Ratings and Reviews by Rovarsson

Meet Sub-Lieutenant of Human Resources Command Sheryl Swift.
Sheryl is punctual, tidy, scrupulously hygienical, and conscientious about her work. All good personal qualities, no?
She diligently organises and leads the weekly staff meetings, preferably during friday-noon lunch break. She sternly believes those beneath one on the societal ladder should be cared for with a firm guiding hand. That’s important work, no?
Recently, Sheryl was promoted to the free-standing cubicle closest to her boss 's Lieutenant’s office. Even though he never asks her in, it's a sign that she’s worthy of her position, no?
The Lieutenant himself even calls her to take care of an urgent matter in the office. On a friday evening. Minutes before she would leave her desk, put on her coat and go home. That’s firm proof of his trust in her, no?

Against a tumultuous futuristic backdrop, we follow Sheryl as she searches the Human Resources Command offices for a number of missing chapters for the new draft of His Majesty Smurg IV’s Royal Space Navy Service Handbook. Lieutenant Fernandez wants them sent through that same evening. A menial clerk’s job it would seem, but Sheryl performs it with pride and ingenuity. While we see glimpses of the Space Navy fighter fleet in action through the window, Sheryl just as dutifully does her part for the smooth operation of the Human Resources department of His Majesty’s Space Navy.

His Majesty’s Royal Space Navy Service Handbook utilises a limited and efficient verb set, which it vehemently insists upon when it is strayed from. In contrast, the surroundings are richly implemented. Descriptions of objects provide deeper layers of detail and they often include nuggets of characterisation for Sheryl or clues about her co-workers who misplaced the missing chapters of His Majesty’s Royal Space Navy Service Handbook.

While at first it may seem that there is a bit too much handholding in solving the problems, we must realise that His Majesty’s Royal Space Navy Service Handbook chooses to exchange some player satisfaction or puzzle-glory for a smoother flow of the story and better control of the tempo. This makes for a more engaging story.

Sheryl is a beautifully drawn character. I will remember her for the next XYZZY Awards.

One of these days I'll have to publish A Wanderer's Guide to the Mansions of TextAdventureLand. I will have to wade through this towering stack of notes and edit them down to a manageable volume though.
Haunted mansions, Alchemist's mansions, Vampire's mansions, mansions left to you in the will of your late (and pleasantly unhinged) uncle,...

McMurphy's Mansion falls in that last category. A pressing telegram urges you to Scotland, where you shall inherit your Uncle McMurphy's estate and 10.000.000 pounds. On one condition...

Find the twelve gold bars scattered around the grounds and solve the final puzzle...

Copyrighted in 1984, McMurphy's Mansion is magnificently old-school.

(EDIT: The original version for C64 was released in '84 or '85. The game was ported to DOS in 1987 and 1989. I played the 1989 version.)

IF conventions were not as firmly established, and this game has its own idiosyncracies regarding commands anyhow.
AGAIN is shortened to R (repeat) instead of G. DROP ALL works, but you have to TAKE FEE, TAKE FI, TAKE FO, TAKE FUM instead of TAKE ALL.
X is short for EXAMINE, as usual. Large objects can be examined immediately, but the game refuses to let you examine take-able items unless you are carrying them.
I works for INVENTORY (no messing with INV), MAP shows you the room layout of the mansion (no map for the outdoors), XMAP turns off the layout and snorts that real adventures make a paper map anyway.

It took a while before I fully put my trust in the game. Opening and looking in cabinets, for example, give responses so dry (contrary to the vividness of the rest of the world) that I was unsure if anything had changed in the underlying world model. It was not necessary to be mistrusting. The game and its engine under the hood are indeed solid.

Uncle McMurphy's will of course is just the pretext to drop the player in an unabashed puzzlefest.
There are a number of code-breaking tasks. These are probably the most logical of the batch. A few puzzles present a surprising application of common sense and everyday physics. A lot more rely on mental associations and not-so-straightforward intuitive leaps.
However, because the game is set in our normal (for an undefined value of the term) non-magical world, even the least logical puzzles have handholds in real life experience.

Most of the progress through the game, finding necessary items, comes from thoroughly exploring and investigating the game-world. And yes, this means copious amounts of LOOKing IN, UNDER and BEHIND stuff. Fortunately, there is no need for lawnmowering every location with these commands. Either it's clear that any curious investigator would look in, under or behind a certain piece of scenery, or a clue found elsewhere will explicitly tell you to do it.

