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.
Amusing, brief text adventure spoof, May 7, 2023Thy Dungeonman is a text adventure parody from the Homestar Runner site. It's very brief and barely a game, but it's an amusing spoof with several idiotic ways to die.
An interesting early attempt at political commentary in interactive fiction, May 7, 2023A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985) is quite good and recommendable, even if it's not quite the masterpiece I was anticipating. The biggest strengths of the game are the dystopian sci-fi setting, the author's lack of inhibition with regard to including political commentary (a rarity at the time, I suspect), and the relative lack of traditional adventure game puzzles. The biggest weaknesses are (I suspect) artifacts of the game's vintage (such as: the manual is required to look up passcodes at various points in the game).
AMFV is less about unlocking doors and solving problems than simply observing changes in a society over time. The player assumes the role of a sentient AI tasked with exploring simulations of the city of Rockvil over the course of 50 years, recording evidence to determine whether or not a proposed policy called The Plan will benefit or harm society.
I found Rockvil difficult to navigate early in the game when there was a checklist of specific tasks to accomplish; however eventually I got used to the layout of the city and found exploration much easier to deal with in the mid-game when the objectives were more open-ended. I still recommend looking up a map, as my several attempts to map the game myself were consistently thwarted.
Likewise, I found the climax (the closest thing in AMFV to a puzzle) to be counter-intuitive. A walkthrough revealed that I needed to be using mechanics which I'd gone the entire game without even realizing existed. This section of the game played out rather dramatically, but the actions required for progress were not well signposted.
There's more to AMFV than just the intro and the climax, though, and the game managed to surprise me a number of times. I especially appreciated the news feed and the unexpected events that will happen from time to time while running the simulation.
I enjoyed my experience with A Mind Forever Voyaging and would recommend it for its historical significance and unique gameplay. I don't feel any regret about utilizing a map or consulting a walkthrough for the climax, though.
CYOA Street Fighter + Reverse Sexism Simulator, February 23, 2022In this Twine game, you play Street Fighter II (as either Ryu or Ken) while Chun Li and Cammy make inverted sexist comments about how boys aren't real gamers or whatever. It's funny, but I think something's a little wonky with the CYOA Street Fighter combat. I thought I was winning until I lost. Then I played again and thought I was losing until I won. Either the game is wonky or I am. Whatever. It was cute enough.
A Hyperlink Diary About Being Transgender In Public, February 16, 2022Cis Gaze is a short diary-like hyperlink story told from the perspective of a trans woman who experiences rude glares and misgendering while trying to carry out the otherwise mundane act of buying soda from a pharmacy. The story focuses on the way even seemingly small or unimportant acts of aggression and ignorance can linger in the mind of someone who is already made to feel marginal or freakish at every turn. It hints at some of the little problems (like a stubbly face or stocky physique) that can cause big insecurities in a person who is trying to be themselves and fit in but cannot. The protagonist turns to an uplifting Twitter hashtag for reassurance, but it is subsequently taken over and corrupted by bigoted trolls. The narrator laments the mental energy wasted paying attention to such offenses, likening it to picking at scabs (you know doing it will only hurt you, but sometimes you can't seem to stop yourself).
It's not fair to rate this as an adventure game (no puzzles) or interactive fiction (no choice) or even static fiction (the author doesn't seem concerned with literary aspirations here). Cis Gaze reads most like a non-fiction essay or public diary, aimed at promoting empathy for the oppressed and marginalized. While those hellbent on hate (or stuck firmly in old habits) likely won't have their minds changed by a Twine game, there's some chance that it could teach a little bit of sensitivity to someone who is simply ignorant or inexperienced. I've personally been on the wrong side of so many issues in my life that I've lost count; but I've learned a lot since my youth, so I know that learning is possible for those who are willing to do so. I hope Cis Gaze is played by people like that, and that society continues to shift more towards tolerance and acceptance, and that people who share the author's experiences find the peace and security they are looking for.
My brain hurts, February 14, 2022Suveh Nux is an escape room game with a very creative system of magical language and plenty of personality. I'm giving this game the benefit of the doubt because other people seem to not have bounced off of it as hard as I did. Maybe my brain isn't as sharp as it used to be, but I didn't find this as easy and intuitive as most other players seem to. Even when I was on the right track, I was at a loss for how to make the timing bits go off the way they were supposed to. After about an hour of (Spoiler - click to show)trying to put more than a light crack in the door, I threw my hands up and consulted a walkthrough. I had fun with this game when I was learning its rules and solving its puzzles. I stopped having fun when I couldn't figure out how to time the solution of the main puzzle because I didn't comprehend how the timing and intensity of spells related. Maybe the problem is me?
