Pit of the Condemned

by Matthew Holland

2015
Inform 7

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Review

Short and exciting, November 21, 2015
by jwhitham (York, England)

You are constantly being chased, through a large interconnected map. You fear that you will be cornered somewhere, with the only exit leading to the monster. You are grateful that it's turn-based, and that you can UNDO or RESTORE.

This game is excellent and I was sad to see its low rating in the IFcomp. I enjoyed the large, interconnected map - unusual in recent games - and the setting, which I understood as post-apocalyptic: barbarians in the ruins of civilization. But with magic (or technology?) allowing them to watch you as you flee for your life. Barbarians with reality TV? It doesn't seem so far-fetched.

I wished for more to do in the game, perhaps (Spoiler - click to show)a way to save poor Iza, or escape the city, but that might be overdoing it - the game might cease to be interesting if drawn out too far. Perhaps it's better as a short game.

From a technical perspective: (Spoiler - click to show)I was not sure how the monster finds you. Can it get stuck? In one of my play-throughs this seemed to happen, and I had to SHOUT to attract it. I expected the monster to be controlled by a shortest-path algorithm, which would always lead it to you. If it isn't, maybe it should be.

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