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The Very Old Witch and the Turnip Girl

by Megan Stevens

2017

(based on 8 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

The witch on the hill outside of town is retired. She threw in the towel long ago, when it became obvious that the humans don't need her help blighting and smiting each other. But the world isn't quite done with the very old witch. She has yet to face her three biggest obstacles: fear, apathy.... and motherhood.


Game Details


Awards

40th Place - 23rd Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2017)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
The pastel-hued story of a world-weary witch, October 28, 2017
by verityvirtue (London)
Related reviews: sanguine

You play a very old witch who’s not quite at the end of her life… and she feels like something is missing.

Witchcraft, here, runs along the lines of Pratchett’s practical, world-wise witches. Our witch is fully equipped with hexes and curses, but also browses mail catalogues for entertainment. Her attempts at plugging the gap in her life are quite old-style witch, though, including seeking out motherhood. Women finding their fulfilment in motherhood is not a new story. This game subverts it - though I would have been delighted if this had been lampshaded with a bit more of the spunk that the witch PC herself shows.

The Very Old Witch eschews anything more than a veneer of branching narrative, making this mostly a work of dynamic fiction. Nonetheless, it’s not too tedious to click through this linear story - and indeed I think I would have enjoyed this as a short story. There are areas where I would have appreciated a more biting wit - the titular characters don’t quite take things lying down, yet this isn’t always conveyed so well in their dialogue. Overall, The Very Old Witch reads with the simplicity of a children’s story, with some uniquely urban/modern twists.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A modern fable about a witch and her child, November 16, 2017
by MathBrush
Related reviews: less than 15 minutes

This story is fairly linear, more like dynamic fiction than puzzle-based or branching cybertext.

In this game, you read the story of an old witch who, out of loneliness, creates a girl out of turnips.

This game has Megan Stevens' most imaginative writing of her IFComp games, and presents an interesting analogy between the witch/turnip girl and parents/millenials. It's short, and worth reading.

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This is version 3 of this page, edited by CMG on 16 November 2017 at 2:42pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page