Cat’s Reviews: Week of Interaction
In this review series, I only had a look at one interactive story yet. Now, I finally reviewed three other stories! I have been playing interactive stories for years, they are a lot of fun. I can say the same about these three stories, I enjoyed reading them. Keep reading to find out more! If you’re an author and want to get a review for your work as well, you can sign up here.
Villainous or Cute?
Title: Villain in Love
Author: Tuesday Cross
Platform: Dorian
Type: Interactive Story
Genre: Action, Drama, Science-Fiction
Summary: You are a special agent, forced to work with one of the world’s most mysterious super villains. Save the world, fall in love, and make choices that matter! What happens next is up to you.
First Impression
The cover looks nice if I look at it separately. Among the other covers on the app, it doesn’t really stand out. However, it shows me what I can expect from this story, at least I think there will be a lot of romance! Something I noticed is that only one part of the title (“love”) is visible on the cover. It would be great to see more covers that work perfectly with the title, which would in this case mean adding a “villainous” aspect to the image. The summaries of all episodes are short and simple but give me an idea of what I’m going to read. I have seen this story on the app a few times but the first impression never really got me to start reading it. I can’t really explain why, so you should definitely go and have a look at it yourself!
Would I continue reading?
The first episode is super interesting and really made me want to continue reading! The characters are great. It didn’t take much time to find out who they are and what they want. The reader gets to know the main character’s goal and it’s relatable! However, I didn’t like the quick beginning of the story. It starts really in the middle of things and I prefer some kind of introduction at the beginning. Keep in mind that this is just my personal preference, as you probably know there are many ways to start a story and many readers will prefer In Medias Res over anything else. Go give it a try, it might become one of your favourites!
Interactive Crime-Solving
Title: Ominous
Author: Ash
Platform: Dorian
Type: Interactive Story
Genre: Action, Mystery
Summary: Splat. A body is dropped from a building. Blood is everywhere. You didn’t want to do anything related to crime solving at all costs. But now, you’re forced to break that rule.
First Impression
This story has a simple but good cover. The font that the title is written in fits the theme of the story very well! What I thought was that there’s nothing in this cover that really stands out. What I mean is that, right now, more than one part of it stands out which makes nothing really stand out when I look at it. Choosing one part, for example the title, that should stand out would probably help make this cover stand out more in general. The descriptions of the episodes are okay, some really stand out and make me want to read the story right away, others have the opposite effect on me.
Would I continue reading?
I can’t really say why, but the start of the story reminded me a bit of how a crime movie starts. In general, the beginning was very intriguing and I wanted to find out more. However, it got a bit dull towards the end of the episode. The next episode didn’t really help me get rid of that feeling. I would have enjoyed getting more information on the self-insert main character. To me, the most likeable character here is a funny investigator with some quirks. The main character and the love interest didn’t really feel real to me. Especially the main character, she can solve some issues pretty quickly without needing several attempts and she’s a big mystery to me. However, if you want to see someone solving crimes, this is a nice story for you!
Cliche Spin-Off Romance
Title: Second Chance – Hiding the Truth
Author: Josie Jackson
Platform: Episode
Type: Interactive Story
Genre: Romance
Summary: A spin off story to the main one. Go back in time and see how Dean and Randy fell in love. But it wasn’t without its obstacles along the way. Warning: Contains cliche romance.
First Impression
I wish I could say that the cover was the first thing that caught my attention because that’s what would be really important on Episode. However, the cover didn’t really look special. I see that efforts have been made to let it stand out but there is definitely still room for improvement. The summary gives me a clear idea of what I’ll read. I think it would be better to incorporate the warning into the summary. For example, saying “fell in love in the most cliche way” or something. The warning makes it seem kind of bad. After having a look at a few episodes, I feel like there’s a lot going on, the changes between different people’s stories happen quite quickly and make it seem a bit confusing. There aren’t really choices that you can make as a reader for the characters, which might be important to some of you.
Would I continue reading?
Generally, yes, I’d continue reading to find out what happens next. That’s probably because I really like this kind of romance stories. However, there are a bunch of warnings at the beginning that passed by too quickly to read them. I’d appreciate a narrator box that lists the main warnings for the episode. Maybe it would also be better to have a trigger warning in the summary. The break-up scene was really short and seemed a bit unemotional. That’s why I couldn’t relate to the characters. I wish I could see more of their thoughts to understand why they are acting in a certain way. In general, it seemed a bit rushed but that’s, again, just a personal opinion and I know other people like fast-moving plots. The directing of this story is great, you really should check it out if you like romance stories!
That’s the last review for today. I hope you found a story that you might like and want to check out. If you do, let me know in the comments! The authors of these stories and I would enjoy reading your opinions on their works.
Responses