Take -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author(s): Katherine Morayati (as Amelia Pinnolla) Website: https://katherinestasaph.itch.io/take Language: en First Publication Date: 2016-10-01 License: Freeware Rating: 4.0 (based on 34 ratings) ABOUT THE STORY You are battle-weary. Your armor is scanty and your countenance is loathsome; you tire of the swords flicking at your neck. But you have a duty. There is nothing you can't take. (Content warning: Violence, implied adult themes, fameballs.) EXTERNAL LINKS Play Online Post-competition release (on itch.io) Play this game in your Web browser. Story file Post-comp release (also on itch.io) Requires a Glulx interpreter[1] Story file Competition version (release 1). Requires a Glulx interpreter[1] EDITORIAL REVIEWS The Breakfast Review > I kind of get the sense that there's some sort of social commentary involved > here, or that can be made. Maybe I'm overthinking things; but then, a game > with no proper "win" state--or rather, one where the only way to win is to > put oneself in the shoes of the person to whom we lost--must surely be > trying to say something, right? Something about people who are meant to lose > and people who are meant to win, and what it's like to be in the shoes of > the designated loser? I don't know. I'll just say that it was interesting to > spend a few minutes walking around in this story, with the whole thing > unfolding around me. Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling Games on hard topics > Nothing is private. Everything occurs in public, to be commented on and > reviewed later. You simultaneously have a reputation and no friends; > devastating loneliness and an audience of thousands. Your “combat” scene is > being reported to your opponent’s friends, so you can be mocked and > criticized. There is no affection between the participants, no trust or good > humor. (I don’t call them “partners” because they definitely are not.) The > rules of engagement are rigged in a gendered way. By having sex at all, the > woman is construed to have lost; she is the one who has to deal with any > physical repercussions and any social stigma. I wish that the design were > such that more people saw what TAKE is doing. It can be rather obscure. But > with that understood, I have huge respect for a piece that can combine that > much rawly-felt emotion with such exact observations, together with > mechanics that also tell part of the story. It’s brave and devastating, with > some of the best prose in this year’s competition. REFERENCES [1]