Gigantomania

A story about life in the Soviet Union under Stalin.  By Michelle Tirto.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I really enjoyed the writing in this game.  Each of the four chapters works together to evoke a stark picture of a life in this dysfunctional communist state.  Everyone in the regime- from the peasant farmer on up to the dictator himself- is corrupt to some degree.  But despite the dark subject matter, the story is filled with examples of grim and subtle humor.  I found this writing style more engaging than the slapstick version of communism presented in The People's Glorious Revolutionary Text Adventure Game, another game from this year's competition.

Another interesting aspect of this game is that dispite the repressive environment, in the first three chapters the player is actually granted a fair degree of free agency.  In the first scene, the player can steal from a neighbor and use the stolen goods to bribe the tax collector.  The player has a choice to save his friend Peter, or not.  The player can kick the beggar (a blackmailer who deserves to be kicked).  Some similar choices are available in the second and third scenes.  In most of the dialogues, the player is free to shout anti-communist slogans, if they wish.  Not all of these choices will bring a positive outcome.  But it is interesting that the player is free to pursue them.  The message I took away was that the state could imprison my body, but not my soul.  I don't know if this message was intended by the author.

The sense of free agency breaks down in the fourth scene, when the player assumes the identity of the lunatic dictator Stalin.  This scene is composed entirely of a series of dialogue menus, which don't appear to have much effect on the further course of the dialogue.  The writing in chapter four continues to be strong, but this chapter is over-long, and not as interesting as earlier chapters due to the loss of interactivity.