Although billing itself as a "game about love, sex, and the internet", Cibele is more of an interactive short story. To even call it "interactive" is somewhat misleading since your interactions are limited to clicking on chat messages, photos and computer files to trigger the next dialogue bite. It's the story of a college-aged girl in 2008 who falls for a guy in an MMORPG. They chat and it follows a predictable path from there.

To re-state, there is no game play here. Even the MMORPG sections consist of you clicking on a monster and your avatar auto-attacks it as you listen to awkward dialogue between you and your object of affection. That would be fine except that nothing about the story is especially engaging either. There's piles of stuff to read through: emails, chat logs, poems, but none of it makes you feel interested in Cibele or concerned about the trajectory of her budding relationship. The dialogue is voiced in a convincing enough manner but only in that it legitimately sounds like the tedious "I'm ugly ... No, you're hot ... Oh my god, no, you're hot ... You really think I'm hot?" nonsense that goes on between two socially immature young adults awkwardly entering a relationship. It's realistic enough but it's nothing you'll be glad to be part of.

There really isn't much to recommend here. There is no game and the story isn't engaging or original. Nothing about the characters will likely draw your interest. At the end, it's an hour spent with little to show for it.

Although billing itself as a "game about love, sex, and the internet", Cibele is more of an interactive short story. To even call it "interactive" is somewhat misleading since your interactions are limited to clicking on chat messages, photos and computer files to trigger the next dialogue bite. It's the story of a college-aged girl in 2008 who falls for a guy in an MMORPG. They chat and it follows a predictable path from there. To re-state, there is no game play here. Even the MMORPG sections consist of you clicking on a monster and your avatar auto-attacks it as you listen to awkward dialogue between you and your object of affection. That would be fine except that nothing about the story is especially engaging either. There's piles of stuff to read through: emails, chat logs, poems, but none of it makes you feel interested in Cibele or concerned about the trajectory of her budding relationship. The dialogue is voiced in a convincing enough manner but only in that it legitimately sounds like the tedious "I'm ugly ... No, you're hot ... Oh my god, no, you're hot ... You really think I'm hot?" nonsense that goes on between two socially immature young adults awkwardly entering a relationship. It's realistic enough but it's nothing you'll be glad to be part of. There really isn't much to recommend here. There is no game and the story isn't engaging or original. Nothing about the characters will likely draw your interest. At the end, it's an hour spent with little to show for it.