Thornfell Manor: 1984

This PunyComp game had a nice concept and was pretty fun, with a few caveats. It looks to be the first game by this author, which is pretty impressive if true and I would definitely play more games if they choose to write more.

You play as a paranormal investigator who comes up on the scene of a crime. Your goal is to figure out who died, how, and what to do about it.

You're equipped with two helpful sidekicks (who are later contactable by radio) and a protective amulet and an EMF reader. You explore a big mansion, solving a variety of puzzles and interacting with a few 'unusual' characters.

I was impressed by the implementation of things like the characters and a lot of the default messages. There were two big sticking points for me, though:

1-The game has an extremely small inventory limit. I was trying to carry around the 'default' gear the game gave me (radio, EMF reader, and amulet), and I could only pick up 3 items. I know some people go for realism, but these items are things like a lighter, sage, cigarettes, a pocketknife--I could easily carry all these things in real life, especially with pockets! I'd give a full point higher score if the inventory limit were removed or doubled or if a backpack were provided, or even if the amulet and/or meter were 'wearable'.

2-The game is missing a lot of scenery objects and synonyms. One really noticeable example is that the beginning of the game (so not really a spoiler) tells you that you see a lot of blood. But "X BLOOD" has no response. This is a frequent issue throughout the game, where the text prominently mentions an object but doesn't implement it.

Outside of these two factors, I enjoyed the game a lot, as I like supernatural things and mysteries. I especially liked the ambient messages about the radio and the overall thematic unity of the house.

Other than this review's title, I have a few main qualms with this game. Two are a bit nitpicky, and one is more substantial. This review is kind of unreadable without spoilers. If you're interested in whether you should play, the last paragraph is more oriented towards that.
I'll start with the biggest one: I'm a paranormal investigator, and I was called in to investigate this case. The game doesn't explain, to my memory, why I was chosen for the case, beyond my profession. When I saw the (Spoiler - click to show)wisps, I assumed I was called in because I knew how to (Spoiler - click to show)interview the dead. But then, I had to (Spoiler - click to show)visit the secret library to (Spoiler - click to show)learn how to perform a seance. To me, this feels like (Spoiler - click to show)if I played a game where I was a detective at a crime scene, but I had to find a book on a body in order to learn how to collect fingerprints. What am I doing at this crime scene if I don't know how to do that? Why am I learning things that should fall under my qualifications AT the scene of the crime?

Personally, I think the gameplay would make much more sense to me if I was, perhaps, a friend of the victims who they had told of their plans earlier in the night, coming to the manor to check on them after they didn't come home on time. Alternatively, I could have been a real police detective, the only one on the force with a vague understanding of the paranormal, and chosen for the case because of that. Then I could have interesting, detective-like interactions with bodies - There's blood all over the floor, but no footprints. Did whoever - or whatever - killed this kid even touch the ground? - instead of my character just observing that there's a dead body and observing little more than that.
Campbell frustrated me. There were a few things I could talk to her about, but telling her about major developments like finding a body, discovering the (Spoiler - click to show)sigil, or (Spoiler - click to show)learning about Arovus just earn the response that I need to "focus on the case." For me, this broke the immersion of trying to solve a case, because why is this police officer utterly uninterested in key details about a case she sent me in to solve?
I also was sad that I couldn't interact with many nouns given in descriptions. I know that this kind of thing must be tedious to program, but I like in other games where examining one thing gives me new things to examine. Observing the first body gave me blood to examine, but I couldn't examine his injuries, which feel relevant for someone trying to solve a case, but I also couldn't examine things that are less relevant, like his clothing. This is just something that makes a game feel more polished to me, and makes my experience feel fuller.

The puzzles felt very intuitive for me, with the exception of needing to (Spoiler - click to show)interview Thornfell. Overall, gameplay felt smooth and generally satisfying for me, although the (Spoiler - click to show)hidden library did feel clunky, along with my previous, more substantial issue with it. (Spoiler - click to show)It would have been cool if I could search the other library, and find nothing useful, which would maybe prompt me to search for a second, hidden library!

Overall, I feel like this game could have been a lot more meaningful and more memorable to me. The gameplay was smooth, the puzzles were intuitive, but none of it really felt meaningful, my player and the characters felt kind of hollow and more confusing than anything, and a space with as much potential to be interesting as a haunted manor only ever really felt meaningful in the puzzle spaces.
I would love to see this game get revamped or more fleshed out. I love short interactive fiction and I think this one has a lot of promise.

It's a fun concept and I enjoyed the game up to a point. I agree with the other reviewer who noticed that the game is pretty sparse on descriptions, and I'd go further to say the rooms are pretty empty altogether. I mean, the bedroom has nothing but a bed and the exits. The dining room has only a table and chandelier.

Where I got really frustrated though was after (Spoiler - click to show)finding all the bodies and getting to the point where it's clear I need to (Spoiler - click to show)interrogate the ghost. I've literally gone through the tutorial and I still haven't been able to figure out (Spoiler - click to show)how to obtain instructions on how to perform a seance. I had the right idea before even seeking out a hint, but no matter what commands I use, nothing is working to get me the information I need. I'm trying to find the supposed (Spoiler - click to show)'hidden collection', but I'm unable to take or move any of the existing books, and the only objects in the room are "books", "rug" and (Spoiler - click to show)the hidden ladder. I know I sometimes have to experiment a lot to figure out the specific commands needed for this sort of thing, but with so few objects to play with, it's frustrating to come to a dead end...especially when the tutorial glosses over this part completely, as if it should be self-evident what I should do.