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About the Story
"A short tale of mystery and madness inspired by Poe's "The Raven"." [--blurb from Competition Aught-Zero]
Awards
Nominee, Best Setting; Nominee, Best Puzzles; Nominee, Best Individual PC - 2000 XYZZY Awards
7th Place - 6th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2000)
Ratings and Reviews
| Average Rating:   Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 3 |
This game gives me mixed feelings. On one hand, the constant hunger issue (or addiciion issue) is annoying, and the big puzzle is a "collect an enormous number of items and decipher the formula for a magic spell" puzzle, which I am terrible at.
This game is loosely based on The Raven, diverging into Lovecraft horror near the end.
On the other hand, I loved the beginning of the game, exploring, not knowing what is going on. But I lost interest about a third of the way through. I read through a transcript to see what kind of things were necessary for the rest of the game. It looked interesting, but hinges on a very difficult puzzle.
I recommend everyone at least start the game, and then see how far your interests take you.
Well written, really puts me in the scene., February 9, 2018I was genuinely entertained for hours as I ran this work. The storytelling vividly captures the vibe of ancient mystery and really provokes the imagination.
Nevermore is a loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven. You assume the role of a sad, drug-addled alchemist who seeks to resurrect his lost love Lenore, whose life was claimed by one of his own misguided experiments. The text is moody enough, and the drug-use mechanics are a great touch. However, the game is hamstrung by some convoluted puzzles with vague hints (the alchemical process is inscrutable, and I believe it is possible to lock the game in an unwinnable state by using an item in a certain way before you are done with it). If you enjoy horror IF (particularly Poe and Lovecraft), Nevermore is worth a shot; but don't feel too guilty about using the game's built-in hint system or even resorting to a walkthrough.
4 Off-Site Reviews
Baf's Guide
An adaptation of Poe's "The Raven," though a very loose adaptation--the author has embellished considerably on the scene set in the poem. The result is highly imaginative and, in many ways, faithful to the gothic Poe spirit, though it may be difficult to get used to if you're familiar with the poem and expecting the story to track what's in the text of the poem. The puzzles are mostly good, despite some game design sins--there's repetitive death, for one thing, and a bunch of guidebooks whose "consult" routines are randomized. The atmosphere is nicely done, though, and in a Poe adaptation, that's the most important thing. Has a hint menu.
-- Duncan Stevens
SPAG
This is sounding more negative than I mean to be, because there were parts of Nevermore that I genuinely enjoyed. The ending, for one thing, is terrific--dark and dripping with irony. (In that respect, quite faithful to Poe himself.) Some of the action turns on flashbacks, which also struck me as genuinely Poeish--a protagonist for whom the past is more real than the present absolutely belongs in this game. [...] Through no fault of the game, however, it didn't really connect with me, and I gave it a 7 in the competition.
-- Duncan Stevens
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SynTax
Described as an interactive gothic, Nevermore has intricate inventory-based puzzles and a spooky tower to explore [...]
-- Dorothy Millard
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>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction
Nevermore is IF with marvelous writing and a chilling gothic atmosphere, but until its fundamental design problems are repaired, it will remain as lifeless as Poe's lost Lenore.
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Tags
Game Details
Current Version: Release 10
License: Freeware
Development System: Inform 6
Baf's Guide ID: 915
IFID: ZCODE-10-000928-C5BA
TUID: 0gp3my5d5wi0owtu
Nevermore on IFDB
Recommended Lists
Nevermore appears in the following Recommended Lists:Noteworthy T2 Games [Formerly: Which Can't Be Played on the Web] by Walter Sandsquish
This list was created because TADS 2 didn't have a Web-based 'terp for a long time. It's still here because these games, from long ago, are good enough to not be forgotten.
A timeline of Lovecraftian horror by MathBrush
Lovecraftian games are oddly overrepresented in IF, both among IF in general, and among great IF games. They seem to be a good fit for the exploratory form of parser IF. Most of these games hit up all of the big-ticket Lovecraft items:...
Forgotten Treasures of IFDB by MathBrush
These are games that are great, either in my opinion or in many others, but which have been forgotten. By forgotten, I mean it satisfies the following: 1. Not an IfComp or XYZZY Best Game winner, 2. Not in Best 50 Interactive Fiction...
Polls
The following polls include votes for Nevermore:Games with "recipe puzzles" by Denk
Any game where "recipe puzzles" are a big part of the game, whether it is alchemy, potion brewing, cooking etc. I came to think of this as I am currently playing "According to Cain" and realized the puzzles reminded me a lot of the...
Birds in IF by Wendymoon
What games can you think of with birds in them? What's the bird? Is it important to the game?
Games with Books/Bookshelves/Libraries by Andrew Schultz
I'm interested in games with lots of books you can read through. Maybe it's just a lot of cool titles and authors. Maybe they're randomly or procedurally generated. Maybe they reference pop culture, or maybe they're the author's own...
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This is version 6 of this page, edited by Paul O'Brian on 7 May 2022 at 12:02am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page
