Calypso

The story starts with a stereotype amnesia situation (*yawn*) in a lighthouse unknown to you, then slowly unfolds and thus shall not be spoilered here. The setting is... if I'd call it "simplyfied reality with magic realism elements" you'd probably think it's more exciting than it actually is. The cute game world has electricity, but its elements are usually reduced to buildings that could have existed a century or even two ago. Say, a bakery, a pub, you get the picture. It's consistent though; it's fun wandering around because the surroundings are easy to understand and seem lively, and there's NPCs where you would expect them. There's cons though. The NPCs are pretty taciturn. The plot unfolds slowly at first but is then thrown into your face in one move, with magic suddenly entering the game world without further explanation. Most of the puzzles aren't integrated into the plot, but just obstacles. The parser is functional, if not rudimentary.

All in all, I enjoyed romping through the game world and wished the author had spent more time on polishing the game. And on thinking of better puzzles. Would like to see a second game.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Good fun puzzle, January 26, 2018

by Ewan

This is the first text based game I have played in a long time ( last was gorm on the acorn platform in the mid 90s )

The puzzles were challenging, yet easy enough for me to make progress & keep interest in the game. The problems presented are the kind of thing that left me wondering how to solve it in the small hours of the morning. The world that the story is enclosed within is an interesting place to wander & explore.

Based on my positive experience of playing calypso I am now searching for more Z machine games.