Where Nothing Is Ever Named

This is interesting. It’s a game loosely based on a chapter (or a few paragraphs) of Alice In Wonderland’s sequel, Through the Looking Glass.

The game asks you to interact with two unnamed things. You need to use them in a certain way. In some ways, it’s experimental, but it also uses a pretty traditional ‘interact with objects’ system.

It’s like a smaller and easier version of The Gostak, except it removes labels from things instead of applying labels based on a made-up language. Only one reviewer has compared the two games so far (Mike Russo), but it’s a very close point of comparison, and I expect future reviewers who haven’t read either of our posts will also draw a comparison.

It’s a short game. You can win it in two turns. So, how hard is it to solve? It depends on the mindset you come in with. Here’s how I approached it.

(Very, very heavy spoilers)

(Spoiler - click to show)I knew right away that the small thing was a cat. It will eventually meow no matter what you do.

I also remembered that “Through the Looking Glass” starts and ends with a cat, so I brought that assumption with me, even though this doesn’t actually have anything to do with the chapter this game is based on.

However, my next assumption was that the other thing was a larger cat. “Snorting” and “brown” wasn’t enough for me to make the assumption that it was a horse, and while I knew it was larger and too heavy to lift, I never guessed that I should sit on it — the key to winning the game. I tried a handful of other verbs though.

In hindsight I feel silly for being fixated on my large-cat-or-similarly-sized-animal assumption, and I don’t think most people will make the same mistake.

There is a walkthrough. I also read the book chapter alongside the game, but I would advise against that. The general assumptions anyone will make are correct, and it’s the specifics that make up the puzzle. The specifics in the actual chapter do not quite match the specifics in the game.

There are some custom responses. Given how minimal this game is, I expected a few more custom responses (you’ll get “Incomprehensible” a lot) but there’s nothing wrong with what’s there. There is also some light wordplay and structural play at times.

On that note, I’d strongly recommend downloading this game rather than playing it online in Parchment. (Spoiler - click to show)The game rejects commands like save, restart and — something that Parchment players will likely miss — quit. You might not realize it at first. It’s a good idea and appropriately chilling at times.