9:05

Oh, no, you are late for work! Better hurry up or your boss will fire you!

While not an outright parody, 9:05 does a good job of subverting a lot of the tropes commonly used in interactive fiction. You play a character with no backstory, you start the game in your bedroom, and you must accomplish a goal through the solving of various puzzles. To say anything more about the plot would be to risk spoilers, so I will just say that 9:05 starts with a simple setup that turns out to be anything but simple.

Difficulty is very subjective, but I found the game to be easy. The plot is grounded in reality, so all the puzzles have very logical solutions. The game will also offer advice when you type in a command that the parser doesn’t understand. The map is small and easy to navigate.

9:05 is a very short game, but it has a lot to offer to both IF beginners and IF veterans. I highly recommend it.