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Review
Varkana is a mid-length fantasy game that was entered in IFComp. It relies heavily on both conversation and searching for items.
Varkana is the name of a small, almost technophobic city-state in a world with both fantastical creatures and advanced technology. One of the advanced civilizations has sent ambassadors to Varkana, and your job is to investigate them.
The setting is quite good, but the implementation is a bit patchy. Apparently the readme text notes that there is a bug where conversation won't work unless you ask about a nonsense topic first.
Conversation plays a large role in this game. Much of the game depends on guessing the right keyword(s) to ASK someone about.
Overall, the setting was fun, but progression was frustrating. I ended up reading it like a novel as I walked through. I'd like to see more original fantasy worlds in IF.
