Truth

Truth is definitely a joke game, but unlike most, it is well implemented and bug-free, as well as being much more clever. The premise and the puzzles are simple: expose the lies surrounding you. The scenario is realistic and thus provides a humorous commentary on the everyday lies we endure in the man-made world.

The real puzzle of Truth is finding ALL of the lies, not any single lie. For the most part they are found in the places you would expect: advertising, politics, the Internet. But some are subtle and require a lot of attention to detail. As the world is rather small, this can be a little tedious, and I am ashamed to admit that after extensive puzzling I could only uncover 19 of the 21 lies, and thus was driven mad.

I recommend this game as a short and well-written diversion that will definitely put a satirical smile on your face and even occasionally make you laugh out loud.

You go around "finding untruths" while trying to "find the truth".

Slightly underimplemented (but bug-free!) and very short, but somehow extremely fun.

I "won" in a couple of turns, but then had to go back and explore the world to get the "real" ending, and the process was just... enjoyable. It's basically an "examine everything" game, and the humor is broad strokes, but I liked it.

While I can't find fault with any of the commended games in ShuffleComp 2014, which was a pretty strong competition, I'm a bit disappointed Truth missed out. It's very old-school parser stuff about finding and exposing lies. They can be exaggerations or oversimplifications or clunky wordplay society's grown to accept for convenience.

Whichever it is, it's not hard to find by lawn-mowering. The usual suspects pop up, with ads that lie, politicians, clergymen, and so forth. Though the lies are generally stretched so the game never does something boring like have an agenda. Just examine everything, including (Spoiler - click to show)a line of Keats's poetry (the one about the urn)and you'll get all 21 points. But instead of getting points, you unearth truths, debunk fibs, etc.

As a bonus point for amusement, the author's pseudonym is a trivial truth. Before people revealed who they were, it was pretty clear the author was, indeed, an earthling. Which was just the sort of direct joke that worked so well in the game. And what a tidy game it is--it fits into the Z5 format!

Also, I had some knowledge with my truth, (Spoiler - click to show)"beagle puss" as the Groucho disguise you expose for the final point and a Final Revelation. I like that you can Find The Truth even before getting all the points, too.