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Number of Ratings: 76
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Previous | << 1 2 3 4 >> | Next | Show All - streever (America), August 14, 2016
- Aryore, August 2, 2016
- Denk, May 16, 2016
- Teaspoon, March 27, 2016
7 of
7 people found the following review helpful:
An extremely large Lovecraftian horror game with Shakespearean influence, February 3, 2016This ultra-long game will appeal to three kinds of people: Shakespeare fans, Lovecraft horror fans, and realistic simulation fans. The amount in which the game succeeds will vary depending on the audience.
As a fan of Shakespeare, this game was wonderful. I was skeptical of someone trying to write dialogue for Shakespeare, but this game succeeded fairly well. Shakespeare didn't necessarily talk in as flowered language as he writes, so it works out. The game contains several references to plays William is considering writing (a story about an island in the New World, a story about witches written, etc.). It contains numerous quotations, mainly from Hamlet, and your character (Spoiler - click to show)attends the premier of Hamlet. Other people involved in the game include Christopher Marlowe and John Dee. If you are a fan of Shakespeare or Elizabethean times, you will love this game.
As a Lovecraft game, this game must stand under the fierce gaze of its predecessors, including The Lurking Horror, Theatre, Lydia's Heart, and of course the almost-genre-killer Anchorhead. This game acknowledges its roots; at one point in the game, you can view scenes from many of these previous games, starting with Anchorhead. The King of Shreds and patches offers nothing much new in this area; it has a little bit more gore than some of the other games, but only in one or two scenes (the rest of the game is fairly clean). The main nemesis has more character than most Lovecraftian foes. The obligatory elements (cult, language, mist, visions, etc.) are well-crafted. The game does drag in the middle a bit, but it's huge. I think, overall, it is one of the best of its genre.
Finally, the game contains several simulations of Elizabethean technology. Fans of simulations (such as flying the Ghost Plane in Jigsaw) will really enjoy this game. Others can consult the numerous hints to bypass these segments.
Overall, I resorted to the hints 2 or 3 times, generally finding out that I had missed some text. I highly recommend this game.
- Snave, December 26, 2015
- Catalina, November 8, 2015
- CasualGamer33356, October 14, 2015
- shornet (Bucharest), August 13, 2015
- Lanternpaw, July 7, 2015
8 of
8 people found the following review helpful:
Highly enjoyable, mildly frustrating, July 7, 2015For those of us who cherish the great city of London, and have always wanted to experience it in all its 17th century glory (or filth), this game will satisfy the craving.
Massive, suspenseful, detailed game. Wonderfully thorough NPC conversations. Historical and geographical gems. Built-in hints range from gentle prods to downright spoilers, but very useful for beginners or the occaisional stumpers. Puzzles almost always are intuitive and logically make use of game’s plot and surroundings. Learning how to operate a 400-year-old printing press is priceless.
My one frustration was missing an important clue/item mid-way and figuring out at the very end of the game that I’d have to replay a large portion. Granted, I prefer games that make it clear when there is no way for you to finish at least after some reasonable length of time, not after many hours.
Ending seemed a bit cliched after such beautiful buildup and intricately detailed beginnings, which is my only reason for not giving 5 stars.
Take aways: great for beginners and history lovers. Suspenseful enough to make up for minor plot and puzzle issues.
- Thrax, March 11, 2015
- Sobol (Russia), October 1, 2014
- bluevelvetwings, July 18, 2014
2 of
2 people found the following review helpful:
Not as newbie-friendly as it wants to be, May 26, 2014Despite the rather extensive tutorial introduction, much of this game is an exercise in frustration. Despite the author's advice to avoid the hint system, I found it absolutely necessary in several situations, with ridiculously specific puzzle solutions. Due to the "guess the verb" nature of many puzzles, it's very easy to be confused and misdirected on your own. If you use one verb, the game suggests that object is completely unnecessary, where the answer is actually doing something very, very similar on that same object.
