Reviews by Stian

like its predecessors, Sage Sanctum Scramble features a masterfully implemented minimalist parser interface and hours of fun. Despite the similar approach to the interface, DiBianca's games are quite different from each other in terms of play. This time the author took on the genre of word games, including at least 60 different challenges, including crosswords, anagrams and everything else I can think of.

My initial worries that the game may be too easy were quickly allayed, and some of the puzzles had me stumped. I have a feeling that solving all of the puzzles will not be necessary to finishing the game, and that completing them all may require a team effort.

As usual for DiBianca, this game is a lovingly crafted puzzlefeast without attempting to convey any deep meaning or emotion. With the many puzzles being split into separate rooms, it reminds me somewhat of his previous minigame extravaganza Skies Above, though Sage Sanctum Scramble makes for a much more thoughtful play.

A lot of science fiction literature makes use of concepts that cannot be appropriately described in the vocabulary of the present, and demands an inductive approach; just go along with it, and it will become more or less clear as the story progresses. Accelerate is bordering on linguistic overload in this sense. Add to that a horde of strange metaphors and you have an “enormous piece of extravagantly confusing art”, to use a quote embedded in the work itself.

While it was occasionally hard to understand the protagonist or the context in a given situation, the story is actually relatively clear: you become indoctrinated into a cult of religious terrorists and attempt to bring forth some kind of revolution. In this, you have no agency. Perhaps you have no choice.

Regarding it as a gesamtkunstwerk, my feelings are varied. Its strongest point is definitely the writing; Accelerate reads like a modern sci-fi classic, only more poetic, though I would have had an easier time accepting it if I had sensed more coherence between the different contexts. As it is, I often felt I found myself in a new situation, not understanding how I got there, which also compromised the connection between the player and the protagonist. The visual presentation was the most lacking element of Accelerate. With a plain interface and simple animations, it brought thoughts of the 1990’s, rather than of the future. The music, on the other hand, was nice and appropriate; most of it I would describe as cyberpunk muzak, although at times it became uncomfortably brutal.