Red Moon

This game was coded in 2.5 days by a first time author with one beta tester. It requires what is generally an annoying way of interacting with a game. By all standards, it should be a fairly horrible game.

But it placed 19th out of 35, and wasn't really that bad. I like fairly campy, psychological horror, and this game provides it. It had great descriptions, and spookily changing descriptions.

This is a very short game. I liked it, in the end.

"Red Moon," is a single room game written in Inform. Single room games can be a joy to play. They are more often focused on the psychological aspects of the character than on puzzles or NPC interactions.

The author makes an attempt at this in "Red Moon." The character does glimpse the underlying reality. But with the dawning awareness that all is not as it seems there is no correlated increase in understanding, just a continuous denial of that reality.

The prose in the game is adequate, but fails to draw the reader in. The single room aspect of the game can be used to great effect, adding texture and layering depth to the limited landscape. In this case, the single room is sparsely furnished offering a very limited range of activities.

The hint system in the game doesn't provide any actual clues, but rather offers encouragement for the player to keep doing what he has been doing.

There is a small degree of replayability in the game. If you fail to achieve the optimal ending the first time around, a second quick play through is all that's need to deliver the preferred ending.

In brief, this game leaves a little to be desired. Other than being repetitive there were no significant flaws. However, for a truly excellent one room adventure, I'd recommend "Shade."