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TheNewDerf
For: I Wanna Escape Into My Mind
For: I Wanna Escape Into My Mind
As works of art, fangames have the capacity to act as vehicles for deeply personal story-telling. In that vein, I Wanna Escape Into My Mind perfectly balances overt expression and narrative abstraction. The overall contour of the story is clear, but there's enough fuzziness around the edges to make it exciting to engage with.
For instance, the alcohol gimmick is an intuitive way to illustrate a particular relationship that one can develop with alcohol. The more you drink, the less you see the real world for what it is, but that in itself can help your mind temporarily escape elements of the real world which are traumatic or damaging. It's not a permanent or healthy solution, and I don't think the game suggests it is -- but the games does do, is show a very human vulnerability through level design.
Other parts of the game's design, however, are less clear-cut. Eyes that follow and grab at the player reflect how we can become trapped in someone else's gaze -- someone else's *idea* of what we should be. But where do the ghosts fit in? I'm not sure -- but I'm looking forward to seeing how a second play-through makes me re-think these things. I'm also interested in hearing if people interpreted parts of this game the same way I did: i.e., are the biblically-accurate angels a play on the idea that the way we idealize things, like angels, is often far removed from reality?
It's almost a given that telling a symbolic / emotional story will result in at least one or two accusations of meaninglessness or weird-for-the-sake-of-weird-ness. Not every artistic desicion this game makes is immediately and obviously decipherable -- however, I do think that, more than just being technically gifted, Jane's art shines for its emotional resonance. This game takes you on a very personal journey that few other fangames could match.
There's a lot I loved about this game on a mechanical level: the slightly off-kilter physics which only heighten the games central themes; the high octane set pieces (j'adore Void Kid); and the rad bosses. I'm not in love with every gimmick, or indeed every song choice -- but, I rarely had to wait long for something new to appear. I could be more granular about my criticisms of this game, though it feels like it would miss the point to nitpick missing QoL features, or less-than-ideal engine quirks (like the room transitions). At the end of the day, this game illustrates a level of creativity and ambition I hope to see more of.
For instance, the alcohol gimmick is an intuitive way to illustrate a particular relationship that one can develop with alcohol. The more you drink, the less you see the real world for what it is, but that in itself can help your mind temporarily escape elements of the real world which are traumatic or damaging. It's not a permanent or healthy solution, and I don't think the game suggests it is -- but the games does do, is show a very human vulnerability through level design.
Other parts of the game's design, however, are less clear-cut. Eyes that follow and grab at the player reflect how we can become trapped in someone else's gaze -- someone else's *idea* of what we should be. But where do the ghosts fit in? I'm not sure -- but I'm looking forward to seeing how a second play-through makes me re-think these things. I'm also interested in hearing if people interpreted parts of this game the same way I did: i.e., are the biblically-accurate angels a play on the idea that the way we idealize things, like angels, is often far removed from reality?
It's almost a given that telling a symbolic / emotional story will result in at least one or two accusations of meaninglessness or weird-for-the-sake-of-weird-ness. Not every artistic desicion this game makes is immediately and obviously decipherable -- however, I do think that, more than just being technically gifted, Jane's art shines for its emotional resonance. This game takes you on a very personal journey that few other fangames could match.
There's a lot I loved about this game on a mechanical level: the slightly off-kilter physics which only heighten the games central themes; the high octane set pieces (j'adore Void Kid); and the rad bosses. I'm not in love with every gimmick, or indeed every song choice -- but, I rarely had to wait long for something new to appear. I could be more granular about my criticisms of this game, though it feels like it would miss the point to nitpick missing QoL features, or less-than-ideal engine quirks (like the room transitions). At the end of the day, this game illustrates a level of creativity and ambition I hope to see more of.
Tagged as: Lesbian_Seems_To_Be_Allowed
[8] Likes
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 59 59
Aug 10, 2023
kurath
For: Ebb Needle 2023
For: Ebb Needle 2023
Mostly fun needle game. Base game is probably better than extra (though extra is much of content) but it remains competent. Definitely hits the standard needle collab problem to me where stuff just kind of exists instead of feeling like an interesting experience, but the individual needle is mostly good and played in small bursts it never felt like a drag. Production is clean and it does what it needs to do.
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.8 78
Difficulty: 64 64
Aug 10, 2023
MARCO
For: I Wanna Escape Into My Mind
For: I Wanna Escape Into My Mind
tbh the art in this game is amazing, the first bosses are fun and theres some good gimmicks.
The first 3 stages are amazing, good visuals which gave me vibes of yume nikki, chill and fun gameplay and the bosses are fun. The music is the only thing i didnt like from those stages.
then there's the trash, since stage 4 the game started to get worse and worse and worse.
First of all since stage 4 the game became into a bad sudoku with terrible gimmicks, and bad visuals imo.
The witch from the iwbtg stage gimmick couldnt be worse.
The music selection in the whole game is terrible, it is just unbearable noise which gets annoying after playing for a few hours (the only songs i liked were deltarune ones).
Then theres stage 5, which starts with some good screens with gimmicks from the rest of the game, then you have to play a bad medley/sudoku part.
after that, theres some other good screens and then the witch gimmick again WITH the void kid gimmick, basically the worst parts of the whole game together.
Then theres the final boss, which in my opinion was meh, i didnt like it, but i didnt dislike it at all.
Btw you get forced to play in fullscreen and the only way to turn down the volume is from windows volume mixer
[5] Likes
The first 3 stages are amazing, good visuals which gave me vibes of yume nikki, chill and fun gameplay and the bosses are fun. The music is the only thing i didnt like from those stages.
then there's the trash, since stage 4 the game started to get worse and worse and worse.
First of all since stage 4 the game became into a bad sudoku with terrible gimmicks, and bad visuals imo.
The witch from the iwbtg stage gimmick couldnt be worse.
The music selection in the whole game is terrible, it is just unbearable noise which gets annoying after playing for a few hours (the only songs i liked were deltarune ones).
Then theres stage 5, which starts with some good screens with gimmicks from the rest of the game, then you have to play a bad medley/sudoku part.
after that, theres some other good screens and then the witch gimmick again WITH the void kid gimmick, basically the worst parts of the whole game together.
Then theres the final boss, which in my opinion was meh, i didnt like it, but i didnt dislike it at all.
Btw you get forced to play in fullscreen and the only way to turn down the volume is from windows volume mixer
Rating: 6.1 61
Difficulty: 51 51
Aug 10, 2023
TTBB
For: I wanna be the Ultramarine
For: I wanna be the Ultramarine
Chill slow avoidance from what I remember. Good for beginners. Has some slow patterns at the end that can be kind of scary if you're brand new to avoidance but they're easy otherwise. I don't remember the needle but I don't remember hating it so that's a good thing.
[2] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 25 25
Aug 10, 2023
AlejoFangamer
For: I Wanna Escape Into My Mind
For: I Wanna Escape Into My Mind
I agree with King's review , the game is "ok", I love the graphics and enjoyed some stages, but I'm sorry to tell you that I don't consider this a "masterpiece".
I really appreciated Machine Girl's participation in this <3
[2] Likes
I really appreciated Machine Girl's participation in this <3
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: 45 45
Aug 9, 2023