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Game Details
Language: English (en)
Current Version: release 3 License: Freeware Development System: Inform 6 Baf's Guide ID: 434
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Awards
Best of Landscape, Landscape - 2000 IF Art Show
Editorial Reviews
Baf's Guide
The text is expansive and rather poignant. The game's one or two puzzles are for the most part self-evident in their solution, and most of the points are scored by simply looking at the right bits of scenery to trigger your character's memories.
The Cove isn't meant to be a game, and it shows, but it is an excellent example of how a story that would be hopelessly banal in a standard format can be compelling and emotional in IF.
-- R. Serena Wakefield
SPAG
The Cove won Best Landscape in Marnie Parker's Art Show in the spring of 2000, and the landscape really does take center stage: there are only a few locations, but all of them are packed with things to experience. In fact, your score increases not with problems solved, but with things seen (or heard, or smelled, or felt), though exactly which ones give you a point and which don't feels rather arbitrary. Interestingly, much of the interaction is purely sensory--there aren't many objects to manipulate, and you can't really affect your surroundings much, though you can certainly be affected by them. The scene itself--a seaside cliff, a beach, a cave--is familiar, but there are enough unexpected elements--a sea lion, an otter, tidal pools--to make it feel fresh, and the game oozes attention to detail. [...]
Unfortunately, the landscape isn't the only thing here; there's a plot of sorts involving a dead lover and a pressured marriage and such that owes much to cliché and adds very little to the game.
-- Duncan Stevens
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 1 Write a review |
A beautiful contemplation piece set in an 1860's beach, June 27, 2016You play as a woman who has second thoughts about her engagement, visiting a cove to be alone with her memories. Points are given based on memories remembered and animals examined, as well as for exploration.
The writing is peaceful and beautiful.
The game has a very small puzzle aspect that didn't really work for me.
Overall, I recommend this for fans of the IF art show. If you haven't tried any IF art show games, you should.
If you enjoyed The Cove...
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Recommended Lists
The Cove appears in the following Recommended Lists:Great games in a mostly realistic setting by MathBrush
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Polls
The following polls include votes for The Cove:Historical adventures. by Rovarsson
I love historical novels, no matter what time period they're set in. They do have to be accurate though. Can you suggest IF-games that are also like that? (In short: no magic.)
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ZCode games with non-standard status lines by Dannii
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This is version 5 of this page, edited by David Welbourn on 20 June 2015 at 1:51am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item