Off the Rails

There's a bit of significant branching in the story, but there are a lot of "next page" links as well. In other words, there's a lot of text in between the choices. I'm not sure, though, that all the text is really relevant to the story. We're treated, for instance, to a fairly lengthy bit about our hero setting up their lunch on the train, which strikes me as a bit over-indulgent. It's the sort of thing that could be handled in a couple of sentences, not in two or three pages with a timed-output segment in the middle.

Death to all timed-output effects, by the way. Death.

Also, death to that "he was sat" syntax. DEATH.

The real meat of the story appears to be a meeting of "the meek"--people who invariably get stepped on because they prefer not to intrude or make a scene--and an emerging conspiracy to force the rest of the world ... to be more polite. Less obnoxious. And silly as that sounds, one has to admit they've got a point.

The game is organised in suitably passive fashion around the event, which proceeds with or without our hero; our hero's part is to either get involved, get suspicious, or continue blissfully unaware but for the little hints of how the conspiracy may or may not touch their life.

The writing's not too bad (aside from the "was sat" thing) and I like how the hero's background is fleshed out. Our hero has concerns in their home life which may seem irrelevant from a purely mechanical standpoint, but continue to intrude on their consciousness. And in at least one ending, it does become relevant, a driving factor in our hero's decision. There's a certain thematic consistency here which I find quite pleasing.

Breakfast: mild porridge and a soft-boiled egg, with warm milk to drink. Subtle flavours. Not a stand-out in any way, but perhaps that is the point.