195 Days in the Cold
I appreciated the story the game was telling. I was reminded of the Winchester Mansion, a mansion that the owner just kept adding rooms and stories to until she died. It's like whatever trauma or grief the co-owner of the bar was experiencing he was processing through just adding on nonsense additions to the bar.
I also liked the beginning effect, where I walked into the bar, and it was empty and desolate, but somehow, like I blinked, and then the lights were on. I'm unsure if that's intentional.
This one felt like the least PS1y game. It didn't emulate the low texture resolution and it had lighting that would be way to advanced for a ps1. It made the bar a little more eerie, because there was less for my imagination to fill in so it's this, weirdly empty and oddly constructed bar.
I have to agree with another comment here. The walking is so slow. I got this sense that I'm going back to an old place and just taking it all in, so I'm taking my time. But I am not this character, I am not nostalgic for this place, and unless the character started saying something else, walking from place to place was rather boring.
The ending was intriguing. Really didn't expect the giant head and static walls and floors. It also sort of solidified that I probably had died out in the cold and just hallucinated exploring this bar that was once a memory. Maybe.
I thought this game was a mixed-bag.
SMS
This was a tight, short experience with not much room for any issues, and I really liked it.
At first I'm creeped out by how empty and dark the train is. Then I realize I'm in the middle of nowhere.
I've been on the other end of the phone with someone not answering my texts, and so I empathized with that worry that "they're probably okay but what if they died" dread you get. I was getting a little mad at my character, like even if you hate your mom you could have just texted "ok" so she wouldn't come looking for you.
Once the mom started coming to the train, I was filled with anxiety. Like I know this is a horror game there's no way this is going to end good, she's not coming to help me, where the hell even am I? How did she find me so fast? Why am I the only one on this train?
With each text saying she was coming closer I got more scared, and walked away from the doors. That little jump scare at the end was totally earned, and I liked the twist.
Good job!
Paralysis Penguins
Huh...
I have some thoughts and interpretations about this game, but I'm not as sure about them as I was with Godforsaken Hole.
Well, first, I actually like that the camera can't be turned in the beginning, the only way to discover new things was to walk into the unknown.
The delay that the dog has in speaking is really unnerving. Like I *really* did not like watching this dog stare at me waiting for his line.
This game feels like a fever dream. I could imagine someone calling RIP a fever dream, but that's not really what I mean. RIP has a consistent theme about it, paper and ripping.
This is where my interpretations come in, but unlike the 4th game where I was like 85 percent sure of them, here I'm only like 30 percent sure.
This game feels like the fever dreams of a child who had a traumatic experience with their grandpa, or at least, the fever dreams of someone who is remembering their childhood trauma.
There's this nonsense disconnected world filled with random characters that aren't linked in any way. The fever dream is filled with what the child has experienced and with media they consumed. Like, the TMNTs are in the library, and the blue dog looks like he's from a cartoon he could have watched.
The interpretation that I am least sure about is the grandpa. My mind immediately went to (Content Warning) : the grandpa molesting the child. My only evidence for it is that the grandpa is practically naked, I am powerless when he arrives, and when he comes down he starts eating me right at my pelvis. That scene also made me completely uncomfortable, I did not want to watch.
But I feel like I'm reading too much into it, and that kind of thing isn't in the content warning for the game, only body horror and suicide. So again I'm like, 20 percent sure about my interpretation.
But, whatever the traumatic event is, the rest of the game coincides with that for me. Suicidal thoughts, and people not being understanding of me and getting mad at me for being late to some stupid event. School trauma.
Like really, sorry if my interpretation is completely off base, but I don't know what else to make of the game. It's weird, disconnected, and off putting. So it fits the haunting scene aspect perfectly. As uncomfortable as it made me, I liked it.
I want to know how you came up with everything. Nothing seems connected through a theme but it feels purposeful.
Also, not sure if "Second conversation! This is a placeholder! Nothing important, just some monologuing" is intentional, lol.