Metamorphoses

I last played this game over twenty years ago when I was in middle school. It stuck in the back of my mind quite literally my whole life, and finally replaying it now has been the absolute pleasure I expected it to be.

The only downside to the game is how short it is, because I wished I could have enjoyed it for at least a few more hours. The puzzles are all pleasantly solvable. There is a semblance of plot, but the appeal of this game, in my opinion, is getting to interact with the interesting mechanics, and wade through the dreamy atmosphere courtesy of Short's impeccable writing.

As someone trained in classical Greek philosophy, (Spoiler - click to show)collecting the elements as represented by their corresponding five platonic solids was a satisfying task. If you know any of those ancient theories, it's obvious Short did her homework.

The best part of this little interactive novella is, to me, the opening- where the walls aren't material, and going to the next room is more of an ascension of one's soul than a relocation. I was a bit disappointed as the game became more "concrete," but what remained was still ethereal, strange, and captivating.

A text adventure with a twist: without giving too much away, the player has much more freedom to imagine what can be done with the objects they find than in the average parser game.

Metamorphoses takes place in a fascinating and mysterious setting, a medieval/early modern world of alchemy and of the four humours. You are in a house filled with strange and wonderful objects and paintings, which enhance the gameplay considerably. I would have liked to have known more about the building you are in, and how it came to be as it is, and more backstory about the playing character and the Master more generally. In Emily Short's Bronze, for comparison, the castle and the objects within it are more closely linked to the story.

It is a short game, and according to the 'help' function, not a difficult one; I actually found it harder than I expected, perhaps because the setting is so mysterious that the actions you have to perform are not always self-explanatory, and also there is the extra challenge provided by the sheer number of permutations that the game allows.

I admired this game mostly for the clever idea and for the gorgeous descriptions and setting that I have come to expect from an Emily Short game.