Lost Pig

5 star: (269) 4 star: (181) 3 star: (32) 2 star: (1) 1 star: (2)

Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 53 Write a review

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An orc and a pig, January 19, 2015

This short game was deservedly lauded on its appearance. Lost Pig seems to start off as a concept piece: Grunk is an orc and communicates as such. But as it progresses, it becomes more than this. Grunk starts to function as a Candide-like observer of a small and seemingly static world: the distance induced by his vocabulary eventually vanishes and the player ends up identifying with Grunk. This is an impressive feat.

It can only work because the game as a whole has an internal structure that is unusually coherent and whose logic meshes with Grunk's ability. The NPC is a gem: quite different from Grunk, but complementary. By the end, the player is urging both NPC and Grunk on as they bring the game to a conclusion.

There have been discussions about the place of Lost Pig in the pantheon of contemporary IF. Without entering that debate, I would argue that Grunk is (written as) one of the most memorable IF characters, one who is transparent and who ends up being, in his own small way, a hero. The pig is a tremendous character, too.

Really fun! You get to burn pants.... :D..., December 30, 2014

The people who came before me gave this game its praise, but I just HAD to comment on the burning pants. That really had me laughing. The imagery.... Thanks for giving me a laugh! ^_^

Non-Stop Laughs!, December 28, 2014

I loved this game. It had me laughing all the way through and the puzzles were tricky but not impossible to solve. I enjoyed how much effort the maker put into the extra conversations and commands you can use that don't necessary further your progress but give the game color. The only thing I didn't like was how hard it was to get all the points, but maybe just because I'm too impatient to play a second time. Overall, amazing!

Me enjoy playing Lost Pig, November 5, 2014

As a new player of Interactive Fiction me like exploring the world of Lost Pig with Grunk and his pig. Me get confused a few times, and needed hint. Me finish game and smile. Me recommend Grunk to others.

An excellent IF Haiku, January 31, 2014

Lost Pig is perfect in its execution of a light puzzler through the eyes of a character who seems perfectly real despite being a fantastic beast in a world which seems intriguing despite the small glimpse we're provided.

Honestly, after I'd played, I wondered why it received such high praise - neither its gameplay nor narrative ambitions are particularly high - but after reflecting on the experience, I began to truly respect the perfection of its implementation. Funny without being corny, challenging without being obtuse, and finally, subtly moving without overburdened pretensions.

Good stuff, though I docked it a star because I did, in the end, want more...(and I wanted so badly to wear the thought-augmenting hat which sadly never appeared.)

Charming, enjoyable and a nice break., July 2, 2013

I really enjoyed playing this- It's difficult not to love grunk. The humour is pleasant and the puzzles are quite quirky. It's a nice break from those longer, tougher IFs and a breath of fresh air.

Me love this game!, June 21, 2013

There's really not much to say about this game that hasn't already been said before. It has been featured in countless best-of-lists and lists with games that are accessible for beginners, it's almost legendary, and rightly so. I finally managed to finish the game on my iPhone, this is what I can say:

Grunk is hilarious. There's hardly a command absurd enough not to be greeted with a funny response from this memorable PC. It's worth playing the game for this alone. The implementation is deep. The NPCs are believable, loveable and crafted with a nice bit of character. The puzzles are logical and clued well, and, despite the small map, exploring is fun, as we're playing a loveable dunce manipulating magical artifacts. And despite all zaniness, the exchange between Grunk and the gnome is memorable in several ways. A true classic noone should miss.

Pig maybe smart, but Grunk catch pig. So that mean Grunk more smart, June 6, 2013

Play it if: you want simple, accessible puzzles and a short, sweet family-friendly game that's big on humor and character interaction.

Don't play it if: you're in the mood for something long, challenging, or particularly serious.

It's difficult to say something particularly new about a game like this. With its small scope and broad appeal, a lot of the obvious things have been already stated. But I'll go ahead and try to unpick what I like about this game anyway.

The appeal of Lost Pig all about its main character. Grunk is ostensibly the narrator of this tale, so his attitudes towards things colors the player's entire experience. I find Grunk's fairly simplistic descriptions of things interesting because they are reflective of the archetypal IF player's experience. Like Grunk, we put ourselves into a situation where we're confronted with machines and mechanisms we don't really understand, and we're made to figure out how to use them for our purposes. Grunk describes the world with the naivete of a child, and more importantly the naivete of a first-time player. And like the player, Grunk overcomes that naivete with cunning and shrewdness. Sure, he's not great with auxiliary verbs, tenses, or writing, but he does figure out all the steps needed to get the pig back. And with the addition of the gnome, Grunk can even display a fairly deep level of curiosity by learning about advanced principles of chemistry.

