Epanalepsis Reviews

Enigmatic and thought-provoking. Definitely worth a try for the curious!

It's an odd one, in good and bad ways. Maybe get it on discount.

Short. Pretentious. Basic. More like the sort of thing you'd expect out of a free art game than a $7 'adventure.' There are no puzzles. The text, which hold the story and thus the draw of the game, sometimes is cut off the edge of the screen, and there are more than a couple typos, breaking immersion and posing an inconvenience. Perhaps playing the game multiple times would help to promote an understanding of the story -- though I can hardly imagine how -- but after the short and frankly boring first run, I feel no desire to further delve into the game. It's not very gripping. I only felt the need to finish it to get my five dollars' (on sale) worth. The characters walk slowly, too.

[h1]what:[/h1]This is basically an interactive story, not a game. [h1]good:[/h1] The writing is arty and the music is repeatedly good at setting the tone. [h1]bad:[/h1] If I made this myself I'd probably have released it for free. It feels like a prototype or demo reel. The UI in particular demonstrates the product is unpolished rather than minimalist. A playthrough is only about 10 minutes long, and isn't especially memorable. There are better stories available for free. [h1]conclusion:[/h1] I wouldn't recommend this to my friends unless they wanted inspiration for their own composition / writing, or it was free and they liked trippy short stories.

Epanalepsis is a game that rewards multiple playthroughs. It never offers easy answers to its mysteries but it begins to fall into place as you play through again and again. This is borne out in the narrative itself. Each chapter offers the player with a choice, but the results of these choices are already made clear to the player before the choice is even made. What results is a game that plays out similarly to Chris Marker's La Jetée: No matter where the story's time travellers end up, no matter what choices are made, the same cycles will repeat, much like the game's rhetorical namesake.

You walk sooooooooooooooo slow. The game starts with some random fetch quests that probably wouldn't have annoyed me if the walking speed wasn't so terribly slow. Once I got out of the apartment I realized all the dialogue and plot seemed pointless and random. I refunded it. [h1]Pros:[/h1] + Unique art style + Okay music [h1]Cons:[/h1] + Slow walking speed + No auto walk when you click on items. You need to be on top of them first to interact. + Boring dialogue.

A short video game about causality, technology, and things which lie just beyond the horizon of our understanding. The game creates a really strong sense of atmosphere with its minimalist pixel art, fantastic soundtrack, and clever writing. Epanalepsis is a great way to spend an afternoon.

A short walkie. Vague, troubling, atmospheric. Resigned. Dedicated to filmmaker Lars Von Trier, and feels a lot like [i]Melancholia[/i]. Effective musical ennui by John Fio. Marred by a few bugs and typos. But if you liked La Molleindustria's [i]Every Day the Same Dream,[/i] this will probably work for you.

Get this game if you have a thing for (1) shiftless post-college characters overwhelmed by ennui, (2) walking very slowly, and (3) dialog boxes which sometimes clip outside the window. Otherwise, keep your money. Kudos to the creator for actually making and publishing a game, though. That's far more than most people ever do.

The developer has talent, but their decision to write a choppy, non-cohesive story is shit. There was so much potential that was wasted. The game lets you walk around and click on things, but no puzzles exist. There are a few moments where you can make decisions, but I wonder if the choices matter. I will play the game again to see if the ending changes. The way that dialogue is presented is abhorrent. It's like reading a comic book or manga without understanding the proper order. There are no visual clues as to whom is speaking, and that frustrates the fuck out of me. As a game player, you're not missing anything substantial if you skip this game. Hopefully, the developer will learn and improve in his next game.