Bring Me A Head!

You are the executioner in the Duc's palace, and the Duc wants a head. You have to get it. The problem is, the next execution is four days away, so you'll have to... improvise.

The setting is one of the strong points in this work. The Duc's palace stars inhabitants so perfectly adapted to their role, it seems they would shrivel and perish if they were removed from it. The... oozy aesthetic reminded me of Nekra Psaria (https://jayisgames.com/games/nekra-psaria/).

Bring Me a Head is, at heart, a chain of fetch quests. Talk to characters, who will tell you what you need to get them. Chandler's writing is succinct, sketching out a disgusting, baroque setting, off set by wry humour - a double entendre here (Spoiler - click to show)in, say, breaking horses, an unexpected name there.

If you liked it, I recommend a tiny utopia by the same author, Skullscraper.

I like to write reviews for old(er) games when there's something that strikes me about the game that isn't mentioned in other reviews. In this case, it's that (Spoiler - click to show)there's more than one way to solve it! Everyone you encounter wants something, and if you can provide them with what they want, they'll give you something in return. But (Spoiler - click to show)for most of the items, there isn't just one correct person to give it to--two different people will be happy to take it, each providing a different item in return. I've encountered new items on each one of my three playthroughs, and discovered that there are even two possible different heads you can provide to the Duc!

Having (Spoiler - click to show)multiple possible solutions like this, leading to different item exchanges and character interactions, is clever and adds replay value. But even more impressive to me is the consistent state-tracking, with small details of the descriptions changing based on what you've done, and every character having a specific remark for whatever nasty item you're currently carrying around. Truly an excellently designed game.

The genre might be listed as horror, but this story has a lot of humor also--gross-out humor you might say. And it's kind of a puzzle as well, because you wind your way through what would seem to be a castle, with it's courtyard, west wing, astrologic tower, etc., to fulfill a gruesome task by bartering... things. Because The Duc wants a head, basically. It's a nice short take on text adventuring that will definitely have you thinking laterally in a gross way.