The Babysitter

What The Babysitter is about is very well depicted in the blurb. The game is addressing players who are either very young or very new to IF. The game world is small (but offers space for exploration), no walls of text, the parser is solid, the content is straightforward - to me the game is a bit boring (hence the three stars), but for the afore-mentioned target groups it's actually quite good I think! Two remarks: The puzzles are somewhat generic, and to progress you need to (Spoiler - click to show)do chores that a babysitter wouldn't normally do.

My playtime was around 15 minutes.

Mr. and Mrs. Graham have hired you to watch over their daughter while they go to the movies. This might prove to be a problem.

The Babysitter by Garry Francis is a remake of Midnight Emergency by John H. Doolittle. I have never played Midnight Emergency and therefore cannot comment on how faithful this remake is to the source material.

The game places you into the role of Veronica, a teenage girl who often does odd jobs in order to fund her mobile phone addiction. Tonight your odd job is babysitting Anna, a mischievous little girl who enjoys hiding in the most unusual of places. In order to complete the game, you must find Anna and return her to her rightful bed before her parents return home.

The entire game takes place in a two-story house. While this environment might come across as boring to players more accustomed to fantasy realms and alien planets, I found that the mundane setting and practical locations did a lot to give the game its own identity. The room descriptions are brief but serviceable. I hardly need an author to write a novella in order to describe what a broom closet looks like.

The gameplay involves puzzle-solving and exploration. The puzzles are logical and usually centered around doing household chores. The house is easy to navigate and the difficulty is forgiving without any way to fail or lock yourself out of a victory. I was able to complete and 100% the game without a walkthrough.

While seasoned IF players might enjoy The Babysitter, I would actually highly recommend it to people new to IF. It is a small game, but there is enough here to teach you the basic mechanics of the text adventure. Also, the plot is lighthearted and wholesome, with a focus on taking responsibility for your actions.

The Babysitter is a clever and unique puzzler. I highly recommend it.