I’ll Hold Them Off by Gretchen Turonek (@GretchenTuronek)

I’ll Hold Them Off was created as part of the Wretched Jam and sees you facing the Evil in a final battle trapped within a magical Realm that holds you both, holding until one of you eventually falls. This was the last option your party had, a desperate Hail Mary, so you must prevail though time and your sense of everything is stretched to its limit, not knowing if the battle just begun or has been going for aeons.

While the concept puts me in mind of the ultimately disappointing Doctor Strange movie with a little dead Harry Potter, the beautifully bleak and sombre tone to the writing is all but technicolour pop. This is a serious, battle against Evil, attrition and the loss of time and self.

This is a triumph of storytelling through a fantastic set up and great prompts that help build the world around you, even as it comes tumbling down upon.

If I’m being honest this is my first ever jam game after the original, and if I ever had any fear about whether jams using the same SRD were worth the time and effort, this has obliterated that thought and only made me even more excited to play more jam games and maybe even join in one of these days.

Truly excited to see what Turonek does next!