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Review
This is an unusual type of IF game, where a series of maths challenges take precedence over the standard sort of exploration and environmental and object-based puzzling.
This is not without precedence, considering L - a Mathemagical Adventure from 1984, and a general crossover of interests (it seems) for authors in programming, mathematics and storytelling.
The premise is that you are a magic-user taking a new practical exam in 'arithmancy.' You must cast spells to visit numbers in a particular sequence to achieve your goals.
It's a little bewildering to begin with, as you first work out how to approach this, as very few of the usual adventuring commands are needed. Most of your commands will consist of spells to manipulate a number. You start off with one spell and unlock more and more as you progress, increasing the complexity of the available calculations as you go.
There is a bit of a narrative here, but not much. It's more of a background chatter as you overhear your examiners discussing university politics (it's pretty funny too). The good thing is, they don't know you can hear them, so their sarcastic criticisms of your efforts function as useful clues.
Overall, it's an absorbing challenge, and you might spend longer than you intend trying to figure it all out. I did, certainly, and I didn't quite manage the full score (although I still passed the exam- phew!)
It seems like an obvious statement, but you need to take some pleasure from numbers and maths to enjoy this. But if you do, I can confidently say you will love the game. It's very cleverly constructed and you'll feel clever as you progress through the puzzles (and that's what we all want, isn't it?)...
