Fired

(I beta-tested this game)

As late-period capitalism slouches its way to the trash-heap of history, to be replaced by something that’s almost inevitably going to be worse, the scope for systematic revolt narrows, and the stakes for individual acts of rebellion rise in parallel. The getting-comeuppance-on-a-crappy-boss plot perhaps peaked in the late 90s, with Office Space and the retroactively-incredibly-creepy American Beauty, but there’s something evergreen about an unjustly-terminated employee wreaking their righteous revenge.

Fired offers that fantasy in spades – and actually, you don’t need to do too much of the hard work; you’ve already accumulated hard copies of the evidence that will bring your corrupt old boss down, but now that you’ve been fired and stripped of access to the office where all that stuff has been moved, you need to break in and get it back. In addition to this narrative catharsis, it also offers closure for sinned-against employees by containing a litany of invective, imprecation, and swearing that would make Captain Haddock blush:

"this boogystained breakfast director, this pukebag of a dumbass, this sleepyhead, this freshwater sailor, this pedantic cretin"

This revenge-fantasy is definitely funny, but it’s also nicely designed; there aren’t too many puzzles and too many hoops to jump through as you pursue your vengeance, but they’re cleanly designed so each leads on to the next, and there’s a bit of a sandbox vibe to proceedings: rather than pursue your quest to the bitter end, you can declare partial victory at almost any time, and there are various actions you can take that can wreak extra havoc on the company at risk of having an arrow pointing to you as the culprit. These mostly just reduce to optional, incomplete endings, but they’re logically and entertainingly narrated, and make final victory all the sweeter. There are also a fair number of bonus points available to careful players who go beyond the jokes to examine their surroundings carefully, so while Fired works well as an angrily satirical take on workplace abuse, it’s got more than enough substance to be satisfying to play on its own merits, even if you’ve never personally writhed under the thumb of a supervisor who’s venal, stupid, smelling of bilgewater and pink mold, a scabrous sphincter on the face of the earth…

(Warning: This review might contain spoilers. Click to show the full review.)

In a competition that tends to have long and substantial parser titles that demand all your attention, it's always nice to play a short, nice parser game.

You just got laid off from a shitty job, and you're planning to get back at your boss when you found out that the documents you were planning to leak had been taken away from you.

It's been years since I've played an Inform game with a score system, but I don't mind it. They're a quick and easy way to know I'm heading in the right direction. The puzzles are simple and intuitive for the most part as they focus on examining objects and using items in the right situations. But that kind of signposting is always appreciated.

The game also has one of the most amusing >x myself responses that I've seen in an IFComp entry:

There is one puzzle relating to a [spoiler]blob[/spoiler] that felt very guess-the-verb compared to the other puzzles. But thankfully, there's a > help command that explicitly tells you where to go and what you should do.

All in all, this is a nice appetizer for parser games in IFComp 2025. It's a cute, well-scoped game that doesn't take up much of your time -- I beat it in 30 minutes -- and I had a pleasant time helping our protagonist retaliate against capitalism.

You've been fired.

Your boss is a jerk. And has committed acts of fraud, embezzlement, harassment and other crimes. Fortunately, you've been collecting proof. Proof that you can take and hand off to the authorities! You have a printed stack of emails ready to go and....

Wait, where did the stack go?

Someone has taken your stack of evidence. Will you search for it, or leave your ex-job behind empty-handed?

Gameplay
The player navigates a small-sized map of an office building, starting in the protagonist’s crummy “office.” Using a meager box of belongings, the player must gain access to areas deemed off-limits to the average corporate employee. You know you’re getting somewhere when the all-purpose industrial grade floors become carpet.

The game has a max score of 20 points. Points are generally earned through sneaky actions and/or destructive sabotage. It was satisfying to get a full score. Ironically, it requires you to do some (Spoiler - click to show)highly illegal things.

I ran into some guess-the-verb issues, primarily when (Spoiler - click to show)exploring the basement for the first time. It’s dark in there, so you need a light source. You have your lighter (and your 5th anniversary “gift” from your boss) which you drop, leaving you in darkness. I figured that "Find lighter" or "Search floor" would have worked, but they are not implemented. Instead, the solution is “Take lighter” which made less sense since we can’t see where the lighter fell. That said, the game has a helpful hint system to nudge the player in the right direction.

Story/Characters
Fired embraces the familiar premise of an office employee (or in this case, an ex-employee) getting revenge on their immoral boss. It does not offer anything new, however. Does it need to? Arguably not. I’m just left with some questions. (Spoiler - click to show)Why is there a key in the microwave? Was the protagonist fired because of the evidence gathering, or was it unrelated and the printouts merely taken after their desk was emptied out?

Nonetheless, there is still a strong sense of satisfaction at undermining a self-centered and immoral boss. The player strongly feels like they are on the protagonist’s side.

There are multiple endings. You can leave the building at any time to end the game, but the outcome will depend on the actions you took. Your main objective is to retrieve the printouts, but secondary goals such as (Spoiler - click to show)covering your tracks are highly encouraged. That, and getting your poster back. You can take additional steps to gain revenge on your boss, but it's not required to get a decent ending.

Conclusion
Well-rounded, consistent, but not a lot of depth. And implementation could be a bit smoother. That said, its well-roundedness balances out its lack of exposition. I am pleased with my experience.

If you enjoy office settings and/or want a parser game with fairly easy puzzles that is light on story, Fired might be a good fit for you.