The Superlatives: Aetherfall

This game is short but amazing. The story is great, the characters interesting and well developed, the writing excellent, the pace is fantastic, it's immersive, and exciting. It's really fun and worth full price. It's so good I wonder if the sequel will be this good but it probably is with the high quality of this one.
10/10!
I recommend buying it and playing it one or two sittings for maximum fun :-)

Very lukewarm about this one, as there really isn't anything exciting about it besides a few pleasant surprises. Tried replaying it here on Steam, but gave up half way. Don't get me wrong, its an alright game. But that's it.

This book is a real gem, that I have played again and again. The only slightly disappointing bit is that you cant romance your team members. Of the three romance options available, I only ever find one of them interesting, tbh Id really rather romance one of the aliens ; ) an alien is an option in the second book: Shattered Worlds but their gender is set and saddly not to one (of 5 lol) Id be interested in.
Even so Id not let that stop me from rereading this or from recommending it to you. Its a high adventure romp with a ton of depth to it.

Pro: You get to befriend a nice plant lady from Venus.
Con: You don't get to flirt with the nice plant lady from Venus.

Despite being part of a series, The Superlatives: Aetherfall provides a complete story with a proper ending unlike some other choicescript games. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and hopefully this time they'll let me flirt with the nice plant lady from Venus.

This game is absolutely worth $5.99 and I will likely buy more games from this company as a result of this one. In fantasy/superhero stories you have certain basic components and if an author strays too far from those then they lose the heart of the genre but at the same time each piece has to be articulately crafted and carefully weaved together. Alice Ripley did a great job in this endeavor. The tone of the story instantly takes you on a fantastic superhero adventure through Victorian London. There's murder, mystery, action, a couple shots of humor, and even a dash of romance.

I left this game open on my screen a couple of nights so ignore the play time. For an average reader you probably have about 8-10 hours on a single play through. There are so many options and branching storylines and achievements that I plan on playing it at least once more. My personal preference would have been for more elements to enhance the presentation such as graphics, music, and imagery but the screenshots show you what you're getting into so I'm not complaining.

I have to say this is one of my favorites among the CYOA games(besides Tally Ho). I found myself easily attached to most of the characters, even the ones that I didn't fully romance or convince. Keeping my team together was a difficult, but nonetheless worthy task. Not only that, but I also found the story/plot interesting as well. I'm definitely taking another run to see more of my favorite characters and scenarios I haven't seen. And finish off my last few achievements.
My first time writing a review, so...I definitely recommend this, personally! It was definitely a worthy trip for me.

It is an okay game, but has almost zero replayability.

My biggest problem were the romances. If romance is done correctly, it can be the cherry on top, but in this case--even though each plays out in different locations--they all end up playing out the same way. Your love interest responds the same way, you are given the same dialogue options, and each romance scene ends almost exactly the same way, effectively making the romance scene redundant. Though if you're gonna romance anyone, go for Dusk. She's the most interesting of the bunch outside of her romance scene.

Overall, if you still want to check it out, I would advise that you wait for a sale.

I enjoyed this overall. The Superlatives is an equal mix of superheroes and the Victorian London of Sherlock Holmes. Unique. My only real quibble is that its too easy to make a choice that has consequences you do not intend. So you end up restarting a lot or playing through and seeing where your choices ends up. Fairly good replay value. Recommended if you like superheroes or steampunk genres.

Superlatives is pretty great. Both the story and characters are interesting, and if superheroes or steampunk is your thing I think you'll enjot it. There is definatly a whole lot of potential here. I'll certainly pick up the sequel.

One thing I thought was kind of strange was with how early and how they were introduced I thought Hollow was going to be a more major character, and maybe even a RO.

A very enjoyable adventure to play through, especially if you enjoy these types of industrial revolution/HG Wells settings. There's a few bits of story elements that don't really see fruitation into the storyline, but overall it's still solid writing with satisfying epilogues at the end.

