Stranded: On Familiar Shores

This is an excellent story BURIED beneath severely grindy and simple game mechanics. Every major battle requires you make a supply run for the four basic ingredients and most likely one or two more. The act of travelling is not enjoyable, the text is the same each time, you're just going through the motions for the sake of going through the motions. If there were an element of puzzle games here (such as not knowing the recipes beforehand), then there would atleast be a sense of exploration in the journey. However, the entire list of which parts will be needed is available to see the moment you start the game and go to the crafting station. It's pretty much just a question of how much are you willing to repetitively grind to get to the end as soon as you finish the first fight. Combat is mechanically clumsy, every time an attack is made you get a result, then have to click attack again BEFORE you are able to make the next attack, effectively slowing down the speed of all actions by half. All the battles are pre-scripted, there is no element of skill here, only of repetition. After maybe 40 minutes (and getting up to the wolf spider fight), I'd had enough. The story parts - the writing - while few and far between are genuinely nice and the only carrot to keep me going on this otherwise tiring game. It hurts to play the game, because you know there's a really good idea buried behind extremely painful mechanics.

I liked it. It gave me major 'Honey, I Shrunk The Kids' vibes, and was interesting enough to keep me engaged without making advancement difficult.

Totally original, a colourful bestiary, a trial of survival and cunning... and entomology. I loved flying the dragonfly!
But I can't best the preying mantis... yet. It seems that many of the weapons you can only craft once. Isn't there another spider or beetle I can slay??

One word: WOW

I was completely immersed in this game, I've been playing it for a couple hours now... some of the actions are really tedious but what kept me going was the story. I've wanted to do something similar to this for a long time (a shrunken human in a bug's world seems so fun). I couldn't wait to get to the end game... and then the most disappointing thing happened; I had to use the bomb on the praying mantis because I was dying and now I can't defeat the wolf spider. My health potions don't work so I assume I need a big health potion... which I can't make because I need to kill the wolf spider, leaving me unable to finish the game. I saved past the bomb and I'm sorry but I just can't go through it all again- I hope the ending was awesome.

Cool idea, but it seemed like a lot of grinding. The battles feel kind of predetermined, by the text descriptions of the action are cool. Would have liked some more variance in ththe battles and item acquisition. There is a lot, by it feels more like different ways of doing the same thing. But it is a very cool worod you have made.

Very good story and a creative way of presenting it. I would agree that it was a little tedious to do the back and forth but keep writing and evolving your style. Other choices for endings would be fun too!

Very immersive story that was much better than I expected. But thee were some parts that I really did not like.
First, the text did not change and was the same each time you did the action. For gathering items that was understandable, but during battles it got annoying.
Second, is how there is really only one way to play the game; there are no choices, just an extremely complicated way to beat it. It's like a puzzle; the pieces have to go where they are supposed to go or you can't complete it. I used the bomb on the mantis but couldn't defeat the wolf spider because of that, which was very disappointing. Unless there is another way (but I could not find one)?
Otherwise, this game was not a complete waste of time and it kept me interested.

Difficult and Awesome. However, There are some minor technical improvements that could be made. Instead of having to have a page after you select a weapon (The stab, shoot, _______ [monster] page), why not just leave out that page and have an equipping system (select an item to equip beforehand, it makes it more realistic). I noticed a lack of pictures as well, trust me visuals will tie your monster descriptions well and will get the reader's attention, plus it will show the reader why the damage dealt to the player is fair. (A beetle and a spider takes out 40% of my health in one blow, what do these creatures look like?) Other than that, well done!
7/8

It's amazing, but one thing is missing, I want a choice... I want a choice of staying with them, of building my world, of living in that world. I want a choice, please give it to me.