Monday, October 19, 2020

Chorus: IFcomp 2020

Chorus is a choice-based urban fantasy by Skarn. 

This entry asks you to divide six people between three different community service projects. The enjoyable twist is that they're all monsters and mythological creatures integrated into modern society. (Oddly detailed personnel files offer scientific discussions of their abilities.) 

The story follows a run down, under-funded nonprofit that is already stretched to the breaking point. In a normal city, these organizations serve different groups of people whose needs are regularly in conflict with each other. When those people are harpies, gorgons, and beings from alternate universes, the conflicts become more interesting.

Chorus relies on a player who is willing to return to the story and learn from repeated playthroughs. Early remarks about "the reorganization of the district" hint at tensions behind the scenes, and my first experience left me eager to investigate why the city felt like Nazi-occupied Paris.    

Individual paragraphs of text fade in gradually, but a prominent "animations" toggle allows you to access entire pages rapidly. That was helpful for speeding through familiar passages to focus on new behavior from different members of the group. 

The different factions in Chorus interact with each other behind the scenes to create an intricate backstory, and the result is an experience that replaces the worst aspects of community service drudgery with tense fantasy conflict.

Artwork from Donald Conrad:



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