Bad Beer

Bad Beer is an enjoyable little game! “Little” in that it’s a pretty quick experience; in contrast to the stated playtime on the IFComp page, I reached an ending in less than 30 minutes, but did spend some time replaying. The setup is brief and lets you quickly get into your investigation, which rapidly reveals that there is something (Spoiler - click to show)supernatural going on…

I enjoyed exploring around the pub and chatting with the several NPCs; the game uses an “ask person about subject” conversation system, which worked well here, as your explorations and conversations reveal new topics to ask about. There are two people, June and Sally, in the kitchen, and sometimes one would chime in while I was talking to the other, or I’d ask one about a subject then ask the other and get a different answer, and both of these things made the conversation feel natural and well developed—the NPCs aren’t just information-giving-machines, but have their own personalities.

Something that clashed a bit with this, though, was the ambient messages (is there an actual term for these?)—the ones that fire every one or two turns and usually repeat in a cycle or at random. They got repetitive fairly quickly, and the ones in the kitchen were sometimes at odds with the ongoing conversation.

The pacing felt a bit rushed, too, especially since the investigating was less about finding clues and more about (Spoiler - click to show)triggering a supernatural incident that suddenly whisks you back into the past—but that was a very fun and unexpected twist, and I enjoyed (Spoiler - click to show)seeing the same place in two vastly different time periods. Even better, you’re given the chance to change the past and thereby put to rest the ghost who’s been causing the problems in the present day.

This was a fun little puzzle that allows for experimentation, as you get several attempts before the game moves on. The reset felt a bit random, though, as there was no in-game explanation for why you were given repeat chances (but only three of them). But fortunately it’s easy to continue trying, as the sub-optimal ending conveniently gives you the option to jump back to the beginning of the puzzle.

Either way, after you fail or succeed, the story suddenly skips ahead an unspecified amount of time (Spoiler - click to show)(back in the present day), with no transition explaining what happened when you returned to the present, how your friends reacted to your story, etc. I liked (Spoiler - click to show)the wrap-up at Will’s grave with the vicar, but I would have preferred some closure with the pub owners, too, given that they were the reason the PC got involved in all this. But overall I definitely enjoyed my time playing!