Cibele

an awful flash game within a basic flash game and a few minutes of fmv (the reason I was interested), doled out in very small amounts. a single subtitle on/off toggle that has to be turned on every session, nothing for audio, windowed mode or anything else. lazy. as an easter egg, you can go to the install folder and watch 2 outtakes for a total of 35 seconds, on top of all the other vids, for a grand total of 4.5 minutes. it plays on nina's computer, there are pics, documents, the usual fluff. if only the girl installed some software to look at pics to keep them in one window instead of throwing them all over the place, making it a pain to close them one by one. oh, and [b]none of the windows can be moved[/b], what kind of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up operating system is this? once you go through her files, enter an online game to chat with friends, some voice, some just text. walk around, attack enemies to summon a boss, then kill that too. it wasn't released on mobile, just looks and works like it did, what with everything bound to left click, keys do nothing. there's no hp, it's just something to do while listening to the dialog. while you're tediously hacking away, fighting ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pathfinding and low framerates more than monsters, you're constantly barraged by photos and messages, and since [b]the chat window (and only that, not photos or emails) closes when clicked outside, it has to be brought up every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time somebody replies[/b]. then close everything again because the mmo was designed by the same people as the operating system, no moving windows for you, sister. and you have to do the same exact tortorous ♥♥♥♥ 3 times. there are different levels but it doesn't make any difference, except there's more and more ♥♥♥♥ to get stuck on. can pause, subtitles are fine, but the game warns in the pause menu that [b]it only save at the beginning of each act[/b]. the store page says it's a 1.5-2-hour experience in 3 acts, so [b]at best it saves every half hour or so, which is unacceptable[/b]. nothing to remember on the desktop but mmos famously save everything all the time and in that respect work better than most lazy single-player games. not this fake one though. it's a personal story of how nina, the game's designer, fell in love irl (well, irl in an mmo) but it's a [b]barely interactive visual novel and the interactive parts are terrible[/b], as if she'd never seen a video game (or computer) before. I didn't care for the story or the characters either, blake was especially punchable (let's hope [i]lost records: bloom & rage[/i], which she co-wrote, is better), so [b]I found no redeeming qualities or any fun here[/b]. it won some awards in 2015, clearly not indicative of anything, and the 9 eur price tag is a joke too, especially back then. hasn't been on sale since 2020 but half price would still be too much, even if it wasn't missing basic functionality and one was interested in the story, such as it is.

Nelle intenzioni avrebbe dovuto raccontare la storia di una relazione nata all'interno di un MMORPG; nella pratica fatica a tenere a livelli decenti l'attenzione del giocatore a causa di un ritmo estremamente blando e noioso, una realizzazione del finto MMORPG abbastanza imbarazzante e una messa in scena che pecca di delicatezza e, forse, scade un po' nel disagiante. Cheers...spero che gli attori li abbiano pagati bene.

I slept on this game because of the lackluster reviews, but I adored this teleportation into a snapshot of elder-millenial life. Those inbetweens of old and modern internet, of highschool and adulthood, of being the personality you think you're supposed to be and the unforseeable human you are. Reviews saying it's a poor game: sure. Because it's not a game. It's a simulation of experiences lived by thousands of us. I'm not sure if the same can be said when the game first came out, but now the game play and the story has become second to the experience of looking into this mirror of the late 2000s.

[h1] Girl is ok but game is boring. [/h1]

whoever this game is about he should have to have a vulture eat his constantly-regrowing liver

[h1][b] What are you here for? [/b][/h1] Perhaps you have come here for videos of a pretty pink haired girl in her underwear. Or perhaps you have come here for a first person perspective on how female MMO players are preyed on, and how insecure they can feel. If yes your curiosity will undoubtedly be satisfied. But do not come here looking for gameplay, as the only game you will find between the steamy pics and the romance dialogue is a buggy mess of repetitive clicking.

ivan and selin from elif batuman's the idiot....but for gamers. and its 2009

e-dating never works xd very interesting story fmv thing its short but worth it browsing desktop feels creepy and nostalgia from old internet times but its nice getting some ptsd from my childhood growing up addicted to mmos and living vicariously, meeting people from irl is a 50/50 chance of being a letdown so something to learn from this. It's a very good time capsule work of art and worth a shot, only had like 2 crashes and thats becuase the credits didnt load and i had to watch it on youtube xdd

Unfortunately this game wasn't for me. Cibele is a heavily story driven game, which is exactly why I purchased it, I only really play games for the story, my issue is that the story here is not good. I was able to guess every single beat before it happened, which left me bored the entire time. Not to mention that the "gameplay" between chapters was mind numbing. No part of this game worked for me, but I think I will check out the games that this developer makes in the future, I think there could be potential with some better storytelling.

I don't think it lives up to its own potential, but I still appreciate it for what it is. Another reviewer remarked on the game making them reflect on their own experiences growing up with online gaming, and I felt the same way. It can't be denied that it is at least somewhat compelling, but I feel that it could have done more. This is less of a "game" and more of a "minimally interactive movie" / "short story told through the medium of 'video game.'" It's worth checking out, but don't let expectations drag your experience. It's an artistic expression of a very real and vulnerable experience which its composer brings her full Self forward to perform and express, and this takes far more courage to perform than any courage it takes to drag it all down in an anonymous review.