Eurydice

Random Thought: "Jeez, if he doesn't usually accept quarters, there must be a lot of SOL souls."

Traveling to the underworld is another staple of Interactive Fiction, and while that tends to mean that they require higher scrutiny, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed Eurydice. It had enough hints at magic that when the transition to the underworld happened, things felt natural and expected, and definitely beckoned at the player to suspend their disbelief. But what allowed for the believability in the slowly ramping up of the mystical was the very real characters created in real life. That depth and complexity really facilitated immersion. And I enjoyed the fact that there were multiple endings and ways to better your score, but still come to a satisfying ending. Too frequently in adventure games "multiple endings" means a complete fail or a complete win, but not frequently enough are there options that lead to endings that are just... different.

I did choose to replay this one to see what would happen, because I enjoyed the narrative. I feel like these kinds of stories that deal with the death of a loved one really touch on what it means to be human and mortal, and suffer grief and loss. It really sucks you in when there's been a lot of work put into the writing. One thing that really helped with the writing was the bypass mechanic, which allowed you to focus on advancing the story at your own pace instead of getting bogged down in failing a pixel hunt. And my only small complaint was that some of the "different ending" items were not necessarily intuitive, or were hidden deeper than expected. But that is a hard balance to strike.

This game really resonated with me, and while the end felt unsatisfying, I feel like that's... just life. And sometimes we don't get what we want, and are left feeling emptier or worse off than before. But that really struck that emotional chord with me, and I appreciated it.

9/10