The map itself is a joy to explore. Almost all of it is open from the get-go, allowing you to roam freely around the gardens and the house, noting interesting or questionable features and remembering where the various locations are in relation to each other. (Yes, this will be important.)
Another joyous idiosyncratic implementation feature is the use of L N (or any direction) in a room with a window to get a detailed description of the view. This knits the world together and joins the inside of the house and the outdoors lawns and trees into one continuous space. (It also provides clues. Read carefully, they may appear only once...)
From boldly exploring the edges of the map, it becomes apparent that the author was no big fan of death in adventures. Upon falling from great height (or some other accident), there is a humorous paragraph detailing your injuries and you are brought back to the house. In the original game, the player also got a 1-minute penalty where no commands would be accepted by the game, effectively freezing the protagonist out.

McMurphy's Mansion stands out among its mansionate peers by the liveliness of its world. You repeatedly bump into the butler, whom you also see walking around the yard through the windows. The many trees and flowers provide the pleasant distraction of nature's beauty, and you can even get a glimpse of the nearby moors on the other side of the estate wall, if you look out the right window.

A splendid old school treasure hunt.

With these words our story begins. The protagonist welcomes a timid customer into his salon, preparing to do a psychic reading and look into the future. He'll be the first to admit it's all hazy-floaty mumbo-jumbo, or, as the plaque above the salon door reads: "For entertainment purposes only."

Not long after however, when a strong-willed police-woman steps into the salon on a private mission and slaps a "tense and furious glove" on the table, it is revealed to his own astonishment that he does seem to have inherited some of the genuine psychic powers of his late mother...

Stone Harbor is a supernatural detective story. It follows the predictable mould of such stories quite closely. What it does with the various elements within that mould however, it does very well.

The prose flows easily and confidently. For example: the protagonist's shock and disbelief of being drawn into a psychic trance feels genuine to the reader. It's believable, where it could easily come across as forced or even farcical from the pen of a less-skilled writer.

Places are described elaborately and in precise detail, allowing an intricate mental picture of the surroundings. These descriptions are infused with the personal impressions of the protagonist, letting the reader align herself more intimately with the protagonist.
In contrast, revelations about the characters themselves and their relations to other people are kept short and implicit, trusting the reader to draw conclusions based on a few poignant details.

The overall structure of the story made me think of a ride in a slowly but steadily accelerating train. The long uninterrupted paragraphs of the first chapters provide the opportunity to comfortably settle in, study the characters and the setting. The story gradually picks up speed and by the final chapter the plot is frantically hurtling toward the denouement, dragging the reader along.

I'v consistently used the word "reader" in this review. That is because Stone Harbor is much more a story than it is a game. It's a linear narrative without branching, leading to a single predetermined outcome.
The choices, the clicking, the interacting with the text serve to guide and influence the reader's experience of the story while travelling through it, rather than giving her control over the direction of travel.

Especially in the first chapters, the many micro-choices, the options of what detail to focus the protagonist's attention on, invite deep commitment and investment. They effectively help the reader to align herself with the main character and inspire a genuine wish to see the mystery solved.
The further the plot advances, the more a single clickable option is available to advance the story. Instead of being a boring "continue"-option in disguise at the end of a paragraph however, these single clicks retain an in-story relevance. Not only does it feel qualitatively different to press a meaningful nou, a word which the reader has been trained to associate feelings of hope or threat with, the strategic placement of the clicks in ever-shortening paragraphs nearing the end also very effectively impresses the hastening tempo on the reader.

An impressively written, grippingly paced mystery.

The Witch's Apprentice is a short, easy and humorous bite-sized little parser game.
(Caution: "bite-sized" should not lure you into tasting any of the substances mentioned. Doing so may result in bodily deformities, demonic possession, boiling of bodily fluids, spontaneous combustion, excrutiatingly painful bowel movements, burnt-out eyeballs, death and /or hiccups.) (EDIT: This caution is directed at the player as a “do not try this at home”-warning. The PC can try eating or drinkind anything without ill effects. The game is very kid-friendly.)

As the new apprentice, the boss witch sends you out to get groceries. Ahem, ingredients for her witch's brew. There's a handy list of things you should gather in and around the house.

Although the map is fairly small, there is a nice variety of locations. The house itself is mostly surprisingly homey, albeit rather empty and with a scary surprise here and there. In contrast, the outdoors have a scary-yet-endearing horror B-movie feel to them.

