Bronze

Bronze is an interactive fiction following a similar story of beauty and the beast, but wildly different. With mechanics and fantastical backstory, this game is world-built in the best ways. It’s got an expansive yet still navigable structure, with in-built hints (that is quite literally the best thing an IF can have).

It’s almost romance, but also it’s fantasy and a story of revenge. There is no way to die, and there’s so much optional character backstory you can see. It’s a story full of magic. It is focused on one goal, with all the optional content limited to the main storyline, so there’s no real side-quests, only little bits of information you can look up which aren’t necessary.

It has multiple endings as well, and they’re all easily accessible. I’d definitely recommend this one for beginners.

I felt that being able to find something and the directions on the status bar made the gameplay a lot more enjoyable and much less frustrating, given the vast number of rooms to explore. These two features should be standard practice for complex or multi-room IF games. One of most well-designed IF games I’ve played to date and I’m glad to have stumbled upon this. Interesting storyline as well!

I really enjoyed the ease of this game-- not necessarily easy to solve, but easy to play casually. I did not need to make maps or take notes-- everything is there for you if you just "think" about it or "look up" in various references. The story is compelling as well.