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About the StoryAn anthology of terror, edited by Ryan Veeder. Also an ECTOCOMP 2018 entry. Game Details
Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: October 31, 2018 Current Version: 1 License: Freeware Development System: Inform 7 Forgiveness Rating: Spine-tingling IFID: 1C114FA9-6864-440C-A832-23AC3FABB3D8 TUID: bpp58cwqb8gfu1wk Spoofed by Return to Castle Veederstone ...for the first time ...for the last time, by Stewart C Baker |
Awards
Winner, Le Grand Guignol - EctoComp 2018
Editorial Reviews
Interactive Licktion
This game comprises a series of short stories that are read aloud in Castle Balderstone, the “real” world where the protagonist is located; each story is followed by a conversation between the authors, facilitated by a moderator who, rather like an emcee of an informal production, has heavy character presence. Apart from being intriguing in its own right, this setup has a ton of benefits, many of which are cleverly taken advantage of....
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating:  Number of Reviews: 2 Write a review |
A humorous and horrifying collection of short Halloween games, November 3, 2018This game is framed as a collection of friends sharing tales. After an intimidating wall of opening text, you begin playing the mini-games in random order.
You can, at any time, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom to skip a tale, which opens up a small segment of the game.
The stories were fun, and in a wide range. One was essentially a one-note joke; one was a deeply disturbing exploration in three parts that was frankly horrifying; another was like a fairy tale; and the fourth is a fun riff on metaphorical games.
I found this game truly enjoyable. Its one defect for me was the difficulty in finding the right actions/verbs on a regular basis. However, that may be part of the charm. But when I saw a pattern on the wallpaper and couldn't X PATTERN, or couldn't get a response for cutting it with one of two items present in the game, I got frustrated. SHOUT could work more often, TALK TO isn't implemented. But I don't know if it's worth it going back to spruce this game up, since the fun's already there.
Care to join me for a little FRIGHTseeing?, October 11, 2022Where it all began for the now-venerable series of Tales from the Crypt-esque anthology-horror games. Four spooky micro-IF stories are told by horror authors gathered at the titular castle. A tale of ghostly revenge, a surreal dive into psychosis (and blood), an abandoned hospital explore-em-up, and a trolling exercise (unless I missed something?). Much shorter and less thoroughly implemented than later episodes, but Veeder's comic turn-of-phrase and subversive wit shines through as usual. There's some hilarious mockery of self-indulgent literary "post mortems" in the framing device. In particular, the send-up of the heavy-handed metaphors of the abandoned hospital story, by it's own author, is expertly handled.
If you enjoyed Tales from Castle Balderstone...
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Recommended Lists
Tales from Castle Balderstone appears in the following Recommended Lists:More Recommended Horror Games by thecanvasrose
A list of well-rated, reputable and interesting horror games not included in my favorite horror games list. For those looking to explore the genre in IF.
Funniest games by Denk
These games are not the best games, but the games that made me laugh the most. They may not be funny all the time but they contain one or more funny passages.
Great "white hat" horror games by genre by MathBrush
This list does not include games intended to disgust or to make you personally feel evil. The focus is on games where good overcomes evil, or that just make you think. That is what I mean by "white hat" games. Games like Vespers or...
Polls
The following polls include votes for Tales from Castle Balderstone:For your consideration: XYZZY-eligible Best Overall Games of 2018 - by MathBrush
This is for suggesting games released in 2018 which you think might be worth considering for Best Game in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination.This is not an official list. The point of poll is partly to suggest games...
For your consideration: XYZZY-eligible Best Setting of 2018 by MathBrush
This is for suggesting games released in 2018 which you think might be worth considering for Best Setting in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination.This is not an official list. The point of poll is partly to suggest...
This is version 8 of this page, edited by Ryan Veeder on 26 November 2020 at 3:20pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item