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KING OF XANADUby MACHINES UNDERNEATH2024 Fantasy Squiffy
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(based on 5 ratings)
1 review — 8 members have played this game.
And what a lovely place.
CAPTURE SUNBEAMS. KILL SPARROWS. BURY THE MOON.
You are the king of Xanadu. The role comes with certain responsibilities. It is your prerogative and duty to manage the palace estate, ensure the respectability of the legion, and, above all, bless the yearly harvest. It is said that the kings of Xanadu go on to rule in heaven after their death. After your rule is over, how will it be remembered?
You can play this game either by downloading and unzipping the file, or online through this link. The password is 'XANADU'.
Content warning: Contains depictions of hunger, despotism, and mass human suffering.
| Average Rating: based on 5 ratings Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1 Write a review |
This is a short, surreal fantasy piece that I really enjoyed after playing through it twice. I won't go into too much detail on the actual content as it's much better to be surprised, but I was struck by the tense and haunting prose, which is crafted really well at the level of the sentence and contributes to an unforgettable atmosphere. Some of the imagery- the black stalks, the sunbeams, the clockwork- really stuck with me in a way that keeps me wondering about this story hours after I 'completed' the game. I would definitely play any other game by MACHINES UNDERNEATH (although I don't think they've published any others) and if I found out that they had written a novel, I would buy it on the spot!
I did notice a handful of spelling and capitalization errors, which was a shame because the rest of the game was so well polished. I always feel that in very short games where each individual word carries so much weight, it's important to craft each of those words carefully. Even so, I think MACHINES UNDERNEATH did a really great job on this game and I'm going to be thinking about it for a while!