Spider and Web

Spider and Web is the first IF game I've played in many years, and the first that I actually completed! Don't think that an indication of the lack of difficulty in this game, rather it is due to my renewed interest in the genre.

I thought the narrative framing of the story was very creative and served as a clever way of breaking the story up into smaller segments and treating each as individual challenges. I did find the actual gameplay a little frustrating, between the (Spoiler - click to show)obnoxious modular inventory items and having to (Spoiler - click to show)examine everything to find the right keywords to reveal additional things in the room since they weren't included in the room's description itself. This latter trait was very effectively used in a couple places but was still generally annoying.

There were a few places where information about how things worked was withheld until a future segment which sort of worked okay from a narrative perspective but made it difficult to tell if such challenges were supposed to be solved in the moment or left for later.

While in retrospect I think THE puzzle is extremely smart and narratively well executed, I bounced right off of it on my playthrough. When I first made it into (Spoiler - click to show)the interrogation room outside a flashback, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to (Spoiler - click to show)attach the bomb to the chair, intuiting that I would need to (Spoiler - click to show)use the voice module to activate it when I returned to the interrogation. I was completely unable to make that work of course, so eventually gave up and went on my way.

I was very confused then when (Spoiler - click to show)I did return to the interrogation, to then (Spoiler - click to show)activate the voice module and see that not only did it work, but (Spoiler - click to show)it triggered a completely different device than the one I had attached the voice module to. While I worked through the remainder of the game, I assumed this was actually just a bug in the game that happened to play in my favor, or that the author had not figured out a good way to reconcile (Spoiler - click to show)the interrogations with the flashbacks and so left it a little awkward. (Spoiler - click to show)Items being scattered about places that I hadn't been seemed to confirm this, and I just ignored it and moved on.

While I had grasped (Spoiler - click to show)the time dynamic of the interrogations and that you were (Spoiler - click to show)playing through flashbacks, I completely missed that (Spoiler - click to show)when you're not being interrogated you're not just playing a flashback, but you're playing the lie that you're telling to your investigator and as such (Spoiler - click to show)are an unreliable narrator! That is super smart storytelling, but not at all obvious as a player. I didn't discover that (Spoiler - click to show)the shuffling around of objects was intentional until I had to look up a walkthrough to help me through the segment where the lights go out, since I had no reason to believe I needed to (Spoiler - click to show)go all the way back to the drop ceiling near the beginning of the game. The walkthrough then explained THE puzzle. While it made sense, I also kind of felt sour about it since it felt like (Spoiler - click to show)the game lied to me and there was no way for me to have known. That's not entirely true, but it required a much deeper level of attention and (Spoiler - click to show)meta-analysis than I was expecting to have to give the game.

Overall, I thought this was a good story and a good game, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't a veteran IF player. IF games require a mental model of what you can do and how things work, of how to interact with the world, and this game toys with those concepts. Excellent premise, but the player needs to thoroughly understand those things and be able to conceive of bending those rules to really grasp this work in its entirety.

The first part of Spider and Web plays an intricate game with the expectations about the relations between player, protagonist, narrator, parser-voice and non-player character. It culminates in a cathartic intuition-bomb.

The second part of Spider and Web is a fast-paced, high-stakes escape-run to the end.

It is an amazing experience.

This is one of my all-time favorite IF games. Fun, with lots of depth - one of the most memorable games I've played. I could not recommend this more strongly!

In high school I was in an abusive relationship; the song "Push" by Matchbox20 resonated with me so much that it became and still remains one of my favorite songs. Is it a great song? I don't know. I only know that it stirs within me something raw and profound.

I feel the same way with Spider and Web when it comes to "The Puzzle." I've been playing adventure games and puzzle games non-stop since I first played King's Quest in 1985 and there is no other puzzle that makes me feel this way. In my first playthrough twenty years ago, it gave me chills. I played it again this week, knowing the answer, and that familiar wave came over me again. I am in love with this puzzle. I want to marry it and have brilliant puzzle babies.

I could try to break down why it gives me all the feels. Perhaps it's the gradual buildup that is extremely well-clued but never obviously so. Perhaps it's the oneupmanship over the interrogator. Perhaps it's the extraordinary gift of getting to play back the entire game in your mind up to that point with the knowledge bestowed upon realizing the answer. Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter. No logical argument will sway my adoration nor my reverence.

