One morning, a messenger arrives from Götaland, bearing a letter from Siggeir.
The letter reads, “Dear Sigmund, Signý and I hope this letter finds you well. We would like to invite you and your family to the harvest festival, here in Götaland. We hope to see you and your marvelous sword there.”
Sigmund’s Quest by Gregor Holtz is perhaps the most graphical of the IFComp entries this year, having scenes in a pixellated style:
I generally found the style attractive, but I did find the faces a little odd, including unfortunately the main character.
The flat-line mouth in particular bothers me. Also, are those helmet horns? Isn’t that supposed to be a 19th century invention or some such?
There’s an interesting enough opening, with Odin showing up at a party and the main character being able to pull a sword out of a tree, resulting in a very jealous Siggeir, but unfortunately just as the main plot is about to start the story cuts off:
You feel a knot in your stomach as you step through the gates. Who know what awaits you…
END OF CHAPTER I
IntroComp? This’d be aces. IFComp? Not so much.
I read the flatline mouth / helmet horns / dumpy mullet / clothing that looks awfully like a T-shirt as intentionally depicting Sigmund as an awkward 80s adolescent incarnation of the character, a la Guilded Youth. That doesn’t really become an element of the story, though – so it wasn’t clear to me if it was going in a Guilded Youth direction or just being 80s for the sake of it.
I could totally see it being perfect for Guilded Youth.