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Review
I found the beginning, figuring out the way the game works, very frustrating. It's very unclear what parts of the initial setup are clues and what aren't, and the many user interface options make it really unclear what text is important and what is meaningless flavor. This contributed to making the intentionally-underspecified rules for the puzzle frustrating. Even how the game indicates which tasks are completed and which are not was not initially clear to me.
Honestly, it feels like a clever puzzle bolted onto a parser interface that doesn't fit it well. I feel like a non-parser interface could present the relevant information about remaining goals in a clearer, simpler way without presenting so many interface options and without losing anything.
That said, the puzzle system is unique and was fun once I figured out the rules and I did enjoy the game quite a bit.
Comments on this review
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Hmm, yes, the interface is an interesting problem...because I don't think I'd ever thought of the game if it hadn't been in parser context. I remember Winston Churchill's quote about democracy being the worst form of government except all the others that had been tried.
I'm glad the game had enough to be fun despite that. I tried to cut the parser down, but maybe I didn't do enough.
