Cragne Manor

by Ryan Veeder profile, Jenni Polodna profile, Adam Whybray, Adri profile, Andrew Plotkin profile, Andy Holloway, Austin Auclair profile, Baldur Brückner, Ben Collins-Sussman profile, Bill Maya profile, Brian Rushton profile, Buster Hudson profile, Caleb Wilson profile, Carl Muckenhoupt profile, Chandler Groover profile, Chris Jones, Christopher Conley profile, Damon L. Wakes profile, Daniel Ravipinto, Daniel Stelzer profile, David Jose, David Petrocco, David Sturgis, Drew Mochak, Edward B, Emily Short profile, Erica Newman, Feneric profile, Finn Rosenløv profile, Gary Butterfield, Gavin Inglis profile, Greg Frost profile, Hanon Ondricek profile, Harkness Munt profile, Harrison Gerard, Ian Holmes, Ivan Roth profile, Jack Welch profile, Jacqueline Ashwell profile, James Eagle, Jason Dyer profile, Jason Lautzenheiser profile, Jason Love profile, Jeremy Freese profile, Joey Jones profile, Joshua Porch, Justin de Vesine, Justin Melvin, Katherine Morayati profile, Kenneth Pedersen profile, Lane Puetz, Llew Mason, Lucian Smith profile, Marco Innocenti profile, Marius Müller profile, Mark Britton, Mark Sample profile, Marshal Tenner Winter profile, Matt Schneider profile, Matt Weiner profile, Matthew Korson, Michael Fessler, Michael Gentry profile, Michael Hilborn profile, Michael Lin, Mike Spivey profile, Molly Ying, Monique Padelis, Naomi Hinchen, Nate Edwards profile, Petter Sjölund profile, Q Pheevr profile, Rachel Spitler, Reed Lockwood profile, Reina Adair, Riff Conner, Roberto Colnaghi profile, Rowan Lipkovits profile, Sam Kabo Ashwell profile, Scott Hammack profile, Sean M. Shore profile, Shin profile, Wade Clarke profile, Zach Hodgens profile, and Zack Johnson

2018

Web Site

Go to the game's main page

Member Reviews

Number of Reviews: 6
Write a review


28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
An enormous collaboration horror game, December 8, 2018
by MathBrush
Related reviews: more than 10 hours

I've played and reviewed over 1500 interactive fiction games, and there has never been anything like Cragne Manor.

This game was written by 84 authors. Some authors (including me) wrote small rooms with one minor puzzle, or, occasionally, only one.

Others wrote rooms that themselves could be entered into IFComp and do well, including complicated conversational games, (Spoiler - click to show)a miniature version of Hadean Lands, a monster breeding game, and story-focused cutscenes.

The game is a mishmash of different styles and levels of implementation. One room might be the most elaborate and smooth game you've ever seen, with varied tenses, custom parser responses, and complex state tracking; while another room might be basically a pile of dirt with nothing implemented. Puzzles range from super easy to very unfair.

For fans of big puzzle games, people who wish that longer games would be released, Infocom fans, fans of any of the people in the author list, conversational games, or IF in general, this game will provide hours of enjoyment.

As a warning, this game is overwhelming. It has 500K+ words, which is huge for parser games. As a comparison, Blue Lacuna had less than 400K, and much of that was devoted to verbose text descriptions. This game is just pure content. This game is longer than Curses!, Mulldoon Legacy, Worlds Apart, and roughly the same size as Finding Martin.

Prepare for the sinking in your stomach you will experience as you open a door to find another 6 or 7 rooms, each with their own fully-fleshed out puzzles. Prepare to keep notes for information you find in the game, tracking the many keys and doors.

The content warnings for the game are accurate. Every author has their own style, so some rooms have more of profanity or explicit content than others. I would say that maybe one or two rooms has anything sexual, and about a dozen rooms have violence or gore running from silly to horrifying.

As of writing this, there is no walkthrough, although that will likely be remedied soon. With the help of many of the authors, as I tested this game, I still took well over ten hours to beat this. Expect a long, long, long play time.

Perhaps the last thing I'd like to say about Cragne Manor is that this is almost like a little IFComp of its own. The number of games in the two is similar and the quality of the entries is similar, except that even the weakest rooms in this game have been tested and worked on as a group, and all the rooms in this game support each other, instead of fighting against each other.

Please enjoy this wonderful game.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

Comments on this review

Previous | << 1 >> | Next

Danielle, December 9, 2018 - Reply
I have a backlist of IF to play (not including all the IFComp winners I haven't played) and I lately have an allergy to long long games. But this review was so good I went ahead and gave it a go online. Then I realized it was more a (blissful sigh) traditional Inform7 parser game. I downloaded the game file, exported my online save, and...yeah. I haven't been this enamored of an IF in a while. I will probably be trapped! and may never finish because it is SO LONG (previous IF came in four sizes for me: short, medium, long, and The Muldoon Legacy). But right now I am really digging it. I won't rest until I (Spoiler - click to show)steal that sex lion book.

Can we also please applaud the wonderful backpack and coffee mechanics?

[Edit] Anyone know anywhere I can get hints? I'm at the bridge. (Spoiler - click to show)I know how to breathe underwater, and I know how to get something to glow temporarily, but I can't seem to grok how to keep the glow going, even with my plastic bubble.
MathBrush, December 9, 2018 - Reply
Check intfiction.org, there's a hint thread there!
Danielle, December 10, 2018 - Reply
Many thanks! I slept on the bridge puzzle a few days and BING got it but it's great to know where a thread's at!
Previous | << 1 >> | Next