A very unique superhero experience. You can build your own team, get close to them, and actually do some good. I don't know if I could have turned my team into villains, but I didn't try. This is one of the longest Choice of Games I've played, which is good. If you're looking for a good story and character development, this is for you.

I felt emotionally invested in the characters and the plot. Everything had good pacing, heroes and villains felt more genuine than many people in real life, and I was sad when I finished this book. There aren't many books that can make me really attached to the characters.

Alice Ripley, if you ever see this review, I hope you will publish this book as an actual ebook, because I would buy it.

Superheroes combined with Steampunk and Sci-fi, who wouldnt like that? Love the story, and the characters are easy to feel for, so absolutely worth it.

Great game! Fun story, interesting characters. I'm definitely looking forward to re-playing so I can make different choices and see how things play out differently. A+

Excellent.

A story packed with action, suspense and drama, from beginning to end.

Well paced, and lenghty enough to keep you entertained through all its pages and leave you with a very grateful ending to your adventure.

Important PRO: Does not end in cliffhanger like the others "trilogy wannabe" that are never finished. You are getting a COMPLETE game here.

Whoa. Alright, so there is a lot about this CYOA novel/game. Both good and bad. I would recommend getting it on sale, though if you have $7 to spend with no cares, it's a good way to spend your time. I would recommend reading through it at least twice, which I've done at the writing of this review. And I still want to get a better understanding of what I can do and little bits of story I haven't gotten. There is a lot to say about and take notice from this CYOA novel, but I wouldn't say that there is much to keep anyone away from it, even if many flaws are showing (both a very flawed and very beautiful gem). I will try not to write anything that is too spoilerly or geared too much for assuaging opinions. Just a review on what I noticed to try to provide information for anyone interested in getting it.

Character Development is usually my main point of interest in a story. And it is the main reason why I think this CYOA novel should be read at least twice. I found the character development to be weak and slow throughout most of the novel. I only started to really feel like I cared about the characters later in. And when I say later in, I mean the Epilogue. The Venusian and Martian teammates were those who I actually started feeling invested in about halfway through and the Epilogue sealed the deal with them, though I wish I could have learned even more about their respective peoples and them as people. The romance choices are great, though few. There are three of them, but they are some of the most interesting characters. The two romance options I tried on my two playthroughs, also only really started to feel more fleshed out by the Epilogue. There was the smart research associate and the tragic Superlative. There is also a nice guy widower who I haven't romanced yet, nor have I tried an aromantic playthrough yet. These little descriptions are oversimplifications of these characters, but, quite sadly, not by much. I like feeling invested in characters and to start caring for them in a way. The romance options have you somewhat caring for them, especially by the end, but they still don't feel very fleshed out. Mostly some kind words and gestures, along with certain character traits. I really feel like giving more backstory to them would have helped a great deal, knowing more about them and their lives. There has been one character that I will try to interact more with a subsequent read, but I have still not seen much character building and wonder if they even have much written into the story. I think that the backstory and more thorough interactions during some time off from the main quest would have done wonders from fairly interesting stereotypes to full blown characters living in a big breathing world.

My biggest gripe with the novel is also tied with what I like most about it. The game has a lot of interesting themes, settings, and lore. This unfortunately accents how much potential that wasn't realized. Fairly concetrated amounts of aether found throughout the world (not just Earth, but at least the solar system?) that both has certain people with superpowers, as well as running many mechanisms, even seeming to provide something for vehicles to pass between plants. It sounds as to be something to shape a fascinating world, and yet not much seems to be told outside of the little world that your character occupies. Your character seems that they would know more, but that's not knowledge that seems to be thought of during the course of this novel. And creates an odd sort of disconnect with your character, you aren't given much of a world that your character was born and raised in. There even seemed to be hinting of further explanations of certain lore that did not occur. Some of these hints also seem to not be available for every play through. There are other situations where you aren't sure if something is being hinted at or it's actually just an analogy of something that is happening or is going to happen (such as with a near death experience that occurs). There is some explanation of how Class A automata come to be, though there also seems to be some contradiction. It seemed to be extrapolation to the point of alluding to something further and how it could occur, but a bit of information about Class A automata given earlier combined with the later explanation and contradiction makes it feel like what was being built was left back to where it started. It's a little example of what seems to happen a few times. In one thing told during my first plathrough's Epilogue, there was a telling of a certain scene that seemed to tell of something far greater that could explain a lot of things that happened, including what happened during your near death experience. That scene was one of my favorite parts of the game, it sounded awesome and helped tie a lot of things togehter into a package of great lore behind certain happenings. I even started my second playthrough in the hopes of learning more about it. I did learn a little more, but there doesn't seem to be much in-depth information regarding it. It one of the main reasons why I would probably get a sequal, or something by this author based in the same "world." There really does feel like there needs to be a sequal, though I'm not sure how all choices would be reflected well in it.

