Reflections

It’s clear that Reflections by Tristin Grizel Dean is intended for a younger audience and, whilst young at heart, I’m not sure that counts and it didn’t feel fair to provide an “adult” review for this game. So, instead, I asked my youngest child to play the game and give me his thoughts.

I'm not going to give too much away about the story except that it is a likeable modern fairytale with some humour that made my son laugh and a quest arc that brings the game to a satisfying end.

Reflections is well presented with simple, fairytale-like graphics that my son really liked. The game includes an on-screen map that helps to visualise where to go next and the bottom two-thirds of the screen is taken up by the text of the game. As an introduction to interactive fiction this layout worked well and the addition of a tutorial mode was really helpful.

The parser understands simple two word commands but seems quite restrictive at times with limited synonyms that occasionally felt more like “hunt the verb” rather than “solve the puzzle”. The dirt piles puzzle was one example where both my son and I felt that the game could have been more forgiving. However, this was a minor impediment that did not prevent progress for long.

The only real advice I gave my son on embarking on this adventure was to “try everything”. However, slightly disappointingly, when my son tried to eat the envelope at the start of the game there wasn’t a humorous response. I feel that this game could have been even more engaging with a wider range of responses for non-core actions that rewarded the player for trying different things.

The puzzles seemed appropriate for a younger reader as was the length of the game. My son enjoyed the game and would happily play more of this style of game so it’s clear that this game has been successful in encouraging it’s intended audience to play interactive fiction.

The danger of relying on the old fairy tales is that you don't wind up saying or doing anything new, or you wind up getting too wild and rattling on. Reflections does neither. It gives you a cell phone to navigate certain puzzles, and it keeps familiar fantasy elements without cliche. All this makes it a good fit for the Text Adventure Literacy Jam as well as a good short game.

The goal is to find five different ways to see your reflection. And yes, the cell phone plays an integral part in a few of them. The best part is, you can't and don't have to call anyone, or find any numbers, or anything like that, though one common side-feature of cell phones is necessary to use and ewll-clued.

Positive interaction with animals is most important, and it's never twee. The puzzles and setting avoid the cliches of fantasy as well as gross anachronisms. They're also comfortable enough that you shouldn't struggle with the parser. And while Sentient Beings, the other game the author entered in this comp, is more ambitious and memorable, Reflections really takes the tutorial requirements for the jam and makes them come alive. So the author should be proud of writing either of these games, much less both.

This game also circumvents a potential pet peeve: you have some baking to do, which normally isn’t my thing, because bigger games may get into details too quickly. Here, it doesn’t feel forced on me. I’m the sort of person who is relieved when a recipe isn’t very complex, so the game’s courtesy was appreciated her, and I think in general any game that takes on something you aren't usually interested in and keeps you interested has clearly done something right.

Because the final point of the game is for (Spoiler - click to show)looking through the mirror in your house after traveling to a cave, it has a there-and-back feel to it. And just knowing what the final point should be certainly left me feeling competent when I needed to think about a puzzle near the end. Overall the game does a lot and avoids overdoing anything or trying too hard to get me to like it, which is a very real risk when writing fantasy stuff, so I do recommend it.

An entry in the Text Adventure Literacy Jam, a competition for entry-level parser games for kids. Reflections goes out of its way to hold a first-timers hand: simple, bold and colourful images for each location, short MIDI-musical ditties at appropriate moments, a helpful tutorial mode, and a map on-screen at all times (alongside the competition-mandated two word parser).

You're a kid wandering around the house and the back-garden looking for the titular reflections of yourself. A light sprinkling of magical realism adds talking cats and magic mirrors to the mix. Puzzles are suitably basic: mix a recipe, find out a dog's name, distract a rat, play with coloured crystals. All well-clued in the environment if you explore thoroughly.

Would feel perfectly at home on a 1983 primary school's BBC microcomputer, alongside Granny's Garden and Devil's Causeway.