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The Apothecary's Assistant

by Allyson Gray profile

2024
Fantasy, Slice of life
Twine

(based on 5 ratings)
1 review13 members have played this game. It's on 2 wishlists.

About the Story

OPENING HOURS

Monday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday: 5 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Wednesday: CLOSED
Thursday: 2 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.
Friday: 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Saturday: 12:30 p.m. – 3:21 p.m.
Sunday: 12 a.m. – 11:59 p.m.

This game is meant to be played over a minimum of six sessions of approximately 5 minutes each, across a period of multiple days or weeks.

NOTE (added Sep 30): The shop is shutting down temporarily in about two weeks! While it should be possible to start playing at any time before the end of IFComp, it's recommended to complete a first session as soon as possible for an optimal experience. A post-comp version is also planned for release later this year, at which time the store will reopen for business permanently.

Awards

Ratings and Reviews

5 star:
(2)
4 star:
(3)
3 star:
(0)
2 star:
(0)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating: based on 5 ratings
Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A game that changes every real-time day you play it, September 27, 2024
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This game is very unusual. It changes based on the calendar day.

The idea is that you are helping out at a shop in a fantasy setting and are paid in acorns. Each calendar day you can earn acorns by completing a task (usually selecting between two pictures based on a description), solve some cryptic crossword clues, and talk to the shop owner. Then there is nothing else you are allowed to do, so you can just wait until the next day.

I had struggled before with completing Ryan Veeder's Authentic Fly Fishing, a game with similar mechanics. Before, I couldn't put a finger on why.

Now I think I know. The issue is that every day I choose for myself the most important things I need to get done. During IFComp, playing a new game is one of those tasks. Finishing a game I'm in the middle of is important, too. But doing a small amount of work in an ongoing task somehow feels less important than starting or finishing, so I shelve it.

Then, days later, I come back to it, not remembering anything. When I play a game all at once or over several days, I immerse myself in it and focus on it, holding all the plot in my head as well as I can. Then I mentally summarize it to myself and let all the rest leak out of my brain, leaving only the summary, and whenever I think of the game, that's what I think of.

With this game and Fly Fishing, I never had a chance to digest the whole game. Because I played out of context each day, I didn't know what was important to remember. So I honestly have no clue how the game started or what the setting exactly is. I think we're in a magical fairy forest and the shopkeeper is a kind of animal, and there was a page given us at one point. But I couldn't say more than that.

Of course I could have looked it up for this review, but I wanted the author to get a glimpse into my deranged mind to see what one player's experience was like.

The cryptic crossword clues were fun, albeit hard (like most such to me). Upon my request, the author made a very helpful visual crossword that made it a bit easier. I also used some online crossword dictionaries, but didn't look at others' hints. The thing that got me most stuck early on was that I was convinced that the clue (Spoiler - click to show)small demon would certainly have (Spoiler - click to show)a different solution each time, and was shocked as I realized today (after two weeks of thinking about it) that that wasn't so.

Overall, the game is creative and polished, and provides interactivity that's engaging. Due to its format, I struggled to hold onto a summary of the plot in my mind.

The game also had a charity donation segment, but I'm not including that in my score, as I wouldn't want it to become a trend for games to get upvoted based on financial donations the author makes (or to get downvoted for not doing so). I don't think it's bad, I just think it should be separate from the scoring system.

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Game Details

Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: September 1, 2024
Current Version: 1.00
License: Freeware
Development System: Twine
IFID: DFC6C8AB-51CB-49DB-87A1-85F86312C890
TUID: 60bmufqvqaqav08b

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This is version 11 of this page, edited by Ally on 30 September 2024 at 8:04pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page