Reviews by MathBrush

This is a large and complex game with several independent NPCs spread out through a large hospital. Someone has died, and you (a teen volunteer) want to both find out who and also get enough recommendations to be able to move on from the place.

I was impressed and overwhelmed with the size of the game. The hospital has four floors, each with a hallway with 3-5 spaces, with each space having doors to the north and south. In addition to that, there are a dozen or so NPCs and complex devices like elevators, safes and a walkman.

Gameplay mostly revolves around going into every area possible, identifying issues and collecting objects, then finding which objects solve which issues. There were two puzzles I couldn't figure out involving NPCs, and I ended up using invisiclues with them.

Overall, the story didn't land for me emotionally. The NPCs were varied, had interesting comments about each other, and had realistic relationships and plots, and the locations were varied, and there are some active events that are creepy or threatening, so all of those things are good. So I'm not actually sure what I felt was missing.

On the other hand, there was something about the mechanics that really appealed to me, which is hard to put into words. It was really satisfying unlocking different areas and using ideas, and there are multiple solutions.

There were a few times I was frustrated by synonyms or getting default responses (like (Spoiler - click to show)trying to push or pull the tile without the ladder). Overall, though, I think people who enjoy exploration and note-taking in parser games should like this.

This game is mostly a chore simulator. You are in a village, and all the villagers ask you to run errands for them, like grabbing nails or wood. They take time to teach you how to do each task. While condensing it all into one day feels pretty overwhelming and would probably be a nightmare for a kid, it makes more sense if you envision it as just being a lifestyle where everyone works hard and this tutoring replaces school.

The game is in three acts, each more active than the previous. The first is chores in a familiar location. The second is unfamiliar chores, with a magical surprise. The third is in the middle of combat.

This feels Norse-related, with ocean-themed life and wolf mythology, but it could be a lot of places.

Some people mentioned that this game seems like it's telling the wrong moral. To me, it seems like this game is saying 'Fit into society, obey, don't stray from the path and have honor'. This is in distinct contrast to many children's tales which are about the wonders of imagination and of accepting things outside of your culture. Both though describe the perils of breaking one's word with magical creatures.

I did have trouble figuring out commands in a few points.

This game is a surreal game with no overarching explanation or moral.

You play as an office worker who lives in suburbia. You do various things like waking up, showering, going to work and so on.

As you play, you encounter disturbing changes to what you thought reality was. Early examples include work you've never seen before showing up on your desk or lunch turning into a ball of rotten meat.

I enjoy this kind of surreality in games a lot. The only drawback is that you have to try all sorts of things at times to figure out what the next move is that will advance the game. Sometimes this can be really tricky, which detracts from the experience. It's not so much hard puzzles as 'there are 20 things you can do right now but only one is correct'.

I associate Anssi Räisänen with the ALAN system and with well thought-out puzzles in a relatively compact game setting. I generally enjoy these games.

This game was pretty fun but its main attraction was also its main drawback for me.
The idea is that in this game, proverbs are magic. So something like 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' could (theoretically) transform a bird in your hand into two in a nearby bush (this example isn't in the game).

This is a brilliant concept and when it works out it works out well. For me, though, I had trouble trying to sift through all such sayings, even when a list of many of them was given. Also such sayings have variations, many including apostrophes (which aren't allowed). For me, the 'search space' of all possible sayings was just too big.

I am glad I played, though. Also, there are a few chunks that have just normal puzzles without any sayings involved.

Now that Adrift games play online through parchment, I've been enjoying them a lot more than before.

This is an old Spring Thing game that is really very long, spread out over many years with significant puzzles and challenges in each time segment.

You are a superhero sidekick. Your boss can change shape into anything, while you can only change the shape of your hand. You also have a friend named Waterfall, a kind of overly-sexualized woman whose body is made of water.

Your main enemy is named Potter, a villain who can make sentient clay creatures.

The plotline has a lot of good elements. The paragraph-by-paragraph writing and the coding could use the help of a good editor. Near the end I was hit with a weird bug where events and conversations were printed before the room descriptions. Overall, though, this was a pretty solid story.

