The Stack

A Christmas story by Edward Floren. Spoilers follow the break.

So, what we have here is a short work comprising two stories about a lonely nine-year-old girl named Sarah. There’s a noninteractive story about her grandfather visiting for Christmas and suffering a heart attack or something similar, and alternating with that, an interactive but highly linear fantasy (possibly dream sequences, since a couple of the cut-scenes begin with Sarah waking up) about a journey to an island (a very clear symbol of her isolation). I suppose Photopia is the obvious comparison here, especially with the hint of meeting an older version of herself toward the end, but unlike that work, Wish backs off from tragedy at the last minute with the somewhat worrying message that you can make anything happen by wishing hard enough.

There are some nice ideas here, but it didn’t quite come together for me. The fantasy sequences are apparently how Sarah achieves her wish, but I really don’t see how that works, causally or symbolically. There’s also a bit of a subplot involving collecting Christmas-themed wearables, which doesn’t seem to affect anything and is only pursued for its own sake.

Rating: 4