For those who are fortunate enough to read this review and have the opportunity to play Spider and Web for the first time, for all that is good and holy do not resort to a walkthrough. If you must, use the Invisiclues linked to on the main page. And be patient with yourself. Let the game play you.

Please don't mistake my adulation for belief in perfection. There are parts I'm not a huge fan of. The gadgets could come with more of a tutorial, especially since our spy is an expert with them. And the end puzzle itself doesn't really fit in with the theme of the rest, leading to a whimper of a conclusion. But our loves don't need aspire to perfection. They just have to sing to us in a way that will touch our hearts and stay there forever.

Spider and Web is one of the most famous interactive fiction games, appearing at or near the top of several lists of Best IF. While I personally have enjoyed some other games more, Spider and Web is still in my top 10. I believe that part of its fame is its ability to draw in every kind of gamer; the story is interesting, the puzzles are hard but get easier with each failure, and those that don't know what to do after the transition mentioned in the game's ABOUT text can still feel great about their accomplishments.

In this science fiction game, you encounter a wide variety of technological devices. You must learn how they work. It' shard to be more specific without giving away plot details.

The game has two brilliant innovations. One is the puzzle it is most famous for, which causes the big transition I mentioned above. Most walkthrough said refuse to give the solution to this puzzle, as a gift to first time players. It took me a day to get over the shock of solving it.

The second innovation is the narrative structure. It frames the game in a way that no one had done as successfully before, and provides an interesting mechanic for hints.

Everyone should play it at least once. I played it the first week I started IF five years ago, and I played it last month, and it was great both times.

Spider and Web is the perfect distillation of an IF story that is designed entirely around a particular conceit. I'd say there's no way this story could be told in another medium, but (Spoiler - click to show) The Usual Suspects has a very similar structure, though it involves the viewer as dupe rather than Spider and Web's very clever involvement of the reader as the creator of the deception. I enjoyed Spider and Web very much; it's a reasonably short, well contained experience that shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in how interactivity can work in novel ways.

So, as this game seems to be praised by everyone, I finally decided to check it out. It is hard to give a review about this game without spoilers, so read with care. It starts with a scene that let's you think you are a tourist, but the player will very soon be taught better.

In the first part of the game two kinds of scenes take turn -- the protagonist tries to retrace what he previously did, and if there is something deviant from the actions that happened before the actual gameplay, the gameplay will move to an interrogation room where the player is told why it cannot have happened like he tried it. These interludes are helpful, they give hints what to do. The player has to work with certain gadgets found in the inventory. It is fine to experiment with them -- if something is not correct, the game will switch to the interrogation, and the situation can be replayed. The conversational system is quite simplified and reminds of a platonic dialogue: the player can only confirm or negate the questions of the interrogator. It is easy, but sufficient.
It all changed for me when the protagonist's life was at stake for the first time. I had read some comments before, it had been inevitable; and there had been remarks that the game contains one outstanding puzzle -- and there it was. Thinking about actions that might have effect -- no matter how likely they would succeed -- I tried something, and then something happened that changed my whole point of view about the situation. Yes, the voices had been right. This puzzle is one of the best I have ever encountered. It is perfectly integrated into the storyline.
It is advisable to save the game frequently during the second part, especially in the end game. There are tough situations and the player has a hard time not making a mistake. These moments come very close to what we call stealth action, in a text-based version -- it is excellently managed to convey a feeling of being pursued and trying to evade from the scene. The second part may be a bit tedious, because the puzzle conjoining the parts has too much of an actual climax. But it still fits the frame.

So, what is the conclusion? The game may be a bit too tough for beginners, but everyone who likes interactive fiction has to play it sooner or later. This is a masterpiece.

Play it if: you want a short, sweet line of puzzles with a couple of good twists.

Don't play it if: you want a less linear, more open game that lets you take your time and explore, or a spy story that focuses less on plot and more on theme.

At least at the time of its release, Spider and Web was obviously a novel concept for IF, if not so much for storytelling in general (connections to Rashomon have already been pointed out, but let's not forget The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; and The Usual Suspects, which had hit the theaters in 1995). Me, I came to IF relatively recently barring Zork I, so the historical impact of the game is lost on me. But does it hold up by itself?

