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Review
This game was written as part of the Iron ChIF competition with a week of writing time and the prompt of 'scroll that alters the world around it'.
This game does a lot of worldbuilding. There are two protagonists, each a different type of bird-person (a buzzard and something else I don't quite remember. There are also ravens. Which makes me wonder; in this world, are the animals named after the people, or vice versa? Or are their no bird animals at all?). It's a fantasy medieval world with royalty and a royal guard.
Scrolls are powerful artifacts kept in capsae which, when opened, influence everyone nearby with their powers. Your goal is to steal the healing capsa.
The game is relatively short but has a well-defined plot arc. It has two main phases: an exploration/puzzle solving phase and a conversation phase.
Both have their pros and cons. The exploration utilizes 3-d movement and interesting location-building, and the capsae can be combined in interesting ways, but I felt like there were so many possible actions and it was difficult to discover what the author intended without accidentally stumbling into it. The map layout was asymmetrical and I'm still not clear how momentum helps us with the first puzzle.
The conversation section has nice stakes, good worlbuilding and plot, and were fun to read, but I felt like the ending tried to simultaneously give the appearance of choice while having a clear 'correct option'; I think I would have preferred fleshing out the 'true path' more or having truly conflicting options.
Overall, I had fun with this game, and was very impressed by its short writing time. I consider it a solidly successful return to IF for Lucian Smith, who was previously best known for winning one of the earliest IFComps almost 30 years ago.
