A Paper Moon

I had a pretty good time with A Paper Moon, and that has everything to do with its puzzles and how far things were implemented. Origami is an important part of the game, but not exclusive; the unlimited supply of origami paper (that you have to find first) is not the only thing you'll need to solve the puzzles, but will feature prominently. You will not be clued as to what you can fold; you will simply examine the situation at hand and come to the conclusion that what can help you here is FOLDing the paper INTO whatever shape you think is appropriate.

I really did have a good time with it, because I felt the puzzles were fair (although, cruelty wise, you can certainly make the game unwinnable. But it's always clear when that's happened. Expect to save/restore a bit, especially when experimenting). And the game is sufficiently well implemented that it allowed me to experiment. Fiddle around. Try stuff. Then I would, at times, just sort of turn away from the screen, close my eyes, and think about what I had at my disposal, and then I'd get a passing thought, and I'd try it out, and sometimes nothing happened, but sometimes nothing happened in a way which gave me a clue. More interestingly, most of the things that I tried did have a result. This was always encouraging.

I had to turn to the hints a few times, but, unlike in other games which make me go "there is no way I ever would have gotten that!" (an experience I abhor, like, I imagine, most players), in this game I always went "huh. Yes, yes, I see that. Fair, very fair. I almost had it, or could have had it. I didn't really need to turn to the hints at all". Which is so satisfying! The hints are mostly oblique anyway, they point you towards a certain direction. And that's quite enough.

I only did have to go to the walkthrough once, but that was an issue with syntax. I had actually solved the puzzle, in a sense, but I was trying to PUT something ON something else. The accepted syntax for that situation was to PUT something IN something else instead.

The game has two possible endings, kinda - and offers therefore two goals at the same time, kinda. I stumbled upon the less-optimal one first, and figured I'd explore that to see how it goes. Here's something I loved about this: I was able to fully explore the alternate path (minus the final command) and then break away and go back to the main quest. I really dislike games with multiple endings or solutions (I'm a minority, I know) because it invariably means that I flounder around with items and puzzles that are no longer relevant because I've already solved what they related to. Often without meaning to. It's not like I see a puzzle and see two possible solutions, which would be ok; I stumble into the first solution, then I kinda learn there was an alternative solution, and then I wonder which was best, and then I restore and try the other one, and... it's a mess and I don't like it and that's that.

Sorry about that rant! That does NOT happen in this game. You can, and indeed it's a fun challenge to, pursue the alternative conclusion (you'll know it when you see it taking shape; the initial actions are unclued, but sensible for the player who is experimenting) and then turn onto the main quest.

Now, there is a lot of snark in the parser's attitude.

Let me be clear: I despise games that insult me. I don't play games to be insulted. Period; non-negotiable.

I was quite comfortable with this game. Because it never insulted me. It always spoke to me as "you" but the PC has a name and a backstory; so I never felt insulted. The parser was insulting the PC. I can live with that. At the very outset, it is very unflattering in describing the PC, and making him adventure in just his underwear. It's a juvenile insult/humilliation, but that's pretty much as far as it goes. It will then usually make jabs at the PCs, expense, and yeah, it'll say "you", but it'll mean this PC. So I was ok with it.

The snark isn't just blatantly insults, either. I was amused at the reponse to XYZZY, where it promises to put me on God mode if I type it 9999 more times. And yes, it decreases that counter every time I do. And no, I didn't try it. And yes, I did try some g.g.g.g.g.g shennaningans with copy/pasting from a text editor, just 'cause.

The setting and descriptions are minimalist, which serves puzzlers like this well. Don't get me wrong; there is fluff, mainly in the way of red herring inventory items. But mostly there isn't stuff that actively distracts you from the puzzles.

Had a bit of a bug where I could (Spoiler - click to show)put stuff inside the pill box, but then couldn't take them out, making it clear I wasn't supposed to have put it in there in the first place. I exploited that to solve the puzzle of (Spoiler - click to show)getting the glass out of the pub. If the game allows it, I roll with it.

I was surprised to have a very good time with this game. The setting is meh, the story is blah, the attitude is shrug; but the puzzles themselves were satisfying, and - and here's the important bit - solving them was actually fun. Challenging, but fair - all the way to the end.

I liked this.

EDIT - Having completed the game, I have to say the cover picture is excellent. Brilliant.

This game is part of the incomprehensibly large subset of 'a wizard asks you to collect items' games.

It's also part of the 'parser likes to insult your character' genre.

It also begins with 'my lame apartment', including waking up with a hangover in just your underwear, which is also a surprisingly large genre.

However, it also lets you make about 15 different objects with origami, which is pretty cool.