This is an exceptional story for Fallen London, which fits into the overall storyline and mechanics but has its own mini storyline, and is available to subscribers or for individual purchase.

I had mixed feelings going into this. Gavin Inglis has written some very good stuff, but I saw that this story had slipped low in the overall 'best exceptional stories' poll on reddit.

The idea is that Mr Pages (the master in charge of books) is upset about a new book of poetry that has been written about a mythical city called Ys. Some think that Ys is a standin for the bazaar!

My hopes dimmed for this story as I hit a very long segment that was a kind of repetitive chase. It took a big chunk of actions and didn't have much variation (although I did like a part involving trenches).

But the part after the chase where you have a chance to peruse the books was honestly very funny, I got a good chuckle out of it, and it made me feel better about the story overall.

If anyone reading this hasn't tried this author's game Hana Feels, I can recommend it! It's a nice heartfelt story about self-harm written as a government project.

This is an Exceptional Story from Failbetter Games, part of Fallen London. It ties into the larger overall experience but has its own storyline.

This is a love story between an ardent man and a scientist who is also loving but reluctant and cuts ties.

The opening of this was unremarkable enough that I lost interest in it and never finished it by the time I stopped playing Fallen London 2 years ago. I've restarted now and have picked up this story again, and the ending was quite a bit better than before.

This story features Mr. Apples, a master I don't remember seeing much about. More interestingly, it includes bits of all of the Fallen Cities' lore, including a big chunk of First City material, which is rare. Also has some Neathbow content. Pretty nice!

This is a Fallen London exceptional story, which is something accessible only to members or those who pay extra money. It follows the mechanics of Fallen London but is completable in a few hours of time (or less if you pay for more actions).

This story deals with the Presbyterate, an underground empire that lives near the Mountain of life. They had a colony founded by separatists who had a mythical chalice that seems like a parallel to the Holy Grail. You encounter an archaeologist who leads you to the sea in search of this chalice.

This story gives you some pretty good agency as there are multiple directions you can influence the outcome. It has some rich and vivid imagery in the archaeological digs that does a good job of both being cool and showing the differences between the archaeologist's idealism and the more grey reality.

This one was pretty good. It didn't stand out as one I'll always remember but it was interesting enough that I used some action refreshes on it.

This was a fun game in a style different than that which I usually play. It's an ADRIFT game that is pretty long, with more than 8 'acts' and 43 rooms, but with puzzles that are locally self-contained and generally well-clued (with a couple of exceptions).

You show up to Sherlock Holmes' apartment determined to prove he is a fraud, only to discover it full of bullet holes and menacing notes. You have to track down Shakespeare and foil a plot by the evil Moriarty!

Much of the game can be completed by examining everything and showing things to people. The game is fortunately almost completely devoid of having to 'look behind' and 'under' everything (although looking under is useful in obvious cases).

I did use the hints a couple of times, and every time was for a window or door. The second to last puzzle (a grill) wasn't hinted and I struggled for a long time. I eventually opened up the game in the ADRIFT 4 coding app and found out that I had the right idea but the wrong direction (full spoiler: (Spoiler - click to show)I was trying to LOCK it but had to CLOSE it.).

Overall, I didn't encounter many bugs (a couple of times the screen just printed a single letter when I doubt that was what was desired; most likely because I was playing online). I had a good time with this game.

This is the only Spring Thing game that has never been reviewed on IFDB. I think I can see why; it's a longer game with a big, nonlinear map, a few different ways to die, and puzzles with difficult timing.

You play as a protestor at a nuclear facility who gets lost and then bitten by a camel. You wake up in a hospital with another protestor chained nearby. The hospital has a lot of floors, each with hallways filled with room. There are myriad keys and you have to do a variety of heroic actions that aren't well-clued.

You also gain the ability to bite hard and spit but the game doesn't spell this out and you almost never use them.

The story is interesting, but I remember an Emily Short blog post about how you should make a nonlinear game designed in a way that it's impossible to progress without encountering the story, and I think that would have benefitted this game a lot. Also, there could be more indication of when puzzles exist, as often there are things you need to do that you don't even know you need to do!

However, I do think people could enjoy this game and hope it gets more reviews.