The Story of Mr. P

As an Inform 7 author, I was curious to explore this surreal world of Mr. P. The map for the game was straightforward enough and I quickly sketched it out. I was disappointed I could not ask my wife any questions. The default interactions showed me the game was well-tested. I spotted no bugs. The path through the game felt very controlled and it kept me on track. The game interactions were brief and I never felt I was being tricked. I was able to (Spoiler - click to show)move the wardrobe aside to access the empty room but was never sure why that was valuable. (Spoiler - click to show)So the couple is childless. So what? So Margaret keeps a spotless house? So what?

The trip to the office was uneventful and therefore disappointing. I was hoping to understand the office characters at a deeper level, but that wasn't important apparently. I was surprised by the (Spoiler - click to show)rotten meat in my lunch bag but this wasn't satisfactorily explained. I assume we are to accept odd happenings like that because the game is "surreal." But know this: when basic questions are left unanswered, the player is left unsatisfied. That's why only 3 stars for this review.

Exploring the park was odd and at times surprising. I especially liked (Spoiler - click to show)poking the clouds with the stick to transform them into candy That was imaginative, but didn't really further the story.

Unfortunately, I spent a lot of my time waiting for things to happen and wandering from place to place. There were clearly timer counts in the game that waited a certain number of turns before something significant would happen. I wish these waits were shorter or the engagement with the characters would have furthered the story.

The climax of the story was the (Spoiler - click to show)wife swap which really got my attention. Unfortunately, with little explanation, the story abruptly ended with the cryptic message " *** Colorful (6/8) ***"

I wonder what that means. I assume it was a score.