Enceladus

Robb Sherwin is legendary for a certain kind of game, one with many creative NPCs, imaginative and creative language, and blood, sex, and profanity.

I love his style, but frequently it gets too much for me. But Enceladus has the wittiness and imagination without as much of the blood, sex and profanity. This IFComp game is like Respectable Robb Sherwin, as if Sherwin's writing were a teenager seeing a cop drive by, doing their best to walk normal and not look like they're high.

So this is a Robb Sherwin game I can genuinely recommend for most audiences. It's not meant for kids, though (there's some gore and it could get pretty scary for them). This is a great chance for more people to discover Sherwin's clever humor (or stupid humor? or both?).

You play as a character on the HMS Plagoo. A werewolf is loose in space, and you soon crash on the moon Enceladus. You have to defeat your enemies while simultaneously taking care mentally and physically of your friends while they do the same for you.

The game is completely linear; the interactivity is "do the next thing we tell you too". There's a few smatterings of puzzle elements, a little bit less than Photopia, for instance, but more than 0.

This style of interactivity made me feel like I was an actor in a play, giving lines at the appropriate part. And since Sherwin's writing has always reminded me of Shakespeare (focusing on witty turns of phrase and a mixture of lowbrow and highbrow), it works well.

(P.S. It may seem hyperbole to compare anyone to Shakespeare, but I'm not saying that quality of writing is exactly equal. I'm just talking about the sense of humor)

This is essentially a puzzleless IF and reads as a cross between Jack Kerouac and Quentin Tarantino if they were making a Sci-Fi B-movie together, very late at night. Or something like that. The main thing Enceladus has going for it is its humour, crass and absurd and with lots of attitude. As a work of IF, Enceladus wasn’t really my thing, but I would like to acknowledge that it’s quite well written, and I’m sure many will love it.

Enceladus is everything I want in an interactive fiction game. I don't want to draw extensive maps, play "guess the verb" all night, or wander around aimlessly wondering what I'm supposed to do next. No, what I want is to be entertained, to be pointed toward my next goal, and to laugh while doing it. Is there a place for sprawling adventures that take weeks to work through? Of course. But as a husband and a father with a full-time job, I can appreciate a game I can finish in a couple of hours more than ever these days.

In the game players find themselves on a spaceship with a werewolf on the loose. It doesn't take long before the ship crash lands on the moon of Enceladus, where players must tend to their wounded comrades while avoiding and eventually dealing with said werewolf. The broth holding this kooky stew together is Robb Sherwin's infamous humor. Sherwin is a master of words and will have you reeling in horror one moment and reeling with laughter the next.

As I continue to work my way through Sherwin's catalog, I find that I enjoy his games' straightforward style. Puzzles are one thing, but I don't like being stuck for days. Sherwin does a good job of predicting what players will attempt, whether it's adding funny descriptions to traditionally nondescript items, or simply setting up ridiculous scenarios that one can't help but laugh at.

With limited time available for gaming these days, this is the type of game I enjoy most. The puzzles aren't super difficult and yet I felt a sense of accomplishment each time I bested one and moved to the next area. Recommended for beginner to intermediate players with a strong stomach and a sense of humor!