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Review
The Swormville Sweep is a treasure hunt puzzle made in GoogleMyMaps, set in the village of Swormville, USA. The map has 15~ pre-selected locations, each with a little blurb about its creation, sometimes how it fared over the years, and a picture of its last recorded state. Through those, you don’t just learn about the town, how it got to be and evolved, you also collect a character - needed to solve the treasure hunt and find the secret final spot.
Like any good treasure hunt, from the starting location, you are given clues about the next location to check out (and the next character to collect). The clues are pretty varied in terms of type (e.g. family relations vs. architecture) and details. Some clues are obvious enough, while others will require making a guess or doing a bit more sleuthing on the internet. There is also a cool side guide, on the game page, which provides further detail on each location.
Though it took me much longer than I care to admit struggling to solve the puzzle (I had to restart a few times because my notes made no sense after a while), it was a fun way of being an online tourist in the small town, and learning some fun tit-bit about it. While novel in the medium use, it reminded me a bit of the author’s other town-focused game, Blossom, NY, in the share-some-obscure-knowledge-about-a-small-town way. It was a fun (if not at times frustrating) digital promenade, with a good use of the medium chosen.