There appears to be at least one bug that people have mentioned involving Gatsby and Dusk. Which seems to just be something that slipped through, and is worth notice, if not quite wariness, on the prospective buyers part. What's odd is that there are mechanics that can be kind of interesting, but give the feeling that they were meant for a far larger game. You can do some base building, though I'm not sure if certain things even have much of a function, such as expanding the study into a library and salon. Perhaps I didn't build them at the right times or go down paths that would have elicited at least a little something from them. You can make the base safer, but unless there are some drastically different paths that weigh in on it, it really seems to have no call for it. Certain stats don't seem to have much opportunity to be utilized, though maybe doing some Derring-do leads to a good bit more Derring-do paths. You also seem to be able to possess more aetheric capacity than you would ever need. Feeling like there might have been more protracted/epic fights that never occurred.

This CYOA novel could use more fleshed out scenes, characters, and writing in general. But it has the wonderful synthesis of tying lore with characters. That the way the world is, the way Superlatives and aether works is so much of a part of who the characters are. That they are so a part of their world. More in-depth writing would help support the story immensely, and would help it put it up there as one of the best CYOA games in my book. I am admittedly a sucker for lore and character development, and the hints of aspects of the lore entices me to this story. It gives an interesting ride that really should be done at least twice in order to get a better feel. But it is also something that has a sense of being incomplete, the Epilogue tried to resolve some things, but it even seemed to say that there is more to know and it's not over yet. And I probably will go through it more to find them and might even come back to edit this review. The way the title is structured with the separation by the ":" also seems to hint at it being part of a series. It has a strucute as a single story that is rushed and hints at further developments. I hope to find more of what I'm looking for in a sequal, but what it has now is something that you can have fun with and can grow attached to certain characters. There is also some opportunity to sniff out lore if you find that interesting (which I do :)

A Steampunk/superhero mix, with a dab of Sci-fi; in fact, it's style resembles the Mass Effect series in that the presence of aliens and interplanetary politics is a common point of the game. The mixture is fairly seamless and organic and it works well enough.

The writing itself, in my opinion, could be improved, since the narrative sometimes can feel rushed by the lack of description or attempts to set the reader in the current scenario, but judging by other reviews praising the story's pacing, it might be a personal preference. Sometimes I felt things just happened for the sake of continuing the plot, even though I believe it wouldn't be so simple like that, and would appreciate some more interference from other characters in scenes that aren't explicitly scripted for them - they have a hard time shining and feeling alive when the writer doesn't turn the focus on them. To balance that, there is a fairly good ammount of different scenarios to be played out, and judging by the ammount of choices, even more results; so even if the characters and immersion feel cast aside sometimes, the variety of approaches you can take (sometimes with a specific character, further increasing their screetime) sort of makes up for it. Like, really, even though I feel the writing lacks some detail, I get the impression the author spent A LOT of time writing different individual scenarios, and honestly, I think they deserve some praise for that. COG games sometimes get a reputation for being rail-roaded and I feel the author put some effort in minimizing that effect.

