Reviews by MathBrush

I played a Study in Steampunk after I had spent several months rereading the original Sherlock Holmes stories. I had discovered that Sherlock was very different from modern versions: no "elementary, dear Watson", a lot of strength and physical activity, minimal pipe use, etc.

So when I started this game as John Watson and my friend said 'the game's afoot', I rolled my eyes. I couldn't get into the storyline about dueling empires with mechs and soul-draining powers.

But I tried again two more times, and on the third time, it stuck. I think the first chapter just wasn't as strong as the later ones; the game began offering really intriguing role-playing choices, and ended up setting up several compelling life-and-death situations that were effective.

The decisions were effective, I believe, because the game is just so long. It has a lot of minor faults I would usually take off points for (like obvious choices between being good/being evil or by-the-numbers genre scenes), but the author clearly has a deep understanding of long-form game design that just makes it fun.

I enjoyed it more once I realized that it wasn't really a Sherlock Holmes knock-off; it was really the author's own vision, with some Sherlock-related elements. The author cites Dracula and Jack the Ripper as inspirations, too, and these are almost stronger; supernatural life-draining is one of the main game topics. It also suggests Jekyll and Hyde as an influence, but I saw nothing of this in my playthrough.

This game is effective because of how long it is, and is definitely worth its price.

This is a disturbingly creepy ectocomp story from one of the authors of One Eye Open. I knew pretty much exactly where it was going after a few turns, but that's the beauty: the dread of what's coming, not knowing how it's going to come.

Contains a high level of violence.

I actually played this game backwards on accident. There is a major event you're supposed to encounter early on in one of the first rooms, but that ended up being the last room I entered.

Most of this game is navigating a house while a mysterious being also does so. You have to avoid, destroy, and escape.

Over all, it was well done, but I never really got into it. The room descriptions were fairly amusing.

This game has a great plot for a 3-hour ectocomp game.

You are one of the few remaining members of society after parasites from space have attacked everyone. At a SETI outpost, you try to survive with a friend.

The implementation was buggy, as could be expected from a Speed-IF game, but the writing and story were excellent; would make a good TV episode.

I've heard rumors of the 3d in this game, but I have yet to find it. I haven't found anyone who's actually finished it. I was able to get to the end by the use of Adrift's Debugger.

It's a fairly amusing game, after a long text dump. You need to kill an evil chicken, but it's hard to find the right tool.

Most games written in rhyme have terrible poetry. This one was pretty fun; its poetry is utilitarian but entertaining.

However, it can be pretty hard to guess some of the commands.

This is an Ectocomp speed-IF game about a witch defending herself from angry villagers and searching for a lost friend.

This game mimics the parser format, with green-on-black text and parser-like writing.

It was part of the 300-word-limit Twiny Jam.

The twist makes this a worthwhile game. Most of the gameplay (in fact, all of it) consists of choosing from a large list the one item that will solve the current obstacle.

This game shows you what it would be like if the classic arcade game Tapper was real.

You have to clean up and leave. It's not much, but it has a fun Wreck-it-Ralph behind the scenes feel. It has a more traditional IF style than the other IF arcade games, and is at least complete.

This game is fairly tedious, but it's well done, and has some great writing. It paints you as the pong paddle, but with a very unusual view on the world itself. It also has some nice text styling.

But getting even 2 points takes just forever. I can't imagine playing to 15 points.

This game is in the IF arcade pack. It has you as a pinball, with very little control over your actions and destiny.

It has a strong narrative with a metaphor between the ball and the human soul.

As a game, I found Enlightened Master to be a better working of a text pinball game.