The Oracle

The Oracle
by Brandon Allen

Fantasy
2002

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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Straightforward puzzles, June 7, 2010

by Bernie (Fredericksburg, VA)

You have been selected by your village to go to the oracle for advice. Your journey begins in a cave and you must solve a handful of puzzles before you arrive at your destination.

The puzzles in this game are generally logical. (Spoiler - click to show) I did manage to light a fire without any matches, which baffled me a bit. The game will take under two hours to play for anyone familiar with IF. The author seems to have done a good job of keeping the game from becoming unwinnable. After playing it once through, I attempted to leave key objects in inaccessible places, but the game managed to throw me back. The puzzles in the game were unique enough to hold interest, but straightforward enough to prevent any frustration. At any given time, the player is holding only a small number of objects, and a general 'try object from inventory with object in room' approach will serve to solve most puzzles.

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Brandon Allen, May 15, 2012 - Reply
I have been away from IF for quite a while, but was pleased to see that my old game was still "alive."

It was really a pleasurable (though often frustrating) experience writing The Oracle, I hope somebody else out there can enjoy it as well.

Thanks for the review, I think it is a fair assessment of the game, and highlights one of its features that I spent considerable time implementing - the system that prevents the game from becoming unwinnable. It was added to the game late in its development and therefore required semi-major surgery to get it working smoothly - though it is certainly far from perfect.

I wish I had time to do it again! Hmm, you never know...

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