The plot is interesting and compelling, and succeeds in delivering a good story. It finishes well with few loose ends, but teases the possibility of a sequel. The characters are well fleshed out, especially the romance options and the main group (albeit with one or two too-superficial exceptions) and the game will have you slowly building your relationships with them, very much like, again, the Mass Effect series. In fact, the pacing in the building of your friendship (or romance) is superb, in that it takes time for it to happen and lets you throughly enjoy their personalities and their dynamics with your protagonist. The romancing part is well done, especially for me, who appreciates slow-burning romances and has a hard time enjoying other games that are more... concise on that aspect. Different from this one, a lot of COG games downplay the participation of your Significant Other to a couple of scenes during the story and one at the epilogue. I'm glad The Superlatives: Aetherfall is more succesful in weaving the romance options into the plot and making them real characters in the story world.

Gameplay-wise, the stat-building portion seemed both overly complicated and forgiving; complicated because there are a lot of them (and some are not instantly clear on their purpose) and the chances to improve certain ones are rare and ambiguous. But also forgiving because the requirements of percentage in tests doesn't seem to be high and there's a lot of choices to pick from. They can range from 3 to 10 (a rather big number for a prompt that is only shown once), and you definitely will be able to pick the higher stat you currently have.

All in all, I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, the difficulty of the tests, the variety of directions you can take and the plot in general. I believe the narrative could benefit from a bigger effort in detailing the scenarios, characters actions, settings and scenes. I will keep an eye out for more stuff from the same author, and hope they are as enjoyable as this one was :)

Whether or not you like text-based games like these tends to come down to a combination of interest in the subject matter and themes and the writing style of the author. (Even for as well-written as Neighbourhood Necromancer is, I just can't stomach the zombie genre any more....) Since this can be highly subjective, the best advice I can give is to just download the demo, which holds a decent chunk of the game, so you can see if it rings any of your bells for yourself.

So far as writing style goes, this one lacks some of the wittiness and flair of others, but if you enjoy the themes and want to immerse yourself in the fantasy it portrays, it's solid writing that won't distract from those themes and takes itself relatively seriously outside of some notable elements of its setting, like the alien races and some of the more roguish team member's witty rejoinders, so this is a game where your enjoyment will likely hinge upon whether you like the fantasy it portrays.

The theme, then, can basically be boiled down as a "Jules Verne meets Mass Effect". All the planets of the solar system have fanciful but generally rubber forehead-style alien races, such as dryad-like Venutians that hate martial reptilian Martians (Turians), but in spite of making a point of having 5-gendered lizard people (which is used as an excuse for allowing women who are open lesbians to hold positions of power in Victorian London), everything is humanoid, breathes Nitrogen-Oxygen mixtures, and speaks English. The Mass Effect comparison can also extend into your powers, as you can choose to have Engineer-style Steampunk tech-based powers, or Adept-style natural "Aether" (Eezo) powers as a result of an unusual heritage. There's even a "are automatons (synthetics) property or people?" theme in the game.

Unlike Mass Effect, though, your romantic partners and party members aren't one and the same, so you can't screw a genderless plant person or figure out how a "secondary male gender" works (or more importantly, how a secondary female gender works...). (Darn.)

Choosing the source of your powers, between supernatural heritage or technological gadgets, but this seems to be more "cosmetic" choice than anything, and it changes the text descriptions of how you do something, but not their effect. (I.E. you throw electricution grenades rather than shoot lighting from your hands.) Still, cosmetic changes strike a nice balance between giving player agency in their character customization and bogging the player down in certain choices being less viable than others.

The main deciding factors of success are those % bars in every one of these choice of games, and like a lot of superhero-themed choice of games, you basically want to max out a few stats and once you give yourself a big hammer, try to find ways to make all your problems nails. Invest in Agility, then always try to outspeed your enemy, or pick Insight choices and use it to predict where your enemy will be first, or just take Vigor and trade blows like a heavy.

