PSYOPS

Hard to read but overall pretty decent 6/10

Nothing quite like a rape scene to hook you into a story. The visuals are very nicely done. Interesting premise. Spelling and grammar done well. The main downside is being left with a feeling that there was much more the story could have included. I'd like to read a longer, fully branching version of the story.

This is a very high-concept story with an intriguing premise. But a significant portion of the word count -- perhaps as much as half of the 8400 words -- is dedicated to exposition.

The opening scene is indeed captivating: although at this point in the story I know nothing more about the situation other than what I read on the somewhat ambiguous set-up on the title page, I can nevertheless figure out I am a woman fighting off a couple would-be rapists. These two brutes are the least talkative characters in the entire story, and there are multiple ways to get through this scene.

Having survived the opening pages, I naturally had questions as to what all this was about. And boy, were there answers.

Fundamentally what I think is going on here that too much story, and especially too many ideas, are being compressed into too little space. The concept seems spacious enough to support an entire novel of temporal intrigue, but too much is explained away in large episodes of... explanation. Characters never get the chance to develop into anything more than talking heads, leaving PSYOPS itself to steal the scene, even though it never appears directly.

As for the plot:

******SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT******
The idea of sending agents into the past to incrementally nudge history into desirable outcomes seems somehow weak. The people of the PSYOPS era clearly know what the problem is and how to resolve it; for them it's simply too late. But instead of sending all those agents back to convince one physicist to commit suicide so another one, still just a child, might grow up to formulate a more accurate theory on black holes, wouldn't it be better to just go back and explain the issue to, say, Stephen Hawking? Just deliver the knowledge humanity needs to someone capable of comprehending it, at a time when there is still plenty of time to act on it. Then return to your tropical island and enjoy a pina colada, satisfied in a job well done.

The premise of this story is incredibly intruiging, but is supported by the way the introduction hooks you in. I also really liked the aesthetic and font, it helped add to this strange sci-if atmosphere.

However, I have some critiques. The characters seemed a bit bland, even the protagonist Marci didn’t get much development. Who is Marci in a past life? Why did she consent to being send back by PSYOPS? Many of the choices didn’t really matter- there were only two endings. I would really like to see this story expanded in the future, but I still say this was a solid work.
6/8