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Review
This is a game where a significant portion of the game requires examining objects in the scenery that don't seem very notable at first.
For example, in one room, there's an axe shaft sitting in plain sight, but look doesn't mention it. Instead, you have to examine the (Spoiler - click to show)broken window frames in that room, and only then does look reveal the object you found. Almost all of the important inventory objects and clues are hidden in this way.
The problem is, most of the examinable objects are mundane, and their descriptions are kinda boring to read, sometimes even just the default Inform "You see nothing special" message.
> x wooden shelving unit
Each of the five shelves in this unit may once have overflowed with jars of preserved food, but now they hold nothing but a layer of dust.
If the game wants me to meticulously examine everything, I want those descriptions of everything to really shine, to make me want to keep examining everything, just to see what treats the author has tucked away in every examinable object.
Or, you know, just say "you see an old axe handle here" right when I walk in. That's fine, too!
(Spoiler - click to show)Particularly galling is that when I examine floorboards in the Front Hallway, "You see nothing special," but in the Back Hallway, there's a crucial clue.
It's also a game where you sometimes have to search, but there are only two or three things worth searching in the whole game. But if you're playing without hints, you still have to try searching everything, just to make sure, which is not fun, IMO.
Once you finish examining and searching everything, the puzzles are fun and fair, and the game is written well.
