Where Evil Dwells

Baf's Guide

Wildly uneven mix of Lovecraftian horror and silly gonzo humor, illustrating nicely why those are two genres that aren't often combined: initial attempts at building atmosphere are undermined by, among other things, Gilligan's island references. You're a private detective investigating vaguely described sinister doings at an old house. The writing is sometimes adequate and sometimes weak; still, it would probably be good enough to sustain the horror game if the silly game hadn't intruded. (The silly bits don't come through often enough to make this work as a spoof, but enough to ruin the horror feel.) There are also some implementation problems--guess-the-verb and such--that slow things down. Too schizophrenic to really work.

-- Duncan Stevens