The Architect

You blink into existence. Who, what, where, when, why, how? No clue. You just exist. In a strange room inside a strange household. The occupants whisper about the "Architect." Perhaps this entity can shine some light on your circumstances…

But first: When I stumbled across The Architect, it seemed so lonely. No tags, reviews, or ratings. Not in any polls or lists. No sign that it's been played or added to a wish list (as far as IFDB is concerned). Just quietly sitting there since 2017.

And I ended up having a lot of fun!

Gameplay
Gameplay is broken into puzzles that are activated through character interactions. Everyone is preparing for the “Feast” to be held at the end of the day. The puzzles involve helping the characters prepare, mostly by finding certain items. There are six total. (Spoiler - click to show)Seven, actually, but that’s more of a hidden bonus. They overlap, so the player must be strategic.

You begin "Mariah's Sad"

Leave conversation

The house has roughly a dozen rooms across two floors. Delightfully, you travel from room to room freely like you would in a parser game. NPCs travel the map as well. After multiple playthroughs you start to pick up on their patterns.

There is a digital clock on the wall. It shows —
12:00

Wait

Anita is here. Talk to Anita

You also play against the clock. The game begins at 07:20 and ends at 20:20. Each move to another room costs 00:10. At 20:20, it’s time… for the Feast.

Testing is needed, though. And proofreading for spelling errors. Now, there is no save function. Unfortunately, the inconsistent implementation made, at times, the inability to save more of a frustration than a welcome challenge. I also wish the game displayed your inventory items and active puzzles because it’s too easy to lose track of your progress mid-game.

Also:

Story
The house’s residents reverently namedrop the “Architect.”

Has Anita told you about the Architect? It made us and everything.

A godlike entity and the focal point of the story. I actually approached this as a mystery game with horror undertones. Small things fed this impression: The effigy door. The characters’ insistency of pleasing an unseen, all-knowing being with a semi-ritualistic-sounding Feast. The general uncanniness of the gameplay.

As you open the notebook at your tab you see words written in a strange language. You feel cold all of a sudden.

It’s also evident that you’re being kept in the dark about an event that had occurred but you have no memory of. You catch wind of this when someone slips up and mentions it only to backpedal and deflect. To top it off, the scenes depicted in the cover art primed me into expecting the worst, that surely there is a sinister truth behind the Architect.

Only one way to find out.

Visuals
The Architect is made with Twine and uses a grainy light grey picture of a house as a backdrop. Links are blue and text comes in a range of colours, including colour-coded dialogue. While simple, this design succeeds in giving the game a distinctive look.

Final thoughts
It’s such a waste that this game hasn’t received more attention. Especially as a Twine puzzler. Despite its flaws, The Architect is an overlooked gem. I like that it’s a shortish game that requires many playthroughs to master. Difficult, but rewarding when you win.

That said, its current state makes me hesitant to recommend it for everyone. It would benefit from refinement to address the more… frustrating parts. Stop telling me I can’t find anything in the bathroom. I need that bobby pin. So: If you love turn-count oriented gameplay and/or mapping the whereabouts of moving NPCs, you should definitely try The Architect. Just be patient with the implementation.