Ratings and Reviews by isd

I tried to ask about sex then the game ended... because sex is a NG conversation topic it seems.
I guess I mistook the piece of art for "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon".

I didn't like the beginning of Spider&Web(and gave up rapidly), but I can say I liked "Hunter, in Darkness" right from the start...
Even if my first play was not really interactive and very short (going to the left, falling, then crawling slowly towards my death a few turns later) it was a great experience.
I don't like the games in which you have to die a lot to make your way through the traps but I can say it was very immersive and fun to "play" (the theme itself is not really fun, rather claustrophobic, and reminded me of some spelunking I did. While playing I swore myself I won't do spelunking again, ever).

Nevertheless, my second play didn't last more than 2 turns. great.
So I tried the third, and last, direction and... stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no clue, no way to go back or forth, having to guess the right verb without which I'm stuck here for eternity.
Then, after a few attempts to get out I manage to almost survive then die.
I guess the author has created this trap with some sadistic pleasure.

Oh well, the 4th attempt let me resolve this "welcome puzzle"... just to stuck me again with another "there is nothing" room.
Frustrating.
Another "guess what the author had in mind" game.

The author said the game was coded in 1 week.
With one more week of work it would certainly deserve 5 stars, and may be the best of the genre without doubt.
I haven't played an adult IF game more than 2 minutes, and I have not so often played even a normal IF game more than 2 minutes.

How could a game be exhausting when the puzzles are solvable?

I have not finished the game(yet?). I went as far as the school gym...
But having all these pieces of stories with no real solid link is overwhelming to keep in mind. The only attractive thing is the writing style...
There would be only two or three storylines, it would be nice, and maybe there is only three, who knows? THIS is the problem. (I must say I play with gargoyle, so I don't have the colored interface.)
Giving the fact that playing itself is not really fun I think I will give up.
But something wants me to continue, something wants me to see all the pieces come together at the end...
It is like suffering a long run to get a promised ice cream... but I am beginning to wonder about the taste of the ice cream.

Had no clue from the start, tried to read the beginning of the walkthrough 5 minutes later(the existence of the walkthrough itself shows a fatal weekness in the design)... didn't manage to find some interesting pattern to play with.
This could have been interesting, if it was playable, or at least not frustrating right from the start.
I think there is something to learn here.
I wouldn't like a book with "Let's have fun! Guess the number of the second page." as the first paragraph.

I give 5 stars because even with absolutely no interest in palaces or royal family stuff the game got me interested from the start thanks to the exceptional writing (fun to read, fun to explore, simply fun to be there and to be Varicella, how unseemly!).
But this fun had a limit, and it was a time limit.
I played only once and died with no clue. What a shame, I was having so much fun exploring everything at my pace, I even surprised myself asking all the questions I could think of to the prince Louis just for laughing at his answers.
Why would a so enjoyable game have a time limit? Is it some kind of attempt at suicide-design?
When I realized the game was in fact to be explored many time through many lives I lost interest, mostly.
I thought it then looked more like archeology than actually enjoying a game.
Another "Guess What The Author Had In Mind" type of game, how unseemly!
What a shame since it is maybe the best IF game I have been given to try(not finish).

PS : I had liked the map to pop up in the game when typing 'map' instead of having an external file.