So Grunk's traits are those most IF players wish to cultivate in themselves: intelligence (in solving puzzles) and curiosity (in talking with the gnome).

Add to this his sense of humor. I've always held a soft spot in my heart for those throwaway pieces of coding, like Zork's patronising response to jumping for no reason ("Wheee!" "Very good. Now you can go to the second grade"). Little bits that added some personality to the game world and gently steered you away from the game's inability to let you do absolutely everything. Lost Pig almost feels like a game that's composed of that stuff. A lot of the joy in the game comes from having Grunk try stupid or outrageous things just to see his responses. And because the game is so thorough in implementing the things Grunk can try or do, it gets you to sympathize with him even more. Grunk lets the player act out the more childlike side of their sense of humor, because his willingness to try anything mirror's the player's willingness to make him do anything. Take the act of Grunk taking off his pants in front of the gnome. By itself, it's not particularly funny. But the fact that we're complicit in that act does make it funny. While playing this game, I found myself laughing at stuff I haven't been able to laugh at since the fourth grade.

That may not sound like a compliment per se, and I suppose it isn't if you're looking for something a little more literary. But I think the point that this game has constructed a uniquely sympathetic and charming main character stands.

So what about the secondary aspects of the game? Well, there are no obvious holes in the implementation of the setting. The gnome and pig are lovely characters in and of themselves - the pig for his variety of emotions and reactions (including intellectual disdain for Grunk!), and the gnome for the breadth (if not depth) of conversation you can achieve with him. I liked immensely the fact that the gnome is not immediately hostile towards Grunk - I mean, Grunk could realistically eat the guy - nor is he dismissive towards this comparatively dim and uneducated protagonist. Rather, he's willing to talk in basic terms about most any topic Grunk can think of and a few more besides that. For that he becomes a likable character and his relationship with Grunk, small in scope as it is, compelling.

The puzzles are few and simple, but they rely on intuition rather than method (intentionally so, as the maze demonstrates) and so they give you the pleasure of experiencing those little "eureka" moments every puzzle designer strives to cultivate in a player.

If I had something I'd change about this game, it would simply be the length. The core magical mechanism feels productive for more diverse and complex puzzles than what Lost Pig gives us, and even putting that aside I would have loved to have seen a game where the rather simple initial quest gets this young orc embroiled in something a lot bigger. Failing that, I think Grunk is easily a rich enough character for future adventures.

But that quibble aside, Lost Pig really is a gloriously fun and engrossing way to spend an hour or two.

Family friendly and heartwarming, May 26, 2013

This was a fairly easy game in which things worked realistically and smoothly. The pig was incredibly frustrating and I was stuck on how to catch it - not because the solution eluded me but because I'd missed a step. I eventually figured it out by myself with some experimentation. And that's a lot of how to get the answers. Playing with things, seeing how they work, and figuring out how to execute the obvious solutions. Thankfully, everything's well-clued. I got the full score on the first try, and I was pleased to see good behavior rewarded. I did use hints, but not for solutions. Just helpful nudges.

(Spoiler - click to show)I really liked the gnome. I didn't stay to chat about everything, but he was kind and made me smile with some of his comments. His speech is very polished and intelligent, so I was thinking at some parts that Grunk would not understand what he was saying, but I appreciated that the gnome didn't try to dumb down his words. It said something about the gnome's character to treat the clearly less academic Grunk as an equal. Some of the narration was funny, too. One of the ones I still remember is when you "x leaf" at the tunnel entrance. Grunk reasons the carving must be part of the stone because it's made of stone and vines are "made of vine." LOL Grunk's description of the pig is funny, too. "Tasty" is right.

I don't tend to make characters do crazy things, so my play of the game was fairly somber and straightforward. But with amusing and likable characters, fun toys to play with, and a lighthearted atmosphere, this is a wonderful story to lose oneself in for a little while. Highly recommend, and I think would be pretty easy for beginners because of the hints.

Impressed by the work behind the game, August 31, 2012

I've given this game 3 stars because I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

I was very impressed with the attention to detail and the level of implementation. This is good if you like messing about in your IF and hate unpolished responses that don't make sense. I noticed the NPCs struck a good balance between reacting to the player and living their own lives. I respect the work that goes into creating something like that.

Unfortunately, I lost interest in the puzzles quite rapidly. I felt they left me a bit too clueless a bit too early on in the game. Earning just one point per solved puzzle only served to alienate me further. I suspect that the puzzles work well for experienced IF/Zork players who are accustomed to trying more obscure commands, knowing they might do something useful. They are probably more hungry for unusual thinking, too, having seen most tricks played before. Not the best for beginners, though.

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