Critique One: Hypertexts

Our first critique exercise focuses on choice-driven hypertexts. I strongly recommend choosing a work built in Twine, but the list of suggested works includes other systems as well. If you wish to critique a work that isn’t on this list, please make sure it is hypertextual, choice-based, and primarily text-driven: if it meets those requirements, email me or drop by office hours for approval.

Suggested works:

• Babyface (Mark Sample, 2020)
• Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman, 2016)
• LUNIUM (Ben Jackson, 2023)
• Tavern Crawler (Josh Labelle, 2020)
• Night Guard (Astrid Dalmady, 2019)
• EIKAS (Lauren O’Donoghue, 2024)
• Heretic’s Hope (G.C. Baccaris, 2019)
• Growth (Morgan Swampcroft, 2019)
• An Account of Your Visit to the Enchanted House… (Mandy Benanav, 2024)
• Halcyon (PurpleTrillium, 2023)
• You are Jeff Bezos (Kris Lorischild 2018)
• Winter-Over (Emery Joyce and N. Cormier, 2024)
• Cactus Blue Motel (Astrid Dalmady, 2016)
• 10PM (litrouke, 2017)
• Will Not Let Me Go (Stephen Granade, 2017)
• Seedship (John Ayliff, 2017)
• Excalibur (J.J. Guest, G.C. Baccaris, et al, 2021)
• The Grown-Up Detective Agency (Brendan Patrick Henness, 2022)
• The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman, 2022)
• Protocol (30x30, 2023)

Explore this list, as I’ve tried to represent a wide range of genres so that you can find a work of interest to you. You’ll need to complete at least one traversal of the work (2-3 are recommended) and document the process, so I suggest using screenshots to track interesting passages as you go. This analysis should be a short (500 - 750 words) essay. Your critique should include:

• Briefly, describe the work as a hypertext. Note any unusual characteristics (such as the integration of a stats system, visuals etc) and make any comparisons to the games we’ve viewed so far you find helpful
• Discuss the work’s design and narrative choices. Are their decision points you found particularly striking? A character perspective that surprised you? Emotional stakes to the narrative that provide unusual engagement? Be precise and pick the most interesting part of the work from your perspective.
• Analyze 2-3 key moments in your traversals. Provide context, screenshots, and quotes as helpful, but make sure not just to describe what’s happening: critique it, and think about what makes it stand out to you. Is it the illusion of agency? The way the decision is framed?

In this first critique, you will be providing me with a sense for your background in this type of analysis. Don’t worry about academic formality in your voice: feel free to use “I.” A brief works cited should be included for any course texts, reviews, or games referenced.