External Links

Play Online
Play online
Play online at itch.​io
Play this game in your Web browser.

Have you played this game?

You can rate this game, record that you've played it, or put it on your wish list after you log in.

First Encounter

by T H Tyr

2023
Horror
Adventuron

(based on 5 ratings)
3 reviews5 members have played this game.

About the Story

Your over-active imagination could get you into trouble on an eerie night in the Yorkshire Dales. They say that many old inns in the UK are haunted, and your family seem to have picked one for their summer holiday. While everyone else is asleep, you decide to investigate the inn and bring its biggest secret to light.

Awards

Ratings and Reviews

5 star:
(0)
4 star:
(0)
3 star:
(4)
2 star:
(1)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating: based on 5 ratings
Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 3
Write a review
A short and somewhat spooky Adventuron game about a strange woman, June 23, 2023
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This is a brief Adventuron game that has a short tutorial at the beginning.

In it, you play as a young child at a hotel who wakes up to find an old woman in your room. She beckons for you to follow.

And that's most of the game; the gameplay is pretty simple. There are a few small puzzles, but this is otherwise mostly linear. The concept has a lot of implicit horror in it, but I feel like that theme wasn't developed as much as it could have been.

Overall nothing is bad in this game, there's just not much: not much story, not much interaction, not much game. I feel like it could be expanded a bit, but as it is, it was fun while it lasted.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

A good mystery game, June 21, 2023
by f-a

This is a tiny, simple, immersive game written using Adventuron. The experience player will recognise a comfortable adventuring experience, the new one will go through this one without frustration (there is a tutorial, navigation is simple, puzzles are self contained).

It does not do anything particularly new, but sometimes you just want to play some good horror. Well done!

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

Good solid first game wih supernatural elements, June 19, 2023
by Andrew Schultz (Chicago)
Related reviews: TALP 2023

This looks like a first-time complete game from an author who had, as of 2023, some basic game elements and a partial one. So they knew what an initiate to text adventures might have had trouble with. Not only that, they've executed something that would work well on its own or as a fit for TALJ. First Encounter is a brief horror tale where a ghost of a woman appears to you, and you follow her. It's not quite clear why she appears, so there's some mystery.

However, you learn soon enough, because FE is relatively on rails. The experience was effective for me. There aren't many puzzles beyond finding a light source and leaving the house the right way. Locking yourself outside to follow ghosts with uncertain motives willy-nilly is just a bad idea and, in this case, taking precautions heightened the tension for me. There are also a few directed-verb-guessing puzzles. Here I'd suggest the tutorial might go on a bit longer. I really don't know if Adventuron has something to look at the input and say, for instance, if someone has a kazoo and people type BLOW KAZOO, "this is a relatively simple verb." But if it does, that feels like a tap-in for a post-comp release.

Saying the author didn't try to do too much always feels like a backhanded compliment because it kind of implies they shouldn't have considered reaching higher, or maybe they should not do so the next time. But here I hope it is sincere, because of the increasing scope I saw in their itch.io submissions, and it feels like they're ready to make another jump soon, if they want. Too many people, some with considerable skill and knowledge, shoot too high and wind up with nothing. I think TALP really helps with that--you'd better have an excuse to do too much! And one problem with a too-elaborate game is that it can exhaust reviewers and judges for the next one, though of course too many that lack details make us look for more exciting stuff elsewhere. And of course there's a balance between self-interest and not hogging the oxygen. It feels like EF made sure it did not hog the oxygen, and the author can and should be bolder with their next game.

FE works particularly well with TALP, as it took on a good subject and good atmosphere that forced it, or gave it an excuse, not to do too much. In this case, adults were sleeping and you didn't want to disturb them, which meant you couldn't go walking through the house. It may be the shortest one you play through in TALP, but that's more due to very sensible, logical cluing and an economy of use. There are few red herrings, if any.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

Tags

- View the most common tags (What's a tag?)

(Log in to add your own tags)
Search all tags on IFDB | View all tags on IFDB

Tags you added are shown below with checkmarks. To remove one of your tags, simply un-check it.

Enter new tags here (use commas to separate tags):

Game Details

RSS Feeds

New member reviews
Updates to external links
All updates to this page


This is version 1 of this page, edited by Garry Francis on 3 June 2023 at 4:51am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page