>KILL GAME, February 14, 2022A short but amusing one-room joke game that is exactly what it says it is: you are Conan, you kill EVERYTHING. There's not much to analyze about it, but it's good for a quick laugh.
Ninja expanded (slightly), February 13, 2022Ninja II is a slightly expanded version of the original Ninja text adventure by Paul Panks.
It now includes introductory text that explains the game's objective, which is much appreciated. It fixes the issue where examining the idol was not allowed, which is also appreciated. It also includes a new (and rather obtuse) "puzzle" where the player must beat a dragon by (Spoiler - click to show)typing the words "beat dragon", which I appreciated much less. Ninja II is more jokey than its predecessor. Otherwise, it's almost exactly the same game. Combat is still janky (either you never encounter a rival ninja, or else it kills you randomly).
Compared to Ninja, Ninja II is in some ways improved and in other ways made worse. I don't necessarily recommend either; but, having now played both, I'm starting to get a little better grasp on my questions about why Paul Panks was so notorious within the interactive fiction community.
Miniature Text Adventure, February 13, 2022Ninja is very brief text adventure by Paul Panks, who was apparently a rather notorious creator of interactive fiction. The game appears to have been programmed from scratch in BASIC, which probably explains why there are some issues.
The writing is very minimal. The objective of Ninja is not explained to the player in the game; but the game consists of only four simple rooms (that I could find), so it wasn't hard for me to figure out what was going on. It seems an idol must be taken from a rival clan's shrine and placed in your own shrine. The game features one simple puzzle (besides figuring out the main objective). It also seems that there is some janky random combat, as I was killed instantly by another ninja on my first attempt to take the idol (I never encountered an enemy again on subsequent playthroughs). There are a couple of glaring errors in the design (some text appears in a room description when it shouldn't, and an important item can't be examined), but the game basically works.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend playing Ninja unless, like me, you find yourself wondering "Who was Paul Panks, and why were his games so infamous?" I'm not sure Ninja answered my questions, but I have at least been given a small introduction to the works of Panks.
Conspiratorial in-joke, February 13, 2022The Cabal is a piece of satirical adventure about infighting within the interactive fiction community (I think). It blends more "traditional" conspiracy theory tropes with references to the history of text adventures and the culture surrounding them. I didn't understand many of the references to the politics of the IF newsgroups (not my time and place), but the game was entertaining nonetheless.
The Cabal is pretty short, and the few puzzles are mostly painless. One puzzle is taken directly from the old Infocom game Infidel, so I had to consult a walkthrough of that game, which itself amused me.
Even though I found The Cabal amusing, I can't say I'd necessarily recommend it, as the in-jokes are pretty arcane.
Teenage Social Anxiety: The Un-Interactive Fiction, February 13, 2022Rameses is a semi-interactive short story about a shy, insecure teenage boarding school student with too much social anxiety to act on his impulses. Surrounded by jerks and pushovers (and certainly a bit of both himself), the protagonist struggles to navigate awkward situations like bullying and dates with girls.
The protagonist's social paralysis is represented through the "gameplay" decision to restrict the player's behavior at almost every turn. Almost nothing the player can do will affect the story in any meaningful way, and often the protagonist simply refuses to act at all. This is not a bug but a feature, however, as it perfectly expresses the way a surly teenager might shut down in complicated social situations where they feel powerless.
While Rameses may frustrate some players looking for either an adventure game (no puzzles here!) or a piece of interactive fiction with more emphasis on "interactivity," the story and mechanical conceit are strong enough to recommend anyway. It should strike a chord with anyone who has ever experienced being an insecure teenager surrounded by other insecure teenagers, which I'd guess is quite a lot of people.
A classic weird horror text adventure, February 12, 2022Anchorhead is a gothic horror (weird fiction) text adventure inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The story focuses on a couple who inherit a house in a spooky little Massachusetts fishing community and slowly uncover the town's dark secrets. It's considered a classic of interactive fiction, and with good reason. The setting is atmospheric, the scenarios are memorable, the writing is effective, and the puzzles are mostly of high quality.
The story takes place over the course of 3 days, with each day escalating the difficulty. Day 1 is a breeze, mostly exploring and learning about the town and the house. Day 2 is complicated, with a lot of things to do and puzzles to solve, but with little to no threat of botching anything permanently. Day 3 is much more tense, mistakes have consequences, and it is very possible to get something wrong. More about that...
Anchorhead may be a masterpiece, but it isn't perfect. It possesses some of the flaws stereotypical of adventure games: verb-guessing, reading the author's mind, some poorly signposted objectives, timed puzzles where you can trap yourself in a fail-state, and even the possibility of losing or misplacing a key item that is needed to complete the game (so SAVE your game often, especially once Day 3 begins). Thankfully, tips and walkthroughs are readily accessible on the internet.
