Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe

Adapted from an IFCOMP24 Review

What do we make of a well-researched take
of an assault wrought most heinously?
With great resolve, I endeavor to solve
a misdeed pregnant with history.
Bursting and Fausting with rivalrous history.
– some dark poem guy

I feel like I have foregrounded my TADS partisanship enough at this point to totally undermine the reader’s confidence in my impartiality. As much as I’ve belabored the point, prior to this game, I feel like my scoring record stands pretty ok - maybe not statistically level with my overall scoring curve, but plausibly so given the small numbers problem with TADS works (and in tacit recognition of the cast of ROCK STARS that still work in that language). I’m afraid UCEAP will bust my curve on this.

I played this in QTads, which is my recommendation. QTads is the interpreter that supports the entire breadth of TADS, particularly its HTML/graphic capabilities (which are admittedly behind state-of-the-art). Regardless, QTads gives the player the full author-intended experience, which is a treat here.

The narrative is a multiple-time-frame one, simultaneously solving the mystery of the titular literary titan’s assault while providing intriguing historical precedents that figure into the proceedings in satisfying ways. It is all done so confidently. By all, I mean ALL. The parser gameplay is as smooth and refined as I’ve seen. Judicious yet nearly invisible use of cluing text ensures the path forward is never in doubt, even as the particulars might be unclear. It perfectly straddles the line of ‘evocative text’ and ‘unadorned descriptions with followup items implicitly highlighted.’ Even its ‘don’t waste your time here’ text is both clear in intent, and of a piece with its gaslight world. The puzzles are as well integrated into the story as I can recall. There is no wild-when-you-think-about-it ‘add grain to balance to trigger floor mechanism’ type stuff going on. It is all searching for organically integrated clues, navigating gaslight Baltimore, and talking with NPCs.

And oh, those NPCs. The game adopts the ‘suggested topics’ paradigm to help navigate the space and soft focus the player on progress. But NPCs do not stop there. They are as deeply implemented as I’ve seen with incredibly robust vocabularies, opinions and takes. I have yet to hit a “surely you should know about THAT” moment, which I often, often do. Their voices and characters are similarly distinct, both in their service to the plot, and their individual viewpoints and voices. They are also all convincingly rendered of their time, which is no mean feat, given the deep cuts in history we are playing with here.

There is so much going on here that is terrific. I am loathe to try to pick a ‘favorite’ aspect of this work, but boy is the plot in the running. It complicates the seemingly straight forward detective thread with background on the protagonist sleuth that, turns out, is SUPER relevant to the crime. The pacing of these revelations, through intercut flashbacks, is top tier - perfectly navigating that precarious ridgeline of ‘intriguingly engaging’ between the twin precipii (precipii? precipii.) of ‘raw infodump’ and ‘opaquely offputting.’ The chain of clues is well constructed, both in their revelations and in the subtle deductive connections they foster. It delivers a vibe of the best well-researched period detective stories and weird supernatural, resonating satisfyingly to the works of the story’s motivating victim. Talk about aiming high, and hitting the mark!

Have I left any facet untouched? Story - top tier weird historic detective fiction; NPCs - masterful implementation; puzzles - organic, satisfying and well clued; gameplay (as captured in progress journal) - crisp and immersive; presentation - use of limited HTMLTADS maximized. Where does that leave me? I mean, Engaged for sure. But just engaged?

In choosing my top tier adjective as ‘Transcendent’ I kind of put myself in a box. ‘Transcendent’ implies some sort of emotional or intellectual revelation, a dividing line in my soul’s journey between ‘before’ and ‘after’ I have played the work. That is a pretty high implied bar! But it doesn’t have to be that. It could be a more prosaic (but no less accomplished!) transcendence of the work beyond the expectations and limitations of the medium. It could simply be a description of a marriage of story, presentation, characters, gameplay and interactivity so smooth, so entrancing, that I’m not the one transcending by consuming it, it is the work itself rising to take its place among the best of its class.

That’s what this is.

Quoth the reviewer, “Immersion evermore.”
– same dark poem guy

Played: 10/1/24
Playtime: 2hrs, not finished, 12/18 clues
Artistic/Technical ratings: Transcendent/Mostly Seamless
Would Play After Comp?: Seriously? You don’t already know the answer to that question? Did you READ the review??

Artistic scale: Bouncy, Mechanical, Sparks of Joy, Engaging, Transcendent
Technical scale: Unplayable, Intrusive, Notable (Bugginess), Mostly Seamless, Seamless