The Swormville Sweep

There is a common saying from the past several years that goes something like: "Be careful about what you post online as it will stay there forever." This saying is nonsense for two reasons. First, anything that exists online is subject to being wiped and forgotten at any point, no exceptions. Second, even if you don't or can't go online, some part of you will likely end up there anyway. The things we want to stay will cease to exist while our own simulacra march onward, usually without our knowledge. This is the world The Stormville Sweep was born into.

The Stormville Sweep is a short (1-2 hour) puzzle game built entirely using a Google Maps feature that allows users to highlight and write descriptions for waypoints on a map. Here, ~20 locations in the titular hamlet have been selected to contain a clue pointing to another location on the map. Along with each clue is a letter which spell out a secret message when placed in order. The process of deciphering clues varies between each location. Some clues involve piecing together cartographic information about the locations themselves, while others involve knowledge about the inhabitants of Stormville. Many of the games' riddles combine both approaches. I found the former cartographic riddles to be more straightforward since the game interface is a mapping tool. Clues involving the inhabitants of Stormville will likely require performing outside research to learn about who was related to who, and in what ways.

Despite the game being built on Google Maps, I think this is the most interesting thing The Stormville Sweep does. Through the use of real people and places, The Stormville Sweep begins to form something resembling a narrative. This narrative has half of a setting: there are places, but there is no definite time. While the riddles and clues the gameplay is based on tend to deal with people and events from the 19th and 20th centuries, the map of Stormville is a modern one: there is a Tim Hortons less than a mile away. Some of the clues even reference the discrepancies between the Stormville of the past, and the Stormville of the present.

In the same way that there is an almost-setting, there are also almost-characters: the people who used to live in Stormville. While playing, you will necessarily learn little bits of information about these people, but you can never form a complete picture of any one of them. Trying to do so goes beyond the bounds of what the game asks of you while also getting progressively more difficult the deeper you go, such is the way of history. I found the research I did over my play session into these people to be mostly pleasant, although it did bring up some strange questions for me about the function of online family history archives. Who compiles the information on these sites? Why? For whom?

I do not know for how long The Stormville Sweep will be playable, at least in its current state. Google could delete the specific Google Maps features used to make this game (it has been known to happen), the map itself could be updated, and sooner or later the world will also change. The people of Stormville might be lost or become tucked away behind a paywall or a physical trip to a library. I do not know which will give first, but at least for now I can say that Stormville Sweep is pretty fun.

The Swormville Sweep is a treasure hunt puzzle made in GoogleMyMaps, set in the village of Swormville, USA. The map has 15~ pre-selected locations, each with a little blurb about its creation, sometimes how it fared over the years, and a picture of its last recorded state. Through those, you don’t just learn about the town, how it got to be and evolved, you also collect a character - needed to solve the treasure hunt and find the secret final spot.

Like any good treasure hunt, from the starting location, you are given clues about the next location to check out (and the next character to collect). The clues are pretty varied in terms of type (e.g. family relations vs. architecture) and details. Some clues are obvious enough, while others will require making a guess or doing a bit more sleuthing on the internet. There is also a cool side guide, on the game page, which provides further detail on each location.

Though it took me much longer than I care to admit struggling to solve the puzzle (I had to restart a few times because my notes made no sense after a while), it was a fun way of being an online tourist in the small town, and learning some fun tit-bit about it. While novel in the medium use, it reminded me a bit of the author’s other town-focused game, Blossom, NY, in the share-some-obscure-knowledge-about-a-small-town way. It was a fun (if not at times frustrating) digital promenade, with a good use of the medium chosen.