Most of the game isn't that taxing, however, and I'd argue that Anchorhead is worth the potential trouble in order to experience the incredible narrative (which is one of the best in any interactive fiction I've played). This is a must-play title for fans of Lovecraft, horror, and interactive fiction more broadly. Just be sure to play it with your "90s adventure game" goggles on.
A simple joke game, February 8, 2022Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die is based around one simple joke (see the title). There are two endings, each funny but neither hilarious. The game is famous within the interactive fiction community and gets referenced a lot, so play it if you want to understand the references (it's so short, you might as well).
Gothic short story with multiple endings, February 8, 2022"fin de sickleberg" is an interactive gothic short story about a man undressing for bed after a night at the opera. It is incredibly brief, takes place in one room, utilizes a limited set of verbs, and has three possible endings, each revealing a little more about the player character than the last (if reached in their intended order). To say much else would spoil the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the prose, and the limited verb set kept the possibilities manageable enough that finding all three endings was relatively easy. That is not to say I had no issues with the endings...
The first ending came easily enough; following the most logical course of actions got me there quickly. My second play-through was a bit more awkward though; I ultimately resorted to trying every verb on every noun, which resulted in my reaching the third and juiciest ending ahead of schedule. On my third play, I wanted to see if the sequence of events had any effect so I (Spoiler - click to show)jumped straight ahead to the command that had yielded me the previous ending; this took me straight to the second ending, which was a bit more vague and inconclusive than the third. I was a little disappointed that endings 2 and 3 were so closely related and reached in such a similar manner, especially considering the brevity of the story. Reaching them in the wrong order probably deflated some horror that should've escalated instead, but oh well... I found the first and third endings sufficiently creepy anyway.
I'd recommend this if you like gothic/horror/weird fiction and/or short text games that can be experienced in a few minutes.
A branching story about a deer, February 6, 2022The Secret Of Nara is a pretty little twine game about a day in the life of a deer, told from the deer's perspective. The story branches in multiple places and results in several endings. The writing successfully lured me into the protagonist's world and gave me a sense of what it might be like to experience the wilderness from the perspective of an animal, so I'd call that a job well done.
Layers of parody and imitation, February 6, 2022Don't Push The Mailbox 2 And Aisle is an homage to a game called Pick Up The Phone Booth And Aisle (itself an homage to the joke game Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die and the one-turn game Aisle); it is also the sequel to Don't Push The Mailbox (itself an homage to Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die).
The original joke of Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die was good, but not so hilarious as to warrant endless sequels, parodies, and homages. Its humor was mostly in its simplicity, and that simplicity is lost even in the best of the imitators (Pick Up The Phone Booth And Aisle).
Don't Push The Mailbox 2 is just way too many degrees separated from the original joke.
Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die knock-off, February 6, 2022Don't Push The Mailbox is an homage to the joke game Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die. Mailbox is more complex than Phone Booth, with more things to do and more ways to lose; but it lacks the simple absurdity of the game it imitates.
Parody of a parody of a joke game, February 6, 2022Pick Up The Phone Booth And Cry is a parody of Pick Up The Phone Booth And Dye, which itself is a parody of Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die (a very simplistic joke game). Pretty much all the humor has been bled out by this point.
Parody of a joke game, February 6, 2022This is a parody of Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die, which itself was a simplistic joke game. The puzzle is slightly (and I do mean slightly) more complex here, and there's an added pun; but the personality of the original is missing.
I dunno., February 6, 2022This is an expanded version of Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die. There's more to do, but I couldn't figure out what to do to solve it... Or whether it was possible to solve it. Is that the joke? I dunno.
What it says on the tin..., February 6, 2022What if the simple two-joke game Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die worked like the one-turn multi-ending game Aisle? What if, instead of being under-implemented like the original, it was overly-implemented instead and every conceivable command the player could enter led to some sort of weird ending? That's what this is.
I'm going to go against the popular opinion that this game is vastly superior to Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die. I'm going to say that the original joke worked better because it was so simple, and the lolrandom chaos added to this "remake" just makes the game waste more of the player's time. Both of these Phone Booth games are amusing in their way, but neither is as good as Aisle.
A humorous short game with multiple endings, February 6, 20229:05 is a game with a deceptively simple premise: You're asleep. The phone rings, waking you up. It's time to get cleaned up and go, and fast.
A single play-through is very short, so it's a breeze to reach the game's multiple endings (there are at least four).
There are some rough edges (the parser responds oddly sometimes when it doesn't understand the player's commands), but these issues didn't get in the way of my good time.
