The Act of Misdirection

by Callico Harrison

Fantasy, Historical, Horror
2004

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Reviews and Ratings

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Number of Ratings: 68
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- Harry Coburn (Atlanta, GA), February 24, 2016

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Unique and 'magical' opening, well-implemented but standard middle and finale, February 3, 2016

This game is set in old London. The first act is amazing; you play a magician in the middle of an act. The level of detail in the opening is astonishing, and is a must-play for every IF fan.

Sadly, the game goes downhill from there. It is still a very good game, but nothing can compare to the opening. You spend the rest of the game trying to understand more of your background and visiting various mundane or mysterious locales.

The game takes less than an hour to play. Some of the puzzles are very hard, and getting the 'best' solution requires that you bring some objects with you from one area to another, with no chance to backtrack if you missed them.

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- Aryore, December 13, 2015

- Ivanr, October 13, 2015

- CMG (NYC), September 15, 2015

- Indigo9182, June 7, 2015

- Lanternpaw, May 16, 2015

- dosgamer, April 12, 2015

- Thrax, March 12, 2015

- cabalia (Ohio), March 2, 2015

- shornet (Bucharest), March 23, 2014

- bluevelvetwings, January 7, 2014

- KidRisky (Connecticut, USA), December 20, 2013

- John Simon (London), October 31, 2013

- verityvirtue (London), October 14, 2013

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Real Gem, October 13, 2013
by streever (America)

This is a strong game with excellent narration and very clever plotting.

Don't be put off trying it by the critical reviews. Bad IF rarely receives actual reviews, and I suspect most authors criticize parts of this piece because it is very, very good.

I am unaware of anything else Harrison has written, which is a shame. I do hope that this author creates more interactive fiction at some point.

The good:
> An original story with an interesting twist.
> Many well-written characters and dialogue.
> An alternate ending which you are incredibly unlikely to get on a first play-through.
> Freedom and choice in the first half, although, with many constraints.

The less-good:
> Linear story (This isn't a contradiction--the story is linear, even railroading you into actions and choices, but you have a surprising degree of freedom in how you make those actions, which allows for a very fun early game on your second play)
> An alternate ending which you receive no clues or suggestions to achieve. I suspect most if not all players would not realize that an alternate was possible if not for the author informing them.
> Several minor typos.
> The occasional "purple prose" example.
> Some strange action/verb choices.
> No follow-up work from Harrison, which is a shame.

All in all, I enjoyed this game immensely. Very fun and very well-written.

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- Jason Lautzenheiser (Navarre, Ohio), August 16, 2013

- Egas, August 4, 2013

- luftmensch (Germany), May 8, 2013

- Floating Info, April 3, 2013

- deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN), February 7, 2013

- StrawberryFields (DC Area), December 17, 2012

- platy, September 13, 2012

- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), August 21, 2012

- E.K., August 16, 2012


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