Deadline Enchanter

The idea of a game being used as (Spoiler - click to show)a lure and training tool to get people to help you in your cause is a great one. A lot of people have complained about non-implemented objects in the game, but the game is supposed to be that way as a rough product meant to be pushed out quickly within the world of the game (to avoid any spoilers, phasing this very vaguely.) What would be great is making all the default responses fit in the world of the game. I understand that the author was working on doing this for a second release of the game, but sadly it looks like that has fallen to the wayside as he pursues other projects. Hopefully he will take it up again some day!

Deadline Enchanter was one of the first IF games I played, 5 years ago. I remember that it's bizarre atmosphere and self-awareness really attracted me to IF in general because it showed me what was possible.

You play someone in a magical city that has appeared in Detroit. You've been given a message from the Folk, a magical race, and the message is a parser game. This game has a walkthrough. So you walkthrough.

The beauty of this game is seeing the story unfold and seeing the guts and edges of the parser. The world it paints is beautiful. When it came out, it was very controversial, but since the Twine revolution, I believe this game can be better appreciated. In facta, the author has moved on to Twine, making great games like Solarium.

Like I said, this is one of the games that drew me into IF and established my perceptions of the whole genre, together with Curses! and Not Just An Ordinary Ballerina.