9:05 is well-written, with some amusing twists. Start the game with realistic expectations - it's not some masterpiece of literature, it's a funny little text game. By those standards, I consider it well worth playing a few times to see what it has to offer.
Short story about shopping for pasta, February 1, 2022The premise of Aisle is simple:
You're standing in the pasta aisle of a grocery store. You've got one turn. What will you do with your one chance, and what will it reveal about you?
The parser understands numerous commands, and recognizes each with a distinct ending. Some endings are happy, some are sad, some are funny, some are disturbing.
Aisle is a very short story that can be played through repeatedly in rapid succession, with all sorts of contradictory conclusions reached. It's very well done, amusing, and probably worth the small time investment if this sort of game seems interesting to you.
A must-play text adventure. Great for beginners., January 28, 2022Lost Pig is possibly the most beloved text adventure around. Grunk is possibly the most endearing protagonist in interactive fiction. The game is perfect for beginners, but still enjoyable to experienced players. Lost Pig is short, fun, humorous, unpretentious, and relatively easy to solve without being too obvious. What are you waiting for? Play it!
A good but potentially frustrating short story, January 28, 2022I don't know that I have much to add that hasn't been said before about Shade:
*It's more of an interactive short story than an adventure game.
*It's reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.
*It's generally well written.
*Your mileage may vary with the ending.
*It's sometimes hard to tell what you're expected to do next, even when you're holding a checklist.
*(Spoiler - click to show)SAND!!!
Essentially it's good and worth the short time it takes to play, but also potentially frustrating depending on what you expect from interactive fiction/text adventures.
Short, simple, unique IF. Everyone should try it., January 28, 2022The narrative content of Photopia is what I'd call a "good little story." It's not the most mindblowingly deep thing I've ever read; but it has some heart, humanity, and empathy to it. To me this in itself is more than adequate compensation for the very brief amount of time it takes to play through to the end.
The real reason to play, however, is the way this "good little story" is told. Unfortunately this is difficult to explain without spoilers - even formal aspects of the storytelling and interface present twists that are best experienced firsthand. Learning-what-Photopia-is-about is what Photpia is about.
(Spoiler - click to show)
The presentation of Photopia differs in a number of ways from traditional text adventures. It tells a very short, simple story. However you play not as a single character navigating a geographical space as the story unfolds before you in a chronologically-linear fashion; rather you experience chronologically-ambiguous fragments of the story from the perspectives of several different characters, piecing the story together as you go. The central story is set in a reality much like our own, but a fantastical side plot is introduced via a storytelling device reminiscent of The Princess Bride, The Fall, and several of Terry Gilliam's films. Certain scenes alter the color scheme of the display in ways relevant to the game's thematic content, cleverly weaving a (non-graphical) visual element into the formal tapestry of this text-based story-game. Photopia's unconventional approach to the form of IF suggests future possibilities in the medium.
While I wouldn't necessarily recommend Photopia to someone who has no experience whatsoever with traditional IF, it is easily simple enough for a beginner's second or third game. It's also unique enough that more experienced players will certainly not want to miss it.
Excellent sci-fi / weird fiction, January 28, 2022Slouching Towards Bedlam is a short work of weird fiction in an original steampunk setting. (Spoiler - click to show)The overseer of an asylum investigates strange claims made in writing by an unusual patient who is afraid to speak. Several endings are attainable depending on how the player chooses to react to the secrets they uncover.
This sort of stuff ((Spoiler - click to show)reminiscent of The King In Yellow) is right up my alley, so Bedlam sucked me right in. I consider it to be one of the better examples of interactive fiction I have played, with one caveat:
(Spoiler - click to show)Early in the game, I found some machinery confusing to operate. I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be solving a puzzle or was just overlooking important information. I'm still not sure.
Once I got past those hiccups, I found the fiction engrossing and all the endings worth seeking out. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and how those genres intersect.
A hilariously weird story of a taqueria robbery gone wrong., January 28, 2022A desperate person sets out to rob a taco restaurant; absolutely nothing goes as planned. I won't spoil the brief plot - you should just play it and see for yourself. Taco Fiction is highly effective at what it sets out to do - which is to encourage bad decisions and elicit laughter. It's well written, and it's fun. What else do you want?
Tons of fun! (For those with perverse sensibilities), July 31, 2013This is a brief, but disturbing, Lovecraft pastiche. There are a couple of spots of weak implementation, but the solutions aren't too difficult to figure out (and walkthroughs exist). If a grotesque Lovecraftian hallucination sounds like your sort of interactive fiction, then not only should you play this immediately, but it's also probably worth taking the time to save your progress regularly and see what happens to the protagonist when you make him make bad decisions.
Other great Lovecraftian IF:
Anchorhead
The King of Shreds and Patches
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