Sub Rosa

Briefly: both brilliant and enjoyable. The setting is exceptionally creative, well written and internally consistent. There are novel mechanics which are both interesting and intuitive. The ergonomics are, for the most part, excellent: hinting is well calibrated; nearly every object comes into play eventually; boring actions often do themselves when they should; REVIEW reveals just enough; REVEAL ties up all the loose ends. I had to UNDO a few times, but never RESTART.

Hints lead you quickly to at least most of the essential volumes in the vast library, but it's well worth reading every word. The typing that takes does get tiresome; just pace yourself.

I hit only one hitch: that one big puzzle. I've solved many similar puzzles in other contexts; I think what stumped me was that this puzzle was so much more abstract-puzzly than the very organic rest of the game. The walkthrough linked to from IFDB gives, but does not explain the answer, so look elsewhere for gentler hints. It might have helped me just enough to say that (Spoiler - click to show)the song simultaneously masks and reveals the combination.

Though it didn't lessen my enjoyment, it occurs to me afterwards that while the game is extremely strange in places (the opening scene, the protagonist's identity, their equipment) it settles down into being mostly comprehensible, hence intuitive and playable. I would love to see the authors sustain that extreme strangeness through the entirety of some future game. Meanwhile, by all means enjoy and appreciate Sub Rosa!

Non male, intrigante l'idea di catapultarci direttamente in un mondo onirico e surreale senza spiegazioni di sorta, lasciando che la storia ci si sveli pian piano durante l'esplorazione.
Realistica ma un po' tediosa la trovata di dover rimettere ogni cosa a posto prima di andarsene: riuscire a ricordarsi tutto è più impegnativo degli enigmi veri e propri, che in fondo sono pochi (anche se costruiti in modo logico).

First location: Leathery Cliff. I was hooked.

The concept of the game is intriguing: Political espionage to undermine the position of someone of high societal standing.

You break in to a marvelously described and well-implemented mansion to find evidence that the owner of said house has unacceptable secrets. Some of these secrets are hidden in plain sight, others take quite a bit of examining, searching, and doing rather improbable things.

The puzzles range from "Just X and search and you'll find something" to using inconspicuous objects to unusual ends.

Getting out of the house without compromising your own trustworthiness is as important as getting in in the first place. (And both are hard.)

Very good and rewarding game. Very replayable too, if you left some loose ends the first time (or didn't understand where the loose ends came from.)

I generally have a policy of not rating or reviewing games that I haven't played to completion (and worse yet, this game famously has a big Twist Ending of which I am totally unaware), but Sub Rosa is so difficult and yet so enjoyable that I feel compelled to break my policy, so that I don't have to wait until 2050 or whatever to express my appreciation for its writing and worldbuilding.

Because those are really this game's main strengths. When I first played Sub Rosa during the 2015 comp, and got about a room and a half in, I was practically buzzing with joy at how fun, how original this game is. A couple years later, I've calmed down a little, but it's still an absolute joy. As others have mentioned, the library is a particular highlight, but really there's great stuff all over.

However, it is an old-school hard if-puzzle game. I keep losing my save files, not because of any extraordinary technical issues but just because I'm not used to sticking this long with a game that makes you save. Normally I give up on puzzle games pretty quick, but I like the writing in Sub Rosa enough to stick around.

I do wish that the walkthrough was a little bit more comfortably spaced, or that there was a more robust in-game hint system, so that I didn't have to deploy cat-like reflexes to avoid spoiling half the game when I just wanted to get unstuck from one puzzle.

Anyway, excellent game, good enough to convince me to bend my typical preferences and practices in order to stick with it. Like For A Change, this is worth playing even if you're not really an old-school IF type. I'm certainly not, and I'm enjoying it anyway.