The Deer Trail

This game is fabulous plot-wise: you encounter a mysterious deer beast in the forest and track it back to a farm. There you discover a strange series of events in the past through the use of journal entries.

Getting that story, though, can be a real pain. Many commands go unrecognized. Here is an example from early on in the game:

(Spoiler - click to show)> x door
A solid front door made of heavy wood. The green paint has all but peeled away. You see a tarnished door knocker in the shape of a Fleur de Lis.

> knock
I don't understand your command.

> knock door
I better use the knocker to do that.

> knock knocker
You can't knock it.

> x knocker
A tarnished door knocker in the shape of a Fleur de Lis.

> use knocker
You use the door knocker and knock loudly... Nothing happens. Looks like no one is home.
(You unlocked an Achievement.)

A lot of the wording is confusing or misspelled (like 'Knock arrow' instead of 'nock arrow'). Overall, the game could've used less time in making its huge map and more time in polishing a smaller segment of the gameplay.

I really like the story, though, which is why I'm giving it a rating of 3 (for descriptiveness, emotional impact and the fact that I'd play again).

Starts off very promisingly, with a tense deer hunt, even if the game is literally telling you what to type at each prompt. Things get spooky as you track the deer's trail to an eerily abandoned farmhouse, where you learn the story of it's occupants. At this point it loses focus: suddenly, it's a collect-em-up where, without motivation, you're catching rabbits, trawling a pond - and that's as far as I could go, as I hit a game-breaking bug trying to use the meat scale. As compelling as much of this content was (shades of Edgar Allan Poe), the sluggish online Quest interpreter nevertheless made it a chore to play: use the offline interpreter if you're able.