Ratings and Reviews by Cody Gaisser
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A delicious treat!, May 10, 2023Eat Me is an absurd, whimsical, bizarre, and often disgusting game about a child with a bottomless pit for a stomach who lives in a fantastical world where everything (and everyone) is edible. The puzzles are simple and straightforward (try eating stuff), but there's a built-in hint system in case you aren't sure what to do next. This game had me smiling throughout and occasionally laughing out loud. Highly recommended!
Imaginative dark fantasy adventure, plus a little jank, May 10, 2023Baluthar is a dark fantasy adventure about a father searching for his son, who has gone missing down a nearby well that is said to be cursed. The world-building is strong, suggesting a much broader setting than the player will ever encounter directly. The ideas at play are very creative, though the writing itself is merely serviceable (and, at times, a bit clunky). The puzzles are mostly acceptable, though at least one near the end is incredibly unintuitive. This is also the sort of game where you'll need to examine everything in sight to pick up on important details. Baluthar is by no means an essential game, but fans of gloomy fantasy will find something to enjoy in the imaginatively creepy setting.
A good, but flawed, adaptation of Poe's The Raven, May 9, 2023Nevermore is a loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven. You assume the role of a sad, drug-addled alchemist who seeks to resurrect his lost love Lenore, whose life was claimed by one of his own misguided experiments. The text is moody enough, and the drug-use mechanics are a great touch. However, the game is hamstrung by some convoluted puzzles with vague hints (the alchemical process is inscrutable, and I believe it is possible to lock the game in an unwinnable state by using an item in a certain way before you are done with it). If you enjoy horror IF (particularly Poe and Lovecraft), Nevermore is worth a shot; but don't feel too guilty about using the game's built-in hint system or even resorting to a walkthrough.
A really fun pirate adventure masquerading as romance fiction, May 9, 2023Reports of Plundered Hearts being an interactive romance novel are slightly overblown. There are elements of that, of course (it does appear to be an homage to the historical romance genre), but swashbuckling pirate action is really the star of the show here.
You assume the role of Lady Dimsford, who must save her father from the clutches of a murderous pirate. The protagonist is initially a damsel in distress saved by a dashing pirate, but ultimately proves herself to be the most competent swashbuckler around (outwitting the villains and rescuing her love interest several times over).
The puzzles start and end a little roughly, with some agonizing timed puzzles as the beginning and climax of the game, but the majority of the gameplay is smooth sailing. The writing is engaging throughout (much more so than I expected from a text adventure of this vintage), and the whole thing seems quite polished.
I had a lot of fun with Plundered Hearts, and heartily recommend it to fans of story-forward text adventures.
*CAVEAT: There are some suggestive scenes and problematic game-overs that may trigger some players or run afoul of good taste. You play as a lady among immoral seafarers in a sexified genre, so you can probably guess what that means.
Spooky precursor to Anchorhead and The King Of Shreds & Patches, May 8, 2023Theatre is a nice, atmospheric horror game in which you find yourself trapped in an old, run-down theatre that seems to have malevolent designs for you. The backstory is pieced together out-of-order by collecting torn journal pages as you puzzle your way through the secret passages of the old building.
The puzzles are mostly logical, especially in the early game, and probably all doable with some patience and trial-and-error, though I found myself consulting a walkthrough a few times so I could keep up with the brisk pace at which I plowed through the early parts of the game. This logic breaks down a little towards the end, when I found myself consulting the walkthrough more often and doing things I didn't completely understand (or which only made sense once they had been done).
The tone is more eerie than outright horrifying (which is fine with me) and is a little inconsistent in places (as if tropes have been pulled from different styles of horror without serious thought as to how they fit together).
All that said, the game was fun and satisfying to play, and I found myself constantly eager to see what would happen next. I don't quite rate Theatre as highly as Anchorhead or The King Of Shreds & Patches (both of which were probably influenced by this earlier game), but I would still recommend it to players who enjoyed those other titles.
A frustrating, but funny, text adventure parody, May 7, 2023Thy Dungeonman II (a text adventure parody from the Homestar Runner site) is slightly more substantial than its predecessor. There are more objects to interact with, more ways to die, more characters to talk to, a maze, combat, a status effect, and 100 possible points. It's also funnier than its predecessor (Percy the plague rat being a particular favorite character). No, it isn't logical; yes, you will die a lot trying to play it. That's all part of the spoof. It's probably best not to go into this expecting a real text adventure, but it's an amusing diversion nonetheless.
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