Chandler Groover è un autore prolifico che crea storie interattive accurate e ben scritte. Gli piace sperimentare: la sua Toby’s Nose, ad esempio, aveva come protagonista il cane di Sherlock Holmes e il gioco era tutto costruito attorno a una sola azione: annusare. Bisognava solo annusare, non era necessario fare altro per arrivare alla fine.

Lo stesso succede in Eat Me: bisogna solo mangiare, le altre azioni sono inutili. È un fantasy in cui il protagonista è un bambino che finisce in un castello dove tutto è commestibile. C’è cibo ovunque, ma non solo: anche gli oggetti e le persone si possono mangiare. La scrittura è fluida, il gioco è come sempre ben programmato, ed è divertente andare in giro a mangiare tutto. Ma, premesso che il grottesco non è il mio genere, alla fine mi ha dato l’impressione di essere un ottimo esercizio di stile un po’ ripetitivo. Se fin dall’inizio avessi avuto ben chiaro un obiettivo, un traguardo, forse lo avrei apprezzato di più. Invece, dopo due ore mi sono anche un po’ annoiato.

Ps. Certo, ora tutte le storie in gara devono fare i conti con le grandi emozioni che mi ha dato Will Not Let Me Go… e non sarà facile.

>x me
Your most important feature, and the reason that you’re here, dear, is your mouth. All children are just mouths, of course, begging to be fed until they’re bigger. Nothing else need be said on that account, except perhaps that your mouth is already big for a child. It is your personality. Forget your other attributes. You ate them when you first arrived, which is why you were invited.

Chandler Groover is a prolific author who creates accurate and well-written interactive stories. He likes to find new angles: in Toby’s Nose, for example, we are Sherlock Holmes’ dog and the game is all built around a single action: sniffing. All you had to do was to sniff, you did not have to do anything else to get to the end.

Same happens in Eat Me: you just have to eat, any other action is useless. It is a fantasy game where the protagonist is a child who ends up in a castle where everything is edible. There is food anywhere but also objects, furniture and people can be eaten. The writing is fluid, the game is well programmed as always, and it’s fun to go around eating everything. Assuming that I don’t like grotesque stuff, this is a good proof of concept that it’s not for me. If I had a clear goal in mind from the start, I might have liked it more. Instead, after two hours I was a bit bored.

Ps. Of course, now all the stories I’m gonna review have to deal with the incredible emotions that Will Not Let Me Go gave me… and it will not be easy.

>x me
Your most important feature, and the reason that you’re here, dear, is your mouth. All children are just mouths, of course, begging to be fed until they’re bigger. Nothing else need be said on that account, except perhaps that your mouth is already big for a child. It is your personality. Forget your other attributes. You ate them when you first arrived, which is why you were invited.