The Lonely Troll

This is likely formatted for kids, but can absolutely be enjoyed as an adult, too; the game never talks down to you. I feel like it is also a very excellent introduction to parser-based interactive fiction; definitely better than what I had for an introduction many years ago.

The world layout easily maps in your head, even if you're as terrible about navigation as I am, and the interactions between the puzzles is engaging, but not too complex.

You can read the verbs, easily remember them, and identify where to use them. Honestly, I might have over-thought something at the beginning, but the game was able to hint me in the right direction.

It was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be, but I feel like this is the perfect size for an introduction.

Absolutely nails the objective of the Text Adventure Literacy Jam: to make an enjoyable easy game for text adventure first-timers. This would be the Day One exercise in Text Adventures 101 if such a thing existed. You're a troll in a world of fairy-tale mythological creatures, trying to raise a dragon (literally) by the book. The set-up could have been cloying and twee, but the author has lots of sly fun inverting expectations: the cyclops is friendly, the fairy is angry, the unicorn is unruly. The ASCII art images are pleasant (the troll's house looks like cross-stitched embroidery). It's a kids game at heart but still requires some thought and lateral thinking to get through, even for adults. Everything just works!

I think this game does exactly what its creator seems to have wanted to do: make a light parser game with intuitive commands in a fun environment with lovely ascii art pictures.

You play as a troll who is lonely. All around you are magical creatures (one per region, each depicted with ASCII art). They all have desires found in a book, and essentially give you a bunch of fetch quests you have to accomplish.

Overall:
+Polish: The game is very smooth and polished.
+Descriptiveness: The characters are vibrant and unique.
+Interactivity: The game is simple, but has enough resistance (through multiple sources of info and several possible targets) to make it fun.
+Emotional impact: I enjoyed the game and art.
+Would I play again?: Yes, and may recommend it to others.