Reviews by streever

This is a short & simple CYOA web-text game.

It is dark--very dark--but I wouldn't call it a "mystery"--there didn't seem to be any clues/puzzles to unravel. Mostly you are reading the authors thoughts.

I think this would have been better as a parser based-game, with even mild hunting about for things (think "Gone Home")--in general, more elements that shared the narrator's emotional states/thoughts about life pre-event would have made this game stronger. The game feels more like a context-less story you tell someone about an emotional dream you had: the point is the emotional impact the dream had on you, but the listener may not understand the impact without the context.

The author is bi-lingual and occasionally the English suffers; the story seems to be more of an atmospheric piece sharing the emotions and thoughts of someone struggling with depression/loneliness. I would encourage the author to add more memories to the game--what was the world like pre-event for the character? Who were their family members? Even a photograph of her parents with a description would improve this.

Barrow Escape is a map-less CYOA game with binary choices in most situations. It feels a little rough and could benefit from variety and choice.

It is faithful to the source material--I was able to solve and get through it on my first go just by remembering how the original scene worked--so I haven't thoroughly tested, but I suspect there are not additional (good) endings.

This incredibly clever noir-style detective game casts you in a familiar trope--a down-on-his-luck alcoholic investigator who has one last chance to keep his job.

The game is very detailed and clever, technically quite an achievement: NPCs can observe you and note your (openly carried) inventory.

You'll find the clues easily enough, but probably have no idea what to do with them. I recommend not spoiling this one, even if you feel stuck. Come back later and look at the game with fresh eyes, try crazy things, and really observe the characters. Save often & be prepared to restore old games.

This is a great game with a novel ending, and an original plot. It borrows heavily from tropes and concepts you'll be familiar with from other noir fiction, but still presents an entirely original and creative story.

This may be my favorite IF game currently, the only game able to even stand up to try and compete with it being Make it Good.

The entire game is full of linguistic puzzles, and like most of Short's work, creates a brilliant sense of place without extraneous descriptive text. The setting is fantastic and unreal--something most writers would communicate through byzantine tomes you can read through ad nauseum--but Short makes it compelling and real with the perfect amount of detail.

I haven't finished it, but I've put 2 hours into it, and haven't felt lost or confused. Puzzles that could be game-breaking have multiple solutions, and discovering those extra solutions--while not seemingly necessary and not contributing to my score yet--make me feel like the king of puzzles, twirling about in front of my throne and doffing my crown to my adoring peasentry.

Speaking of being "The King of Puzzles", I demand that my knights Make it Good and Counterfeit Monkey present themselves on my tourney field tomorrow to battle. I want to see blood, you knaves!

Ahem, sorry, got carried away there. Nothing more to see here, moving on!

The setting, the technical implementation, the plot, the writing, and the actual puzzles--the way they are solved and the mechanisms involved--are fascinating and novel. This is one of the best works of IF available.

I loved this game. It is quick and clever. At first it is confusing, but slow down: read the text carefully and think about the situation you are in. This game makes very clever use of some classic IF conceits, including the notion that you the player may not be the character.

It is very easy to die and you will do so often, but you should be able to beat this game without any hints.

The only thing that was perhaps wonky boiled down to me misunderstanding how one command should work: I've put it in spoilers for anyone who thinks they are at the end who is getting frustrated. I was jumping to weird thoughts as I tried to figure this one out, and it boiled down to me just typing something incorrectly. I am not spoiling the story or any puzzle solution, just explaining the one bit of game interface that I missed.

(Spoiler - click to show)If you have to share information of some sort with someone, JUST TYPE IT OUT--don't preface it, don't include verbs, etc. Just literally type the exact info you want to share. If someone wanted your phone number, you'd just tell them the exact number. Treat this game that way.

I really think this is a terrific game, and well worth your time--even if you are skeptical, give it a try, and don't get frustrated if you have to guess the occasional syntax--while it isn't as robust as most games being made now, the parser will work great with a few tries.

I really enjoyed City of Secrets, my first Emily Short game, and spent several hours on it over a two week period.

It is very easy-going in the puzzles: this is more a game of conversation and exploration.

The world-building is impressive. I never felt like I was reading a wall of text, but I understand the world I was in and was not confused. The world she created here is rich and deep, and at times, written with sparse, minimalist prose. I mean to say that Short doesn't waste our time with over-wrought descriptions and backstory. Important information is communicated simply but eloquently.

I enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone who is new to IF. You won't die at random, and it seems nearly impossible to get stuck. The writing and pacing are a treat.

I had some "guess the verb/guess the action moments" at the very end, but it wasn't hard to figure out what I was supposed to do--re-reading the text and thinking carefully, I saw that the appropriate verbs were at least hinted at. I wouldn't ascribe any of my late game confusion to the author or the piece.

If you are seeking something fiendishly difficult, I'd recommend moving on, but keep this in your queue: when you need a break from mind-benders, you can enjoy the writing and atmosphere of this game.

This is a great adaptation, and very accurate.

However, it isn't properly much of a game: while the in-game text at the end talks about the "strategy" involved, the reality is you mostly randomly click things until the game makes you do the right thing. There is no contextual hint or clue about the world around you until you accidentally stumble on a town that tells you to go East. (Of course, the game also forbids you click any other direction!)

There really isn't much choice inherent in this game, except terrible choice that results in death or randomly clicking more directional indicators. I remember this game, and I enjoyed the nostalgia effect of finding this adaptation.

It is very short, so you should try it if you are curious, but I wouldn't really recommend it to people who didn't already remember Dragon Warrior and enjoy it. (I can still remember the geography of the game!)

This is a strong game with excellent narration and very clever plotting.

Don't be put off trying it by the critical reviews. Bad IF rarely receives actual reviews, and I suspect most authors criticize parts of this piece because it is very, very good.

I am unaware of anything else Harrison has written, which is a shame. I do hope that this author creates more interactive fiction at some point.

The good:
> An original story with an interesting twist.
> Many well-written characters and dialogue.
> An alternate ending which you are incredibly unlikely to get on a first play-through.
> Freedom and choice in the first half, although, with many constraints.

The less-good:
> Linear story (This isn't a contradiction--the story is linear, even railroading you into actions and choices, but you have a surprising degree of freedom in how you make those actions, which allows for a very fun early game on your second play)
> An alternate ending which you receive no clues or suggestions to achieve. I suspect most if not all players would not realize that an alternate was possible if not for the author informing them.
> Several minor typos.
> The occasional "purple prose" example.
> Some strange action/verb choices.
> No follow-up work from Harrison, which is a shame.

All in all, I enjoyed this game immensely. Very fun and very well-written.

I enjoyed this game: at times the verbs/descriptions didn't give me everything I needed to solve a puzzle, but the hint system worked well. There is still some mild wonkiness when you--perhaps--are over-thinking a simple puzzle involving heat, for instance, and the solution doesn't work.

Despite those small inconveniences, the game is quite good, and works very well. I really appreciated that many of the puzzles were suggested by earlier events in the game--clever cluing on some of them.

Not a bad game--but rather simple and really holds your hand. If it is a mystery, it should have some more exploration and challenge. It is more of a comedy.

In terms of comedic writing, I felt let-down by this effort. It was too much a pastiche to be really enjoyable as a comedy--no subversion of tropes, just indulgence--and the mystery portion was completely straight-forward, offering no intuitive or logical challenge.

I vastly preferred the authors 2008 work "Gardening for Beginners", which was funny, tight, and hilarious. I sympathized for and related to the character and his struggle in Gardening for Beginners in a way that I could not engage Jack Mills.