Compared to other Choice of Games, this is one of the more "RPG-like" games, with constant choices regarding things like building a base or powering up one stat in a direct "pick what you want to buff" style of choice. This can be problematic for your first playthrough, because you're asked to decide what part of your base to build (and what buffs you will therefore get) before having any good grasp on the ramifications your choice will have. (Choose between getting morale bonuses for the party members you haven't met yet, and therefore don't know whether you'll need help keeping in line or not, bonuses to combat powers before having any combat, bonuses to your aether reserves before having a good sense of how much you really have to start with, diplomacy with outside factions before you have any idea who they are or why you might need them, or simple "base repair", whose impact is nebulous even well into the game.)

Also similar to Mass Effect, between missions, you get a chance to advance dialogue with the whole team before moving on for loyalty bonuses. You basically need to keep team members in the party with loyalty bonuses and picking dialogue options that diffuse tensions between differing ideologies or backgrounds while keeping your stats high to pass skill checks for different situations, like combat. This also means, however, that you want to just tell them what they want to hear (even when it's something different for every character) rather than get to actually express your own take on the issue.

There are then the "personality" bars that seem to make up the more informal parts of the game, but several seem "set in stone" fairly early, like Manners versus Pugnacious or Calculating versus Opportunistic, which only seemed to have a few choices that actually changed them in the whole game, seemingly being checked for success but never changed after you first make choices that give you one or the other. (But I've not played a Pugnacious playthrough yet, so maybe you can be super-blunt, but not Little Miss Manners?)

In all, my largest complaints are that it seems a bit on the short side (which is inevitable considering the decently branching choices that give you the sense that your choices matter tend to come at the cost of overall game length), and that it feels a little too much on the "formal rules" side. It's one of those Choice of games that demands min-maxing your particular best skills, and then hoping you always get a choice to use your super-stat, and pick answers to max out relations scores rather than pick the things that actually express your point of view on a topic.

Highly recommended if you love the Heroes Rise Trilogy. Characters are fleshed out, and your choices feel like they matter. There are also tons of ways to play the game, even changing your fighting style gets you something different. The pacing is also good; I never got bored or skipped a paragraph like I do when CYOA authors get carried away with descriptions.


Only two things I dislike about the game: One, weird glitch where Dusk gets abducted because you ran off to check on Gatsby even after choosing to protect her. Two, didn't like the ending so much. The shift in POV is jarring, I didn't like that I was abruptly yanked away from this character I had spent a good deal of time with. Would be less annoying if it was actually a setup for the sequel, though.

"They're coming after you, Dusk! I know they are! Don't worry, I'll protect you, but first I need to run off and protect Gatsby from the attacker that's coming after you. Be back soon, have fun being kidnapped!"

It's still a good game, but that pisses me off so much. I restarted the game to get it right, because maybe I clicked Gatsby by mistake, right? No, it's just that saying you'll protect Dusk teleports you to where Gatsby is. This is the only glitch I've found in the game, but it's a pretty major on, plese fix this.

As I said, it's a good game, I'd suggest getting it if you like text based games. It's fun, and that is the only glitch I've encountered. Just remember, if you do the same things as me, there will be great disappointment.

Very enjoyable. A bit in the vein of Hero's Rise, or Community College Hero, though I certainly enjoyed it more than the former. It lacks the fake-out beginning of many Choice of Games... games, and does put one right into the thick of things.

The setting is engaging, definitely reminiscent of the works of Jules Verne, (though it also reminds me a bit of the works of Edgar Rice Burroghs) the technology interesting, and the game lacks the obnoxious gender restrictions of other choose-your-own-adventure games set in the time period. One also has some choice as to one's ancestry in this, which I appreciate, as well, and there seem to be a fair number of romantic options, though I personally went for the mysterious stranger.

I will warn that, at times, it is a bit unclear what one could do better, or how to strengthen one's various abilities, though I'd not say the game is difficult. Further, the ending is rather weird. All in all, however, the game is good, with engaging characters, an interesting pulp-victorian world, and a plot in which one at least feels one's choices matter.