The Passenger

[h1][b]tl;dr[/b][/h1] The Passenger has become one of my favourite CYOA stories and one of the few that have genuinely made me cry. It's not a 10/10 story but it's certainly something I recommend people read at least once. [h1][b]Story[/b][/h1] [quote=]DARK TIMES ARE COMING WILL YOU BE ABLE TO SEE?[/quote] The Passenger revolves around the story of an eldritch horror running from another eldritch horror in a dog-eat-dog world. They find themselves weak and trapped in the casket of a puny human living and, for nearly thirty years, they've lived a remarkably unremarkable life. That is, until the Hunter catches up to its prey. Now, they must navigate their relationships while regaining their energy to hopefully fight back against the gaping maw breathing down their neck. The story is pretty much as I expected with the premise. There's a sense of unease and of fear throughout the story and I think the author managed to capture the atmosphere well. The touches with the font styles are appreciated as they add to it, especially in the style of CYOA. I do have some issues with the pacing of the story. There are times when it feels like there's no clear or cohesive transition from one scenario to another, or that there are scenarios added for the sake of introducing characters or including exposition. I think a tighter flow would have helped with these concerns and the disparity in focus for the side characters (mentioned in the Romance and Relationships section). [h1][b]Choices and Gameplay[/b][/h1] [quote=]Plan B it is then.[/quote] For a CYOA game, there's not really a lot of options available to you. You're given six main stats along with a tracker for your essence, but you generally only need to focus on your main defining factor (strength, speed or trickery) and at least two of your stats for interactions with others. You're also given the option of embracing humanity or staying true to your otherworldly roots, but the direction of the narrative and outcomes feel generally the same. There's not really much of a change in how you tackle certain things and nothing is really locked out or revealed to you based on your choices. I think this is most prominent if you choose to be more otherworldly since the story seems to be written for a human-focused main character who is kind despite being an eldritch horror. You can sometimes choose to be mean or not say anything, but in the sections where you're not given a choice, you'll revert back to this predetermined direction. This makes it feel more linear than other CYOA games. I like that the Relationship screen is more narrative in nature than just presenting a graph, but this has downsides of its own when the sentence describing your relationship with a character doesn't fully reflect where you both stand at that point in the story. A minor gripe as I still have more appreciation for the little quirks of characterisation it gives. [h1][b]Romance and Relationships[/b][/h1] [quote=]Well, it doesn't matter how you ended up as her [sister], the only thing that does is that you are.[/quote] Contrary to the romance-focused blurb about this story, I feel like the main relationship is with your sister, Livvy. The romances pale in comparison to how a humanity main character interacts with Livvy and your interactions with her during the climax of the story. When the Relationships tab says there's nothing Livvy wouldn't do for you, they aren't lying. It has been a really long time since I've last played a CYOA where the relationship with a character hit this hard, but at the end of The Passenger, I truly wanted nothing more than for my character and Livvy to be happy and together. Roach is very clearly the 'main' romance option in the game. You have the most interactions with them and they're the one who actually sees your character in some of their most significant moments. The other romance options are more like onlookers to your story, not quite growing alongside you in the same way Roach does. For me, this feels most prominent with Horizon who appears only in the latter half of the story and doesn't really get enough time to become significant to your character unless you seek them out on purpose. At the point you meet them, you likely have already made connections with the other romance options. I wish they were introduced earlier to put them in the same footing as others, or for the non-Roach romance options to not just seem like stragglers.