke between the two of you. Full Review // http://www.honestgamers.com/13417/pc/199x/review.html

This game is....odd. I've played gamed that break the 4th wall before, and games that make you make choices, and games that make you feel things. This game does some of all of it, and in a very odd satisfying way. I came away from this experience really thinking about some things in my own life. About perceptions I have about people I know and things that I do. Not very many games have ever done that to me. I think a good game to compare this to, is To the Moon. Not a lot of gameplay, but that isn't the point of the story. It's there to make you think, and this game made me think. If that's not the sort of experience you want, then this isn't the game for you. Took me about 2 hours to beat, and I'd say that it's fairly priced for the experience. I thouraghly enjoyed it, and am going to see if the developers have made any more games.

What is the point of dialogue options if I have to repeat every conversation until I've selected them all? Also the game really needs to invest in a run button. It's got a good atmosphere, but being forced to repeat conversations and not allowed to advance is dumb and completely drags down everything good about the game. Edit: Having played more of the game now, I'll say that dialogue tree problem becomes basically non-existent after a bit, however the bigger problem is that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this game is unpolished. There's great ideas here and nice writing, but it feels less like "a game without mechanics" and more like the first attempt someone ever made to play around in RPG Maker. There's lots of little spots where, for instance, events don't terminate properly, so you can continually initiate the same scripted sequences and say, have a character keep taking a few steps to the left until they're walking off the screen. Then you've got all the characters who get statue-syndrome after they've said their piece - have them go away or walk around, or do something, or someone notice that they're just standing there without moving, or it just becomes immersion breaking. I feel like the developer has potential, but to be honest, I'd personally be pretty embarassed if I sold something this unpolished for actual money. I've still enjoyed it for the story, but I would never tell anyone to drop two dollars on it.

You control Clara, a girl admitted in an hospital due to her delusions, you'll soon break out and set out to find a cure for, well, the player actually: that's cause you're actually controlling her, you're the voice inside her head and are able to move her body and influence her actions. What follows is a slightly interactive game that tackles the themes of human relationships, mental illness and game design in equal part and isn't afraid to break the fourth wall in doing so. [b]PROS:[/b] -great soundtrack -engaging story backed by a truly good narrative -manages to craft a surreal and somewhat disturbing atmosphere -Clara is a very well written character with a distinct personality and believable reactions -uses its 4th wall breaks very well [b]NEUTRAL:[/b] -no real gameplay apart from moving around and interacting with objects/ characters (but then it's clearly explained in the Store page), this is basically a slightly interactive story [b]CONS:[/b] -areas feel a bit too big and walking around can get trite at times -the other supporting characters are quite lacking in depth, it's difficult to care about any of them (even when Clara does) -unimpressive graphics even for an RPGMaker game http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=660889975 199x is extremely simple as games go, you basically just move around and interact with a few objects or people to propel the story forward. But the story and narrative more than make up for the barebones gameplay as they're truly good: the plot is slowly revealed as days go by and you find out more about Clara, her past and what's happening to the city. The whole thing seamlessly goes from disturbing to surreal to funny without breaking a sweat and it expertly breaks the 4th wall whenever necessary. Clara is also a very interesting character, has a good depth and is hard not to get attached to her as you play the game. As good as Clara is it's a shame that the other characters you meet are pretty lacking in depth, even those that are supposed to be important in the story: a bit more interaction would have gone a long way in helping the player get attached to them and care about their fate as much as Clara does. The walking around can also get a bit dull as the few areas you travel through feel a bit too huge and, as far as I know, there's no quick walk button. If you're ok with a game that is just interested in telling you a story then 199x comes fully recommended: there's something in Clara, her narrative and the subjects the game addresses that can easily leave a mark.