Ratings and Reviews by forgepoet

This was the first game by this author I played through to the end, and I found it surprisingly entertaining. Years ago, I had slotted it into the "don't bother" category over some of the flaws that are glaringly apparent within ten minutes of beginning, and I'm glad I disregarded that initial impression and tried again.

Where the game shines, and where it's entirely focused, and what makes it worth playing despite the implementation flaws, is the narrative and the characters (there are no "he looks exactly as you would expect a clerk to look" descriptions here), and both are engaging enough in a light action movie kind of way to want to see through to the end. Too often I found myself in a situation where I needed to simply "wait" a turn before talking to an NPC again or before something interesting happened on its own. I can't help but think this would have been a better game if it had been written in a different format (say, CYOA or CYOA-hybrid) that allowed these strengths to really shine.

Unfortunately one of the four or five missions in the open world segment gives away much of the ending if you're at all genre savvy and even remotely paying attention (if you want to avoid this, don't hunt down (Spoiler - click to show)Failed Romero).

Even though I knew what was coming, it was still compelling enough to make me want to see how it played out. In some respects it felt as if the author lost interest after the big reveal; I would have liked to have known more about the ramifications of what was going on. But the conclusion was rewarding and the game definitely felt complete.

If you enjoy action science fiction, this is well worth playing, just save often and have a walkthrough handy.

CYOA is a difficult medium because it has to succeed as both a short story and as a game. And what one person enjoys in a short story another might dislike intensely (see "Lovecraft, H. P."). There's nothing here to distress anyone, but (slight) (Spoiler - click to show)there is an uncompromising statement about how the world works, and I found it thought-provoking.

As a short story, this is competently written in a serious, slightly overblown way that recalls the simplest high fantasy of my childhood. And it skips over the boring bits, as stories like that usually do, in favor of the parts where you get a cool item or get some bit of sage and cryptic advice or meet someone interesting.

Most clicks, even ones that appear decorative, move the story forward, but choices are not uninteresting, usually reward you with specific text, and are often reflected on your character sheet. There was an appropriate amount of interactivity for the story to have maximum impact and to allow for a replay or two without becoming tiresome.

I played through three times, twice as a wizard and once as a warrior, and I'm pretty satisfied that the endings are fair reflections of my choices. I also quite liked the second ending I ended up with; bittersweet but surprisingly okay.

To sum up, nicely entertaining and more challenging than it might seem from the first few clicks. Well worth the time to enjoy.

The thing about games (stories? Hypertext fiction? Poetry?) like this is that whenever I reach what seems to be a wall, I'm never sure if I've experienced the full game, if the author is trying to convey some message about frustration or death or something else profound, or if I'm just dumb and not finding the next thing to click on.

This game epitomizes that feeling. After clicking on everything I can and reading the resulting slightly-to-fairly gross, bizarre (but presumably with some much deeper meaning I'm not catching) snippets of text, I'm locked in a loop that doesn't seem to have an exit, with a score of 800,000 and with no apparent way to continue. (Spoiler - click to show)And the only way to progress through the loop -- just so I can respawn at the beginning of the loop again -- requires several actions and then sitting through a poem, which appears line by line, with a brief but excruciating timed delay between each line.

At this point, I have very little interest in continuing; I feel vaguely sorry for the amorphous protagonist, but (slight) (Spoiler - click to show)I'm pretty sure nothing I help him do in the game is going to improve his life outside it, and he's so passive it'd be hard to imagine him improving it for himself. And the dreary, unrelentingly unkind atmosphere suggests this is the kind of game where "winning" will be Pyrrhic, if not worse than losing.

As a game, I found the biggest flaw to be how difficult it was to know what to do when (or even if there was a "right" or "best" or even "productive" thing to do). As a story, I found it surprisingly compelling, in the same way that a kid feels about poking a dead thing with a stick. But the appeal wears off pretty quickly.

Within the framework of a quickly made and meant to be quickly played game, this works very well and is quite pleasant. The tone is consistent and appropriate to the setting and main character, and the adult elements are played for (fairly gentle and worth a giggle) humor. Events unfold logically and with few hitches; I can't recall a single issue of guess the verb or a point where I was stuck for more than a minute or two.

This is a perfect example of silly that actually is silly, not lazy and stupid. Not what I would call "unforgettable" (two days later the details are escaping me) but worth playing.

Let me start off by saying that I somehow missed that this was not exactly the whodunit mystery I was looking for. And... I think I'm glad? Even though I'm still feeling a little disturbed two days later.

Compelling, I think, would be a good word to describe this game. Enough so that I kept playing, even though I really, really didn't want to once I started to suspect what was coming. Very effective. Even if I had to read certain parts with my eyes closed. No guess the verb issues and vivid (too vivid, gulp) descriptions.

I ran into a few places I got stuck. (Spoiler - click to show)I didn't realize the window in the bathroom could be opened. And the gasoline evaporating after three turns almost forced me to reload, but fortunately I had just enough "undos". The walkthrough for the original Mystery House gave enough pointers for me to get through.

Overall, it successfully tells a creepy short story while allowing the player to gradually discover the scope of that story through his own actions and the actions of those around him.