Reviews by P/o Prune

Dragon Diamond is the first Adrift game from this author. It's not a bad little game and if you have an hour or two to spare you would probably get some enjoyment out of playing it.
It's not spectacular and probably won't be written into the IF hall of fame, but there are a couple of puzzles that will probably make you think once or twice before you find the solution.
You play the role of a warrior whom, for unknown reasons has pissed off the evil queen. She has sent you on a quest to find and retrieve an object knows as “the Dragon Diamond”
The descriptions are short and to the point, almost too short for my liking. I would have preferred longer descriptions which would no doubt have added to the atmosphere.
The flow in the game is pretty straight forward without twists and "red Herrings" if you're able to take something you'll probably need it.
There are a couple of places where the action you need to take as the player isn't all that straight forward and almost seem illogically
Like I said earlier there are some puzzles that will make you think, but nothing that will make you tear your hair out and run away screaming in frustration.
I hope the release of the Dragon Diamond has wetted Kenneth's appetite and that he'll give us a taste of what he's really capable of now that he has found out how easy Adrift is to use.

This is a fun little story and like Lumin's “the Aegis” it would make a great game for novice players. The important commands are written in bold which leaves out a lot of guessing, but maybe also some of the challenge in solving the puzzles.
The fact that the story is told in old “Pirate language” is a great idea. But I would imagine that foreigners could have a bit of trouble understanding some of the words and phrases.
The instructions regarding the game, comes after the introduction where it, in my opinion, should have been displayed before the story starts.


Story:
A nice captivating story. You are the Captain, and a pirate, and you have to find a treasure on Loot Island and get away with it.. Not as simple as it may sound. Especially with your old mate Ichabod around, who in my case was more of a puzzle than of help, until I figured out that he has his own little part to play in this game.


Playability:
The fact that the available commands are in bold makes the game easy to play. And I only discovered a couple of places where I would have liked to have a synonym (D for Down, and Place for Put) I will not reveal where they are, but it will be obvious when you play the game.
If you try something that doesn't quite work, the game gives you a hint of what you might try. You'll find out what I mean when you try to get the chest.
The puzzles are logical, although one or two had me think for quite a while. But nothing that the hints probably couldn't have helped me through (just me being stubborn, I guess)

Technical Achievement:
This game stand out from the others I've played in this competition, because it allows the player to type his/her name at the beginning, making the game more personal. Also the hints are very well managed, with plenty to go around.

Enjoyment:
I certainly enjoyed playing the game, and it kept me captivated. So I would absolutely recommend you to go ahead and give it a go.

Review by Nick:

Ghost Town by Cowboy is one of those landmark games in the ADRIFT community. It is the first complete game to fully embrace the graphic ability of ADRIFT.
With detailed artwork depicting the scene of every location, Ghost Town takes a step away from the usual IF medium of listing every object. Instead the Player must pay attention to the artwork to pick out things of interest that may or be not be included in the description. This adds a whole new dimension to gameplay while not detracting anything from the storyline.

The premise of Ghost Town is to fulfill the final wishes of your Great Grandfather and inherit his entire estate and visit the abandoned gold mining town of Battle Creek.
It sounds like a simple task, until you begin to unravel the unsolved mystery of Battle Creek as you discover the morbid secrets of its morbid past...

The puzzles in Ghost Town range in difficulty. Some require just a little common sense whilst others require some good old fashioned detective work and in-depth interaction with the environment.

The gameplay is not as linear as you might expect, with areas you might miss completely the first time you play.

This game is highly detailed and the effort which has been put in to cover every "default" ADRIFT response and every object and/or alias makes the occasional "missing capital letter" easily forgivable.

This is a must play for everyone and certainly for those who think if they’ve played one, they’ve played them all.
Ghost Town raises the bar in the ADRIFT community, so congratulations go to Cowboy, this game has been a long time coming, but well worth the wait.



Review by Mel S.
Taken from the Adrift adventure download page with permission from Mel S.

An epic adventure featuring a captivating story and some wonderful use of art. If you’re looking for a long, engaging Adrift experience, it’d be harder to find a better place to start than this.

Mel S

It's been a while since I played Eric the Unready, but there is no doubt in my mind:
Eric the Unready is simply a classic, a MUST for anyone with the slightest sense of humor.
Eric the Unready of the medieval world: Whatever he does turns into a comical disaster. In this graphic adventure, you must help him find the kidnapped princess and escape the predicaments he manages to get involved in. This is by far the funniest adventure yet, spoofing TV shovs, movies, and other adventure games. Not for prudes.

"Without a clue" is definitely one of the better games I've played.
The setup is quite funny and the remarks as you play made me laugh more than once.
Some of the puzzles are hard, but then again isn't that what adventure games is all about?
None of them are "obscure" or unsolvable if you take your time and think about them.
The atmosphere is good and I felt that there was a flow in the game that made it easy to follow.
Not a game to be recommended to first time players, but definitely a great game to battle on a dark and cold winter night.