Bakemono no Sekai - World of Monsters

A fascinating PunyInform game based on Japanese mythology.

The game starts off with a really thorough and solid tutorial – the Garry Francis model for tutorials has been well studied and used as inspiration here, including the classic ‘pocket as a container’. There are also occasional but well-placed further tutorial hints elsewhere in the game when players might encounter a command new to them.

The game starts out fairly slow and standard, with an introduction about arriving back in your hometown to meet a friend. The descriptions of the ryokan are lush and beautiful, and it all feels very relaxing and then… combat! Out of nowhere in this seemingly staid Japanese bathhouse setting! Yes, you do have to fight the occasional monster in this game - the combat is simple and puzzle-based, but very fun.

I thought the game might be a bit big when I left the first building, but it turned out to be a really nice size. The puzzles are straightforward and well clued, and the list of important topics provided in the notepad neatly avoids the guess-the-topic issue usually inherent in ASK X ABOUT Y dialogue systems.

There are a few small bugs and occasional writing errors, but nothing major.

I did encounter some slightly buggy stuff with the final puzzle, but it turned out to be because I did things in the wrong order and it worked itself out once I corrected it.

The reveal at the end is nice. Overall this is a really enjoyable game, especially if you’re interested in Japanese culture and mythology, and it works out at a good level for beginners.

This is an interesting game, entered into the Text Adventure Literacy Jam. It explores a small village and hotel in rural Japan, and includes a variety of Japanese monsters.

The emphasis here is definitely on introducing aspects of Japan to outsiders; I see the author has, on the itch page, credited others with help on being accurate, which is nice. The game goes into loving detail over the names of different mats, cabinets, etc. and includes a notepad with interesting terms and an encyclopedia/dictionary to look them up in.

My favorite part was the ending reveal, which I didn't see coming at all but seemed clear in retrospect.

The game does suffer a bit in implementation. Many objects are referred to by names that you cannot use for them (like 'friend' for your friend) and you can only CONSULT BOOK ABOUT _____ instead of LOOK UP _____ IN BOOK (which I could have sworn was Inform's default behavior anyway). A few interactions weren't clear to me (at one point I had no money, but once I did it didn't show up in inventory and I could buy tons of different things).

Overall, the enthusiasm of the author in presenting Japan feels like a big positive. My only drawbacks were some of the above-mentioned implementation issues, and a moderate lack of variation in the narrator's emotional tone, but they were enough to limit my overall enjoyment.