The Art of Fugue

This game is completely story-less; it's a series of clever logic puzzles. I *LOVE* logic puzzles, especially tricky ones. In fact, a few of these had me tearing my hair out and I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun.

The goal of each puzzle is clearly stated in bold-type at the beginning of each puzzle, and stated again upon using the command "look". So, for example, the goal of the first puzzle is to get all the characters to ring a gong on the same turn. There are four characters in each puzzle (Een, Twee, Drie, and Vier). The trick to the game is that upon typing a command, Een will execute that command immediately, Twee will execute that command on the second turn, Drie on the third turn, and Vier on the fourth turn (hence the clever title of the game). There are 8 total puzzles in the game, and it is possible to move between puzzles if you become stuck. Unfortunately, I encountered a fatal error in the seventh puzzle and had to exit the game. However, I enjoyed the other 6 puzzles enough to award the game 4 stars.

For any like-minded puzzle-lovers out there who enjoy a bit of logic with their morning coffee, this game is highly recommended. The concept is original and a few of the puzzles are quite challenging. After solving each puzzle, the game tells you how many turns you took to solve the puzzle and the fewest number of turns in which the puzzle can be solved, which gives the game a modicum of replayability for anyone who wants the challenge of finding the optimal solution. The end of each game also offers the opportunity to display the actions you took so you can record your solution for later analysis. A hint for anyone playing it: Glulxe has a scrollback feature that is accessed from a button at the top of the screen. It's highly useful for discovering which actions are cued up for each character.