That hint system, while invaluable, is not without its own flaws. In aiming to give you only the information you need (a "nudge"), instead the first few hints within the skill tree simply confirm, unhelpfully, that you are indeed facing a puzzle. Likewise stating the obvious, some of those hints will only tell you what you already know (else, why even look up the hint?). For example, while facing a locked door, to which you do not possess a key, one of those hints may be "You can't seem to open the door, can you?".
The quest tracking system, on the other hand, is often invaluable, in all but one instance showing you that there are indeed more little details still hidden somewhere in a specific area.
Those minor details are at once both a sort of frustration and a part of this game's strength. It is very obvious the author put an enormous amount of time and effort into this game. Within the rather large environment, virtually every single detail, no matter how inconsequential, is painstakingly described in full, vivid detail. This both adds richness to medieval London and its characters, as well as ensuring that to proceed, you really must pay attention to every detail, searching and manipulating everywhere and everything.
This richness of detail really does redeem the rest of the game. The rich prose and story make it desirable to continue trying to solve the mystery at hand, no matter how painful it may be to do so. Though the plot is interesting, one part that is unexplored is why the main character is so compelled to respond as he does, and only in that way. (Spoiler - click to show) Upon discovering the untimely death of a friend, investigation is the only course of action available, and no help at any time is considered desirable. Even when it leads the protagonist to a series of crimes and murders by his own hand.
All in all, this was an experience I enjoyed, though I am very unlikely to ever play it again. I would recommend this to other people, only so long as they already have a solid grasp of IF and its mechanics.
- David Whyld (Derbyshire, United Kingdom), March 20, 2014
- kala (Finland), May 25, 2013
- Alex Newcombe, May 20, 2013
- DJ (Olalla, Washington), May 10, 2013
- Edward Lacey (Oxford, England), March 15, 2013
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
The game that makes me believe in IF..., March 10, 2013First of all, this review was made by a newbie of the genre, don¡¯t expect any comparison with other games, just a honest review from someone that was scare of IF just a few months ago. This review is mostly for newbie players. Also, I hate spoilers, so I will not talk much about the story. My 1st language is Spanish so yeah, lotz of typos.
What got me to play this game was, the map¡ yeah, a piece of paper with names of places make me play this game until the end. For newbie players, sense of direction, is very important. Walking randomly just hoping to arrive where you want to, will lead to frustration, unless you got a very . memory (I¡¯m talking about new players, an expert of IF I suppose can get around without a map) or incredible luck. The story was very interesting, is about this man, Robert, trying to figure out what happen to his friend after finding him dead, any more info will spoil the fun of it. Its play kinda like a detective game, finding clues, talking to people to discover who or what did this to your friend. This games is not as graphic as I will like it to be, only one scene really surprises me, otherwise I will have love if the game would have gotten more mature and disgusting bloody scenes. The puzzles were very good, maybe one or two will lead to frustration, (especially new players like me) but there¡¯s a very good hint system, its follow your progress and give you the tiny bit of info to keep solving the puzzle on your own, or give you the full solution, I really love this system, and I think many IF uses this. The game uses very easy commands, you will never will find yourself typing random verbs just to ¡°cut the paper¡±. And in the conversations the game give you the topics beforehand, just in case you forgot what you have to ask to a certain person. The conversations feels lively, the writing is very good in my opinion.
I really recommend this game to newbie players. One of the first IF I played what this game that was supposed to ¡°teach me¡± how to play, and it did the opposite, its make me afraid of ¡°games without pictures¡±, its make me feel like ¡°if I can¡¯t resolve this puzzle in this game for ¡°new players¡± without typing hint, its mean I will never be able to beat any other IF on my own". All those IF expert players learned by trial and error, playing multiple games at first, without even beaten half of them. Also, play a game with a story you like with normal places. Houses, shops and a city, this is easy to imagine and to get into, not like a castle with a supernatural wardrobe that you have to use to light a candle in the first 10 minutes of the game. This game should be in the top list of games to play for people that think that IF is an error in writing and have to be in lower case¡ like I once did.
- Sam Kabo Ashwell (Seattle), March 9, 2013
- ptkw, March 1, 2013
- Jimmy Gonzolo (New Mexico), January 18, 2013
- Meredith (California), August 23, 2012
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