Lysidice and the Minotaur

When you think of minotaurs, you think of mazes, which generally aren't a great thing in text adventures--and probably not what you want to expose new players to in a jam like TALP! But one thing about mazes in text adventures is, there are so many good ways to subvert them. We're still finding good ones.

LatM, thouugh it takes place in a maze, doesn't focus you on getting out. The real problem is removing four obstacles to the exit. It also focuses on the relationship between you, as Lysidice, and the Minotaur Achilles has injured grievously--your first task is to find the ingredients of a potion that will heal him. LatM gives progressive hints, making it playable even for experienced text adventurers, even spoiling the way out early on for observant adventures. Well, the directions out. There are gates and a chasm to cross. None of these puzzles is super-esoteric, either, but they're satisfying. And I think the interplay between Lysidice and the Minotaur works well. You only play as her, as she figures what to do and talks to NPCs, and the Minotaur, though injured, provides the muscle and even grunts out what passes for yesses and nos for minor hints, so you know if you're on the right track without full spoilers.

The NPCs range from generic animals to characters in Greek mythology. One of them asks you to find two items, which are related to another myth that ends tragically, and knowing this left me sad and slightly amused. There's another moment where you run into another woman trapped in the maze, but you may freak her out, and finding why is rather neat. One item had me thinking its possibilities, which I forgot by the time I got near the end For many of the puzzles, you can guess what you need to do, though there's enough misdirection to keep things fresh. The third gate you face, you think, oh no, another key. Except it's not.

LatM also has a lot of nice aesthetic touches beyond just coloring nouns or verbs you need to use, like changing the blinking yellow rectangle "press any key" cursor to a golden spiral, which matches the text and gives the game a nice ancient feel. So it uses Adventuron well. It also has a robust out-of-world hint base. The ending also slightly varies based on if you explored the side rooms, which I found worth it. And I also found genuine tension over whether the Minotaur would heal fully or maybe even die. I won't spoil it, because I'd like to encourage you to play LatM, if you haven't.

Note from an author's perspective: I've found the author's games make a welcoming enough experience that I often say "You know, that's something I could've/should've taken the time to do." Maybe something not completely obvious, but worth it to give the player their best chance to figure what you want them to do, not only to win the game, but see its secrets. Here I had a clear path to the end after solving the last obstacle, but I didn't want to leave right away, with more rooms to explore.