Dutch Dapper IV: The Final Voyage

In this jaunty romp, you play a space hero/detective investigating a mysterious letter. You must solve a series of puzzles in order to meet your contact, who will presumably take you to the person who has hired you for the investigation. The author mentions in 'about' that he was heavily influenced by Douglas Adams, and portions of the game are a clear reference to the old infocom Hitchhiker's game. However, the game is far from derivative and the jokes throughout are fresh and entertaining.

Likewise, the puzzles are goofy, but sensible in the context of the game. They are also easily solvable with a bit of patience and exploring, but challenging enough to be interesting. The game does feature an inventory limit. However, the author also includes the command 'objects' which will list where all the moveable objects you have interacted with are currently located, which lessens the frustration of dropping inventory objects as you juggle them.

The only real drawback of the game was a few of the parser responses when I was trying to solve one of the puzzles, which made me wonder whether I was trying the correct solution and just hadn't found the correct verb. (As it turned out, I was attempting the wrong action.) I also got a bit frustrated when the game seemed to disallow a certain logical solution to a puzzle for no reason. (Spoiler - click to show)I really thought I should have been able to stand on the stove, but the game just tells me 'There's no need to refer to that in the course of the game.' Likewise, it tells me that the work-top is not something I can stand on. However, being a vertically challenged soul, I have proved otherwise in my own home on numerous occasions.

Overall, the game is highly recommended. I'm thrilled that I happened to stumble upon it on someone else's recommended list and I hope the author writes the sequel as promised.

Dutch Dapper IV is a false sequel; it's the first (and only, I think) Dutch Dapper game. It also has a nice walkthrough by David Welbourn.

This game is a lot like Star Wars or saturday morning cartoons. You have an intro in space which sets up your character and motivations.

After the intro, the game has two main parts and an epilogue. The first main part is in your house, which has a lot of red herrings (including a literal one). The second part is in a Mos Eisly-like alien town, with a casino, bar, pawn shop, etc. You can travel back and forth between these two parts.

The epilogue is exciting, like the prologue. The game promises a sequel, but in a way that seems to mimic the false prequels.

Overall, I recommend it.