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Spring Thing 2023 version
Requires a Glulx interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.

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The Sacred Shovel of Athenia

by AndyG

2023

(based on 7 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

A simple puzzle based IF game in the style of the early Infocom games. The Aim of the game is to find the lost ‘Sacred Shovel’ and return it to the king.

We had recently acquired a kitten and my son was a little wary about stroking it. It gave me the idea of a game in which. to complete it, you needed to befriend a cat. And so, ‘The Sacred Shovel of Athenia’ was born. It’s not a very long game and the puzzles are fairly simple, but it is a fully working game, and my son enjoyed playing it.


Game Details

Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: April 5, 2023
Current Version: 12
Development System: Inform 7
IFID: 1C3F2D0B-145E-4251-A175-8EA6C593D53E
TUID: l38wld5u34atn22

Awards

Entrant, Main Festival - Spring Thing 2023

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Member Reviews

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4 star:
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3 star:
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Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 2
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Short beginner friendly parser game, May 16, 2023
by Vivienne Dunstan (Dundee, Scotland)

This is a short and beginner friendly parser game, set in a quasi fantasy world, with a very cute cat that you have to get to know better. It’s really charming, and I enjoyed playing through the light puzzles. There are in game hints if you get stuck. You can get the game into an unwinnable state. I recommend saving frequently.

There are a few things that could be polished more to make the playing experience smoother.

And make sure you read the ABOUT text info about the background to the game. It is quite charming.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Learn to be kind to a cat!, May 15, 2023
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This is a cute little game made together as a family.

Your goal is to retrieve the Sacred Shovel of Athenia, which is stuck in the road. Unfortunately, you can't do that right now, because you aren't a cat lover, so a kind of restrictive device has been put on you until you are kind to a cat.

That doesn't really make much sense, but that's okay, because the game wasn't made to make sense. It's mostly a framing story to help a kid learn how to be kind to a cat.

I struggled a bit with the parser here and there, like trying to figure out how to use the fishing rod. Overall, the core concept of the game is good, but it just lacks a bit of cohesion and polish.


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