Go to the game's main page
Review
Shrapnel messes with your head and with IF conventions in very creative ways. It starts out in typical Zorkian fashion (standing west of a white house) and quickly degenerates into bizarreness.
It has perhaps the most creative implementation I have ever seen. It is completely linear, and just pushes you through a story. It presents scenes out of sequence and you have to piece everything together, and it may take more than one playthrough to understand.
Unfortunately, it contains just about everything that could be considered as inappropriate content. Sexual abuse, violence, racism, and strong profanity. Not recommended for everyone. I felt uncomfortable playing it, but I think I am glad I tried it.
Comments on this review
Previous | << 1 >> | Next
I feel the need to point out (for the benefit of readers who are new to Shrapnel) that the violence, sexual abuse and racism are not portrayed in a positive light. Nor are they used as a cheap shorthand for "see how horrible this villain is" (a criticism that has been levelled against Cadre's use of rape in Varicella). As for swearing, I can't even remember it, but I suspect it was appropriate in the context. This is, for all intents and purposes, a horror game: if it upsets you, it's doing its job.
The only thing that offended me about this game was (Spoiler - click to show)the fellow from the future with his annoying future-slang. That character added a glib, pat note to the story. Quite frankly, I would have enjoyed the game a lot more if the entire situation had been left unexplained.
Talking of crazy time-travel shenanigans ... the original review by MathBrush was posted on Feb 3rd 2016, the reply to this by Christina Nordlander was posted 6 months earlier on Aug 18th 2015!! Spooky!! :)
