Something A Little Super

This was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed the demo; but I hadn't seen until the other day that the full game was out, so I was really excited to experience the whole story! For anyone reading this who hasn't played the game yet, I tried my best not to be too specific in my review, but there are still some spoilers, so definitely play the game before reading this (it's definitely worth the playtime)!

I really felt like you fleshed out the characters of all of the family members really well; I honestly really like games like this where the player has meaningful choices, but still plays a character with a unique personality, and I think that you really captured a compelling family dynamic throughout each chapter. I was not expecting how grief would impact the story; I felt like the way you illustrated how a family has to pick up the pieces after losing a loved one was really poignant. And man, talk about some tense moments! I totally felt the main character's parental fear of their kid's superpowers being found out, but I tried really hard to chart a path with my choices that let the kid know both that her powers were a good thing that could be used to help people, and that the weight of the world wasn't on one child's shoulders (whether or not they happened to be a superhero). The choice that was the hardest for me was the conversation the main character and kid had after the bus crash, picking between the two options definitely felt difficult in light of maintaining that balanced approach; I would have liked an option that emphasized less what the kid should have done, and more just an assurance that she was loved and I was proud of her for trying to do the right thing, but that she wouldn't be able to stop every bad thing from happening and that was never her fault. I felt like the conversation in a future chapter after the spouse's death, where we talked in the car about magic powers not being able to solve everything, was a really good capstone to the superhero's arc, and let me say what I wish I could have said to the poor kid earlier. I felt like the overarching theme of imperfect people trying their best in an imperfect world, and that love is the strongest of any other powers we might have, landed really well; and the conversational, vignette sort of storytelling felt like a uniquely potent and creative way to convey that message.

The ending I had in my playthrough was Ending 4/5, "Not All Heroes Wear Capes"; I haven't tried to get any others yet, and am really curious how different the story can turn out. I only saw a couple of typos on my route; I had a daughter superhero, and the prose accidentally said, "homeschool him"  in Chapter 5,  but besides that there just was one missing "to" in Chapter 9 when I think it said, "needed me say the right thing".

I was wondering, when it says that the main character told the kid everything in the storm shelter, was that just related to her discovery in the ship, or was she also told about that time the spouse character took out that time-travelling assassin (a lot of the story was quietly poignant and bittersweet, but that was the one part that actually got me to say, "Dang!", but the whole thing felt very in-character; I actually appreciated that there wasn't some kind of "betray your kid because some murderous guy from the future said something vague about her being evil" option, and  that the time-traveller wasn't so overpowered that he couldn't be taken out by a shotgun). Was that red cloth a cape, or do I need to try other routes first to find out?

I also liked that you included an epilogue about your inspiration and process for writing the game, I always appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the relationships other interactive fiction authors have to their stories, and I definitely relate to that feeling of having an idea for a project pop into your head when you're already supposed to be working on several others (or, in my case, also schoolwork).

All in all, I really enjoyed this game! It was an emotional rollercoaster that felt like it really delivered on its unique premise (as well as a great distraction for players who have the coronavirus), and I'll definitely be replaying it to find out about the other endings. Thanks so much for writing this story, and best of luck with your future projects!

Raise your hand if you figured out where this story was going after the 3rd chapter lol. Still this was so cute and so bittersweet. I loved it so much. 10/10 game. 

Just streamed this live and damn you Barbara for making me cry on stream.  LOL.  Naw, good writing and it was a joy to read.  My GF and I playing through together ending up with ending 5.  =)

oh my gosh - i adore this story! i replayed it multiple times to get all the endings. well, all the endings except ending 2. i can't seem to get it, no matter what type of choices i make! i guess i'll be obsessing over this for a few days...

got ending 4. i actually managed to predict my kids future.

i love this game and i love the amount of effort you put into it:)

I guess I got ending 5? (i dont know i just saw the number 5 and ran with it) but gosh this made me cry at 12 am, I was just out here playing games, didn't know that i'd experience life and motherhood today. Bless my child, she's my baby <33 simple yet a great story, it'll stuck to you

Just finished it, god it made me cry. Ending 1 was sweet and now i don't know if I could bear it to turn the poor kid into a villain