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Number of Ratings: 63
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Showing All | Show by Page - Tabitha / alyshkalia, March 29, 2024
- Walter Sandsquish, March 26, 2024
- Max Fog, February 23, 2024
- Titania Lowe, November 15, 2023
- Edo, August 17, 2023
- Ms. Woods, July 9, 2023
- Nitori, June 12, 2023
- elysee, April 24, 2023
2 of
2 people found the following review helpful:
Listen., April 2, 2023Wow. The atmosphere in this game is incredible. I hadn't really read the reviews or anything else before I began, so I was definitely shocked when it took such a sudden swerve. The way the protagonist talks to others in their head is mildly unsettling and the background details were as well, to say the least. It made me curious and want to find out more about the story. The tension in the last scene especially made me feel incredibly nervous. I loved it!
- jgkamat, March 4, 2023
- TheBoxThinker, February 11, 2023
- sw3dish, October 13, 2022
- Cerfeuil (*Teleports Behind You* Nothing Personnel, Kid), October 11, 2022
- Vulturous, April 25, 2022
- Jonathan Verso, January 19, 2022
- Catalina, August 26, 2021
- doodlelogic, August 19, 2021
- Malasana, June 8, 2021
- bjbest60, April 29, 2021
- starlitevenings, March 13, 2021
- xkia, November 16, 2020
- peachesncream, October 30, 2020
- Zape, September 4, 2020
- William Chet (Michigan), July 20, 2020
- kierlani, June 2, 2020
- nf, March 10, 2020
- mapped, January 10, 2020
- Bartlebooth, January 8, 2020
- erzulie, September 24, 2019
- Laney Berry, January 29, 2019
- Megg, August 2, 2018
- DustyCypress (Hong Kong), May 19, 2018
- nosferatu, January 30, 2018
- sleepbox, December 31, 2017
- Denk, November 20, 2017
- C. W. Gray , November 3, 2017
- lobespear, October 31, 2017
- jakomo, September 21, 2017
- ArchDelacy, September 18, 2017
- sushabye, September 2, 2017
- Wanderlust, August 3, 2017
- ArthurB, July 19, 2017
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
Magic tricks with a dark heart, July 19, 2017Groover's works are dark and delicious, and this one especially so. You are Morgan the Magnificent, the esteemed magician. Last year, your two-card tricks granted you the favour and popularity from the most influential, wealthiest patrons.
Now, however, a rival has emerged: ostentatious, flashy Ivan, and his three-card trick. Now is your chance to regain your rightful title.
Despite a carnival-like setting - one often associated with summer and fun and play - there is an unsettling undertone (why would you need guards around a group of magicians?) which hints at higher stakes than are initially stated.
Highly polished both in style and substance, Three-Card Trick once again features several parser tricks which enhance its delivery. Text is doled out to control pacing; directions are highly simplified, similar to What Fuwa Bansaku Found.
It's a delicate balancing act Three-Card Trick does. It remains one step ahead of the reader, through to the end; yet, the required actions are hinted with sufficient contextual clues - one is unlikely to get stuck for too long - to give the sense of player agency. This is a game that is well deserving of its multiple XYZZY nominations.
- Cory Roush (Ohio), July 11, 2017
- Pegbiter (Malmö, Sweden), June 16, 2017
- zylla, February 25, 2017
- Xavid, January 29, 2017
- Ivanr, January 28, 2017
- Sobol (Russia), January 21, 2017
3 of
3 people found the following review helpful:
Absolute love this original, creepy work from Groover, January 17, 2017The opening feels like a farce, with an appropriate level of slapstick and humor-filled writing, before the early twist that brings this into a darker, more macabre mood.
Groover experiments with navigation frequently, and in this work, the area of play is established as a two-tiered festival ground organized in circles. On either tier, the player heads 'in' to the center, where most of the action occurs, or 'out', to the transit spot between the two tiers.
Mechanics are simple and satisfying, divided into two sets of actions. First the player must explore; second, they must perform the magic trick. Puzzles are fairly constructed and should be easy to solve, aided by well-written prose.
This is a compact, atmospheric piece which I highly recommend. It may be my favorite of Groover's work, which I hold to a high standard as it is some of the best new work appearing.
- Khalisar (Italy), December 20, 2016
- Robin Johnson (Edinburgh, Scotland), November 24, 2016
- hoopla, September 14, 2016
- revereche, July 17, 2016
- Squidi, May 19, 2016
- Doug Orleans (Somerville, MA, USA), May 3, 2016
- Wade Clarke (Sydney, Australia), April 28, 2016
- Oreolek (Kemerovo, Russia), April 24, 2016
- E.K., April 12, 2016
- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), April 9, 2016
- Ryan Veeder (Australia), April 9, 2016
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
A shortish, story-driven parser game about dueling magicians at an exposition, April 7, 2016Chandler Groover has put his characteristic mark on the magician genre. The game is similar to "An Act of Misdirection" in tone and concept (where the player is forced to perform magic tricks without completely knowing how, in a grim setting). However, the focus is on atmosphere over puzzles. I felt on the edge of my seat the whole time, wavering between fear and mild disgust.
The game is about dueling magicians who will go to any length to disrupt each other. This part reminded me in a good way of The Prestige, especially as the magicians use new tricks to upstage each other and try sabotage.
The game is thoroughly polished, and credits a lot of testers for a compact game, which helps explain its smooth gameplay. I encountered no bugs, and the parser was very well-stocked with synonyms. Playing this game was like watching a thriller, with the parser so slick that it essentially disappeared, leaving the player to interact directly with the story.
- Brendan Patrick Hennessy (Toronto, Ontario), April 6, 2016
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