Reviews by Andromache

Every once in a while, I'm in the mood for an old-fashioned treasure hunt. This game sounded like just the thing to satisfy my craving. Well, it didn't disappoint.

First, the negatives: no hint/help system, and I couldn't figure out how to get the game to tell me when my score went up. Not that I couldn't check the status line, but I'd have felt more accomplishment if I'd been notified. But those are really personal preferences.

The game was put together well. No bugs that I ran into, puzzles were really easy, and the most annoying thing was just the hunger/sleep. Even the maze was easy. I solved it by myself by taking a few notes. I'm very proud of that.

The only reason I give the game three stars instead of four is that I had to play through it twice because I took so long exploring everything. But really, the game is finishable with only one item of food. I liked the game enough to play the sequel. Usually, treasure hunts aren't my first choice, but this game was so straightforward and smooth to play that I'd recommend it.

This game turns humans into lab rats, which doesn't really sit well with me, which is why I gave it an average rating. Also, there's a minor bug that makes the game somewhat choppy to play during that section, but it's quite cleaned up for a first release. Puzzles are super easy and the hint system was nicely implemented, broken up into bite-sized pieces so as not to spoil the game outright. The game is entertaining, if a bit condescending. Worth playing at least once, but the cuteness doesn't really mesh with something as serious as respecting the dignity of experimentees.

This game was so unplayable I never bothered to finish it, even though somebody went to the trouble of writing a walkthrough. The author said they didn't favor hints, which is unfortunate because this game really needed them. There were so many bugs, and I'm not even the type who tries wild experiments just to see if the game deals with them. You could only carry a limited amount of items, and if you had multiples of the same item, you couldn't examine them. The game would ask which item you mean, when there's only one choice. Puzzles were obscure and there's at least one instance I know where you have to guess the verb.

Basically, bad mechanics ruined what could have been a very interesting story. I was so disappointed I couldn't finish the game.

I tried out this game because it has sound effects, and sound effects are just plain fun. I enjoyed the added immersion.

This is a good game for people new to IF because it's short, text is sparse and concise, the world isn't overly huge, and puzzles are mostly easy if you follow the old convention of experimenting with items. There's also a handy sack for unlimited inventory space, and it automatically shifts things around so you don't get those, "Your hands are full" errors.

There isn't much of a plot to this game, though I do like that I could win without killing anyone. A cute game and worth the couple hours it took to play.

I'm sad to say it, but on playing this game a second time, I'm less impressed overall. Setting is still great; I can vividly imagine the various locations and characters. However, puzzle implementation was sort of choppy; only one solution for them, and sometimes, it didn't make sense to only have one. Descriptions didn't change when the environment was manipulated, and while I did appreciate the cultural words and education, I thought it was unfair to have puzzle solutions depend on information you don't have ready access to at the time you need to solve the puzzle. I mean, okay. IF gamers probably do take notes, but for this game, if you didn't take down the right information or weren't really thorough in your examination of objects, you'd miss solutions. There were two or three puzzles I got absolutely stuck on and would never have finished the game if not for the walkthrough provided. Often times, I hit on solutions purely by experimentation. Not that I was doing random things but some solutions require repetitive action. And that's another thing. On top of the notes and repetition, gameplay sometimes felt more like work. And then there were the "guess the syntax" problems and minor bugs that caused some frustration when I wanted to do something but didn't know quite how to phrase it. The game would ask for strange clarification, and when you answered, it would ask again.

The story, too, left me unsatisfied. The fantasy elements were great. My favorite thing about it was the magic. But the romance was melodramatic and I found it shallow and overly sweet. It would have been better if it were more subtle and wistful, instead of the player character being treated shamefully during the endgame because the only thing that mattered was being reunited. It especially annoyed me because I was the one doing all the work.

The game is worth playing for the scenery and mythology. There some graphic violence scenes, but only when necessary.