Shelter from the Storm

This is a really solidly implemented short game, and undoubtedly enjoyable to play. Ultimately, however, I found it unsatisfying, and wondered why. I think there are two reasons.

First, I think the story is neither convincing nor charming. It's unconvincing in the sense that the characters are not psychologically convincing, the plot is vastly implausible, and the actions of the characters are not realistically motivated. None of this would matter if the story was told as a charming or even an intriguing espionage tale with period charm, a la Buchan or Fleming. But in the final analysis it lacks this sort of spirit or charm.

Secondly, in terms of its interactive characteristics, the game is rather manipulative. It has clear, even dicatorial, ideas about what you should do, where you should go, what you should be asking whom. It will nag you and cajole you, and ultimately even force you to do as it wishes. There's a lot of rather pointless searching for some object the game has just decided you must have. For me, at least, this gets tiresome--not so much a question of guessing the verb, as guessing the noun, as one tries to work out what object might repay searching. Even with a very solidly and deeply-implemented environment this is not all that enjoyable.

This leaves what is most interesting about the game, which is the ability to control person and tense. But, interesting as this is (and impressive as the implementation is) it's not interesting enough to carry the whole game.

So, certainly a game worth playing, both to experiment with tenses, and for its intrinsic interest. But not, to my mind, truly compelling.

The gimmick on offer: you can choose to play in first, second or third-person tense, and past or future tense. It's neat, but the game is so much fun to play (in any tense) that the experimental aspects of this technical wizardry are overshadowed (I chose to play in first-person past tense, which gave a nice "wartime memoirs" feel to proceedings).

The cliche horror-style opening doesn't bode well, but once inside the "old dark house" it really takes off. Not one, not two, but *three* well-implemented, well-characterized NPCs who are not only chatty but can take the initiative to direct conversation, and can wander around the house like real people. Lots of detailed scenery descriptions, solid parsing, gentle puzzles, and a cracking yarn to boot. Go in blind, and you will really have no idea where this story is leading. I was expecting further twists and revelations right down to the very last turn. Play it.

In this game, you are stuck in the rain when your car breaks down and come into a strange household where everyone is carrying a secret.

You explore the house while trying to patch together the truth on your own. Some puzzles are much easier if you remember what everyone is doing.

The gimmick of this game is that you can select past or present tense x and first, second, or third person. It didn't make much of a difference to me.

Overall, a nice game. Recommended.