Most of the obstacles are simple search-and-fetch tasks, with a few slightly more complicated two-or-three step puzzles.
The most challenging (and fun) part of The Witch's Apprentice is the amount of funny and distracting red herrings sprinkled all over the map. They all fit well with the puzzles, so they feel like they could be part of a solution. It was hilarious at times to experience how determined a seasoned adventurer's mind is to come up with the most complicated and convoluted answers to simple problems.

A charming short and easy puzzler.

The Great Meldellevo ends his magic show with an unforeseen and, honestly, quite gruesome finale. While he runs away memories of how his career began flash through his mind...

The magic show is a marvel of finetuned implementation. It is possible to rush through with a few well-chosen commands, following the game's nudges. Far more satisfying however is to savour the moment and give the audience a real show for their money. (And give yourself, PC ànd player, a healthy dose of adrenalin and smugness...)

The following flashback to "Meldevello"'s humble origin is a rather railroaded vignette. There is one all-important choice to make, which determines the protagonist fate. Whether this option is even available depends on certain actions during the magic show. Replaying once you understand what I am referring to would almost certainly heighten your appreciation of this game.

I found the pacing of The Act of Misdirection somewhat unevenly balanced.
Act I, the magic show, requires the player to explicitly give the right commands for the following step to the PC. While the game does nudge you forward, sometimes the nudges were not enough for me. Being stuck in this part, searching for the appropriate action, breaks the tempo and the thrill of the performance.
Quite the opposite is true of Act II. Here I wanted to loiter in places, taking my time to study my surroundings and especially to talk about all manner of topics. In this part though, the game seemed so eager to drag me along with the story that half a command was often enough to trigger the next scene.

Taken together, the occurences at the magic performance and the explanations in the flashback make for a fragmented, shiver-inducing short horror-tale. A story that takes a while for all the bits to fall into place.

Worth playing, and replaying at least once.

Exile's Rose is set in the world of Fallen London. I have scarcely scratched the surface of this lore-filled setting, so there are bound to be many references that I couldn't place.
Without more intimate knowledge of the mother-setting, it's also impossible for me to discern which parts of lore and worldbuilding are present in Fallen London and which are the author's own creative additions.
To me though, it can confidently stand on its own.

>ABOUT
"This is a simple demonstration Fiction game."

This message raises some alarms. It could indicate a flawed and/or unfinished game. I'm very glad I played on, because there is a beautiful and complete story to be found.
However, it is clear that it is not truly finished. A lot of stuff mentioned in descriptions is not implemented, flashbacks are not as neatly separated from the main text as I would like (a slightly different font to emphasise the dreamy-reminiscence quality of the memories would do wonders for the feel...), the pacing is too loose.
Nevertheless, this is a wonderful and captivating read.

You find yourself on a dark underground quay. Docked before you is the Smuggler's schooner, deserted. Your lover's ship. Your lover, whom you cannot find.
You board the ship, the Kyparissos. Alone, free to explore the decks unaccompanied, searching for your lover. Or at least a trace of where he might have gone...

This is a puzzleless piece. A few hidden passages provide some pacing to the player's progress, but there are no real obstacles to solve.
Rather, in exploring the ship's depths, you unlock flashbacks that gradually reveal the fragmented backstory of the Smuggler and the protagonist.

Although the main character has been on the Kyparissos before, she was always either inebriated at parties or carefully blindfolded when her lover brought her to the lower levels.
Now is the first time she can wander around the lower decks with a sober mind and clear sight. Descending into the dark bowels of the ship and unveiling secret rooms is mirrored in the descent of the protagonist into her own emotions. She finds a clarity in looking at herself, her lover the Smuggler, and their relationship.

The writing is elaborate and very evocative. The newly discovered rooms, as seen for the first time through the eyes of the PC, are lovingly detailed. Coloured walls, little ornaments, nautical maps draw the player down with the protagonist in the game's atmosphere.

Oftentimes the reader will encounter an image perfectly encapsulated in a precisely tailored sentence:

>"A ballroom without revels is an eerie, dancer-haunted place."

That is not to say the penmanship is flawless. The prose teeters on the purple cord, and sometimes falls off into murky plum long-windedness.
Overall though, the writing serves well to submerge the player in the dark mysterious mood of the piece.

It's unfortunate that Exile's Rose was published in this not-quite-finished state. One more pass through the tester's mill, one more round of editing would have lifted this game to great heights.
A few simple pacing-mechanisms (not even true puzzles, just some locked doors where the search for the key forces the player to explore all the rooms before being able to unlock the next staircase down) would make the story flow that much more naturally.

