Bronze

This might be the longest parser game I've played so far, although that does not say much since I can still count the number of parser games I've played on both my hands.

I know the author has stated that they intentionally wanted to convey a vast castle that is empty, and I know the convenience command GO TO was implemented to help not make that annoying, but the problem was not going to known locations – the problem was when I didn't know where to go next, and had to blindly search for clues. Then suddenly having nearly 40 rooms, mostly with just flavour text, to explore became a chore.

Maybe all this flailing about the big empty map is just my lack of problem-solving skills. It is possible there were obvious hints about where exactly to go, only I missed them. But that sort of makes me wonder whether this is really a good beginners' game, or if it ought to be more of an intermediate players' game? (Similar concerns with a large number of items that do not fulfill a function. Beginner me felt the need to carry them with me in case they become important, because I don't trust my memory with all the items I've seen lying around. But that gave me a huge inventory to try to sift through when I vaguely remembered some item I had seen.)

That said, the castle does really convey its castliness very well and it was a joy to map all parts of it, even before I had access to a light source and I could only label many of the rooms "darkness", "darkness", "dry sifting", "dripping", "darkness", "open space", "darkness"! To see a spoilerful map from when I had managed to lift the darkness, go to https://i.xkqr.org/bronze_map_spoilers.png

The narrative itself was interesting and very well presented. I have no idea how the Beauty and the Beast is traditionally told, but I don't mind making Bronze my canonical version of it going forward. It is rich, personal, and makes sense.

In total, I'm trying to figure out whether I will give this game three or four stars. Part of me think I'm inclined to give it four stars only because I'm worried of deviating too much from the crowd consensus. I think three stars is my honest rating.

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.