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About the StoryLight-hearted (semi-)heroic fantasy. Can an aging apprentice end his apprenticeship with a flourish (and a few new spells to cast)? Game Details
Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: October 1, 2008 Current Version: 1.0 License: Freeware Development System: TADS 2 Forgiveness Rating: Nasty IFID: TADS2-6194AF33423D6F78CAC10A7EF343B54B TUID: hthlkor0xmxcb7v3 |
intfiction.org
Part of a dying breed
Berrost’s Challenge is part of a dying breed. There was a time when a game with hunger and sleep daemons, instant death, limited UNDO ability, inventory weight limits, irreversible no-win paths, and tough puzzles would have been the safe choice. Nowadays, though, even the puzzle-fests steer clear of fantasy settings and magic systems. If today’s IF shows a trend, it’s toward storytelling. This tends to sacrifice what were once the traditional aspects of “text adventures” -- namely, everything that makes the game difficult for a player to complete.
This makes Berrost’s Challenge a shock to the system. This kind of game isn’t dead, but in the context of the annual competition, it seems to be more and more unusual. That’s not to say the IFComp is devoid of puzzle-fests, but much of the time those puzzles aren’t interesting, or they’re completely unsolvable, or the game is so seriously broken that the puzzles simply don’t work. Berrost’s Challenge has problems, yes -- including problems with the very concept of some of its puzzles -- but it comes really close to working just as the author hoped...
[WARNING: FULL REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]
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Undo Restart Restore
Being fun to play outranks technical merits
The author tells us that Berrost's Challenge is a homage of sorts to the Enchanter series. This is all ok and while I haven't played those games myself, the game does have that old times charm. But when you make a homage to old games it doesn't mean you have to repeat the poor design...
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Super Doomed Planet
Standard-issue Extruded Fantasy Product mixed with sub-Zork silly names
Mark Hatfield’s Berrost’s Challenge agressively resisted my attempts to enjoy it...
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v.8: 30-Oct-2021 02:37 -
David Welbourn
(Current Version)
- Edit Page - Normal View
Changed download links | |
v.7: 25-Nov-2019 20:38 - cas Changed IFIDs | |
v.6: 11-Oct-2012 13:12 - OtisTDog Changed external review links | |
v.5: 11-Oct-2012 13:11 - OtisTDog Changed external review links | |
v.4: 11-Oct-2012 12:06 - OtisTDog Changed forgiveness, external review links | |
v.3: 11-Oct-2012 11:35 - OtisTDog Changed forgiveness, external review links | |
v.2: 14-Oct-2008 03:28 - David Welbourn Changed description | |
v.1: 10-Oct-2008 14:35 - Eriorg
Created page |