Yes. Putting aside the then experimental nature of the game, this is still an appreciably good bit of IF. One thing I've always liked about the medium is that, aside from the really early history, IF can age extremely well, and this is one work which feels like it could have been written yesterday.

Aside from a couple of people who seem not to have finished the game, there's not much other than high praise for Spider and Web here. Most of the positive aspects of the game have already been outlined. So I'll mostly skip that, except to say that I really love games like this and Sean Barrett's The Weapon, where you have to discover and solve at the same time, and do it under observation (it really adds a sense of urgency and pizzazz to the puzzle-solving process). Instead I'll take the time to address some of its flaws.

This is necessarily spoiler-heavy, so...

(Spoiler - click to show)In terms of gameplay before the big reveal, there are one or two moments which feel somewhat underclued. The lockpick distraction method doesn't entirely make sense to me, not least because the lockpick strikes me as the tool a master infiltrator would be least likely to part with. I might as well have just thrown the minilamp, surely? It didn't also make much sense to me that the functions of each dial on the timer weren't explained in the descriptions of the dials; pretty much everything that wasn't intuitive for the other tools was explained upon examination, so why not the timer?

The game does lose a lot of my interest after the big reveal, and I think it's because the climactic sequence is longer than it really needs to be. In a longer game with more varied puzzles I would have found it acceptable, but choreographing your efforts to complete the game takes up enough of the gameplay time that it feels like another game tacked on. It doesn't help that the puzzles bear little relation to what you've been doing up until that point, with the exception of the common geography.

I accept that it might have been difficult to squeeze the post-escape sequence into just a few paragraphs of exposition, and there's no honest middle ground between the two options...but then I simply have to chalk it up to the story being written into a corner, albeit an enjoyable one. The Usual Suspects, in contrast, basically ends with that analogous twist and, regardless of whether or not you appreciated the plot that came before, I think it's fairly obvious that setting the film's climax after that reveal would have been a lot less punchy and a lot more tedious.

I also have mixed feelings about the discussion of moral concepts in the story. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for Cold War narratives and the murky worlds of arms escalation and espionage, but in order for such narratives to work you need the other side to give you something to work with, and while the interrogator has a good deal of personality the PC has almost none (aside from a few flashes of attitude in the first couple of turns). While the conceit of having the PC know more than the player is well-done, it would have worked even better had it been connected with the moral dimension of the story. If the PC actually responded to the interrogator with opinions and ideas, it would have added an extra layer to the intrigue: is what you're saying part of the patter to get him to accept your story, or is it actually what you believe? Or is it even both? The ambiguity in the game is purely external - by which I mean it affects the plot, not the actual stances and opinions of the player character.

In the end, this is still a very good game, and I would argue, worth your time. It's not really a masterpiece, though. A generally well-done employment of one or two neat tricks in a story short enough for them not to outstay their welcome.

I quite enjoyed this game - once I figured it out. I found myself trapped for some time, but once I got past that, the game got awesome. I love the ending(s). All great.(Spoiler - click to show) My favorite is, of course, the part where you use the acid to escape. I love that former knowledge and understanding of all the tools at your disposal give you the answer to the puzzle. And the answer is very simple. of course, the whole fact that the player starts knowing nothing is slightly frustrating, it also leads to an excellent result :) certainly one of the best pieces of interactive fiction I have played so far. Good stuff! I look forward to readig more of your work.

I have to honest. I did not make it through this game. I was full of excitement when I started to play, but as soon as I typed 'i' and was carrying nothing of importance -- and later discovered this wasn't entirely true -- I became a little annoyed. I understand the reasoning behind this (because the player knows nothing at the start) but I found the handicap of this sort of play to be more bothersome than cool. The last straw for me was... (Spoiler - click to show)hiding from the guards. I knew I had to distract them with a noise and spent more than an hour trying to put together different pieces of spy equipment (voice transmitter, etc.) to throw them off. When I finally looked up the answer and saw all I had to do was throw a metal object, I decided to stop playing. In other words, there seemed to be endless combinations of how I could distract the guards, yet none of them worked -- which disappointed me.

I would recommend this game to anyone who loves tinkering with gadgets and doesn't mind a somewhat forced-control sort of environment. This just wasn't the right game for me.