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A short atypical Lovecraftian story with sidebars and graphics., February 3, 2016This is perhaps the most unique Lovecraftian story I have played from IFDB. Jon Ingold, one of the great writers of interactive fiction, has put together a fairly odd game here.
First of all, the game tells you what you should type each turn. This was off-putting at first, but gave me a bit of a start when it stopped right when I would actually need it. Also, on replays, there are very significant areas of the game that you can't access if you follow the cues.
Next, there are odd pencil sketches that appear in every room.
Third, your inventory always shows up. I liked this.
Noone seems to know if they got the right ending or not, because the game is somewhat anticlimactic. However, reading the author's notes, you see that one of the requirements of the game was that it has a 'dubious ending' (or 'doubtful ending' or something like that).
The game is about an old man with a precious book collection. There are no tentacles, no cult, no fog, no slime or sacrifices in this game. It does manage to be fairly creepy, however.
It is short. I recommend it to everyone just to try it out, as it is fairly unusual and not at all like The Lurking Horror/Anchorhead and their imitators.