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Inhumane

by Andrew Plotkin profile

(based on 20 ratings)
1 review25 members have played this game. It's on 16 wishlists.

About the Story

A parody of Infocom's Infidel, written when the author was fifteen [sic -- probably 14], then converted to Inform. To collect a treasure, you must show an ancient guardian how awful an adventurer you are.
[--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue]

Ratings and Reviews

5 star:
(0)
4 star:
(1)
3 star:
(13)
2 star:
(6)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating: based on 20 ratings
Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Show how good you are at dying. An Infidel spoof , September 7, 2016

This game is a spoof of Infidel by a teenage Andrew Plotkin, written in Basic and ported to Inform.

The opening part is a much easier version of Infidels opening story. Once you are in the tomb, though, you have to prove how bad of an adventurer you are by dying in 9 traps.

The traps are fairly simple, mostly just exploring each area and trying everything. They are very clever, however; the glue pit really kept me guessing.

The commentary is enjoyable. The game itself is spare, and not completely compelling, but it is valuable for historic purposes.

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3 Off-Site Reviews

Baf's Guide


A simple parody of Infocom's Infidel, with contents highly imitative of Grimtooth's Traps. No puzzles, a smattering of incomprehensible in-jokes, lots of death. (In fact, you have to die nine times in order to win.) Somewhat amusing, though, and not quite as bad as the author makes it sound in the apology packaged with the Inform translation. If nothing else, it's an interesting way of presenting ideas for traps. Perhaps an interactive edition of Grimtooth's is warranted...

-- Carl Muckenhoupt

SPAG
[...] it's actually kind of fun, with a few small laughs, and it brought back some great memories of my own abysmal (though they seemed great at the time) early attempts at I-F. (Christopher E. Forman)

Inhumane (a game originally coded in basic by Plotkin when he was 14) [...] is easily winnable within an hour. No guess-the-verb puzzles, no scenic landscapes, no moral plays. Basically, it's the antithesis of everything Andrew Plotkin has made since. (Francesco Bova)
See the full review

SynTax
It's good fun finding the traps and when you've undergone the 9 "deaths", you are given the key to the coffin room, and the rest is easy.
See the full review

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Inhumane on IFDB

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New walkthroughs for March 2025 by David Welbourn
On Thursday, March 27, 2025, I published new walkthroughs for the games and stories listed below! Some of these were paid for by my wonderful patrons at Patreon. Please consider supporting me to make even more new walkthroughs for works...

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The following polls include votes for Inhumane:

Games where deliberately losing/dying/losing an item advances the plot by Andrew Schultz
The meaning of "deliberately" can be a bit broad, but I'm wondering about cases where an action clearly marked risky or fatal helps you see something or progress, and you would not have otherwise. I'm not thinking so much about where,...

Games for Beginners by WriterBob
I'm looking for games that are suited for adults who are new to IF. My purpose is to share these games with friends and let them get experience IF without being frustrated by mazes or guess-the-verb issues. Please avoid children's games....

Doing things backwards by Mike Ciul
Games that take traditional IF tasks and puzzles, and do them backwards or subvert them in a clever way. Thanks to olethros on raif for the inverse puzzle idea.

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