“The Broken Bottle” is a medium-length choice-based game about children who have to fend for themselves on an adventure.

Gameplay: Gameplay consists of making decisions at certain points in the text, but there are only about a half-dozen such decisions over the course of the game, and it didn’t appear (from two playthroughs) that the choices substantially affected the plot. The game is beautifully illustrated, though, and there’s a lot of enjoyment to be found in the presentations. There’s not much interactivity in the game, but it might work better as simply a static illustrated short story, or even something like the multimedia storybooks popular in the 90s. 3/10.

Mechanics: The game tracks a bit of state, but there’s not much for the player to do. Aside from a few minor variations and flavortext, the decisions have little impact on the linear story. 3/10.

Presentation: Although the game is not very interactive, it features a beautiful interface and illustrations. The text is not quite strong enough to sustain my interest in it as an interactive story, but it could work as an illustrated children’s book. It’s also noteworthy that the story features magical and fantasy elements that are more original the standard generic-medieval ones. 7/10.

You might be interested in this game if: You miss reading illustrated children’s books as an adult.

Score: 4