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Review
While many of the entries in the TALP 2024 took the more classic Western fairy tale approach, Bakemono no Sekai went in a different direction, with Japanese fairy tales, and it served as a sort of double tutorial for Japanese folk tales, culture and terminology, as well as text adventures. I don't particularly need the second, but I was glad to have the first. I'd heard a lot of the terms off and on, but here I had sort of a chance to ask about them and interact with them, via an NPC and a book in the library. People interested in Japan on the Internet get a bad rap, rightfully or not, but this was straightforward and did not drown me in information. Just small additional descriptions where needed. It kept the focus on what I might want to know, not what it id.
Although you have mythical beasts to kill, it's a relaxed affair, as they're not the super powerful type. They're more the sword born out of people's fears, who just annoy them and distract them from doing what they really want. But there's something odd going on here, because they don't just vanish, but they leave behind a sort of black powder. I was able to guess what that black powder was, and I feel smart about this, though I may not have seen the full ending. The game revolves around you solving this mystery, and there isn't a whole lot of abstract stuff to do, but there's enough. You have a notepad with tracks down things you need to ask about, and later you find a book at a library that tells you about it.
About the only real puzzle is finding money to buy stuff at a shop, and you only need to find one coin to buy three or four things. There's also a puzzle about finding light, but it's relatively trivial. it does involve blowing past the game's warning saying, "Oh, sure, you can search something if you want, why not?" So maybe that's a bit artificial, but there aren't a whole lot of false trails, so you probably will say, okay, I might as well look.
PunyInform seems like a good tool for this. I don't want too much too fast at me, and this felt about right, giving twelve or so things to ask about at the start and pushing you forward once you've asked eight. You can't leave your house until you do, and then you go to town and discover a library which offers more information. Along the way you pick up some items which seem like they'll be useful, and you're not sure how, but removing the curse has a small ritual which I also found effective.
Games about Japanese culture have a bad rap, based on the sort of stereotypical person who like them, but this and others that I've played via comps has turned out very well. I'm not surprised this did well in the TALP contest. There aren't any big tricks or bends in the map, but it is big enough that you do feel you're walking through a town and its outskirts, and the few puzzles you need to figure are satisfying while not crushingly difficult. One final thing: I didn't know enough to be fully moved by the twist at the end, only recognizing some of the terms, but I was still able to stand back a bit and say it was nicely done.