A compelling journey down through the Smuggler's schooner, and through the protagonist's memories and emotions.

An invitation arrived. What a horrendous prospect! To spend the Christmas festivities in Penrose Hall, your exasperating Aunt Allison's domain...

Fortunately, upon arrival two glints of silver lining present themselves. Your old school chum Checkers is also present, and the lovely young lady Julia will be joining the family for the duration.

Less fortunately however, those silver linings soon conflict, as your chum and you find yourselves in a not-so-friendly cockfight over the attentions of the endearing young lady...

Deck the Halls, Gieves consists of four short vignettes, four scenes prsenting one obstacle each. The puzzles are easy but pleasantly askew. It may take some poking and prodding getting into the right frame of mind.

The true strength of the game lies in its splendid writing, a spot-on parody of 1920s upper class British English.
The author obviously delights in writing elaborate winding cutscenes, filled (but not overstuffed) with quaint turns-of-phrase and idiomatic expressions.
The delightful language permeates the descriptions of locations, characters and actions. The tone of the piece is beautifully supported by having this use of words and expressions extend even to the reports of failed actions.

An interesting player-PC-narrator dynamic flows throughout the game. The main character, commonly filling the role of PC, is also, especially perhaps, the narrator of his exploits in Penrose Hall. This leaves the player, who habitually gives orders to the PC, more in the role of an interested listener. Her commands in this game are reframed as suggestions, nudges to urge the main character to continue the story. Here too, the customised in-character responses to failed commands do a lot of heavy lifting to maintain the illusion of the player being told a tall tale by the main protagonist.

Deck the Halls, Gieves is an acutely humorous work. It does not rely on a barrage of jokes and puns to attain this mood. Rather, bit by bit it calls forth a rising tide of ridiculousness and awkwardness, piling silly situations one atop the other until the player can't help but snigger and giggle. I for one had trouble relaxing my smiling muscles by the time the game was finished.

Very well-written Wodehousean comedy.

A word to the wise: when you’ve been holed up in a security bunker for months, it’s not the best idea to read the “Survivor’s Guide” that came with the purchase of your bunker. Apparently it goes on and on about adopting a new routine and focusing on your breathing and nutrition, to settle into life on 50m² of habitable (under)ground.

It’s like listening to the idiot on stable ground yelling at you not to look down while you’re in the middle of the tight-rope above the 400ft ravine. It can make you a bit nervous.

Except…

In Retour vers l’extérieur, changing the PC’s mood is a prerequisite for progress. As the player, you need to rile up your character, stoke the fire and re-awaken the lust for life on the outside.

For a game that attempts to put the player squarely in the PC’s shoes, I found there were some severe gaps in the experience. You have to search the bunker and the database of the computer for passwords and secret compartments. But the PC themselves installed those security measures, only a few months before.
Presumably, at the point in time where the game begins, the PC has already entered a state of such apathy and mental detachment that adventure-related amnesia has set in. But that is me as the player trying to fill in the gaps…

Ignoring this, the game has a seriously claustrophobic escape-room vibe going on. The writing is clear and descriptive, the puzzles are well-balanced. I found the pacing through the different stages of the PC’s mindset very effective.

The UI is well-designed, a natural addition to the themes in the text. It smoothly draws the player into the game-world without distracting you with too many bells and whistles. The bells and whistles there are (background noises, a customisable musical theme you can find in the database, a few pictures in the appropriate places,...) are nicely integrated and add a great deal to the atmosphere.

A good game. I enjoyed working out the mechanics and the passwords of the bunker. I did not feel emotionally connected to my character, but the overall atmosphere made up for that.

This is interesting. A sort of slice-of-life with a ghost protagonist. It has a simple but versatile game mechanic: subtly manipulating other people’s minds.

On the evening after his own funeral, Victor appears as a ghost to his best friend Guillaume… who asks him to be a sort of invisible go-between to find out more about a girl he likes, Marie. (Because, well, that’s the sort of thing you ask your best friend to do, right? Even if he’s just come back from the dead…)

Unnoticed, Victor can listen in on the conversations between different groups of friends at the remembrance party. He can intervene by inhibiting or reinforcing them spiritually to speak their true mind (or not), and steer the conversation somewhat in the hopes of getting more info on the love life of Marie.

In doing so, the group dynamics could get shaken up a bit…

Very relatable stories of a group of teenage/young adult friends and their relationships, their worries and interests.

Way too much clicking (or pressing spacebar) involved. to. advance. to. each. new. sentence though.