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Review
I quite liked this game. The writing was strong, and the puzzles flowed right. I particularly appreciated the highlighted words, making examinable objects jump right off the page.
But there was one puzzle that didn't sit right with me: the Napoleon puzzle.
I've said elsewhere that I think that puzzle solutions should be surprising, but inevitable in hindsight. I don't think the Napolean puzzle reached that bar, even/especially with its THINK ABOUT hint. The hint itself felt surprising, but not at all inevitable, and the puzzle solution felt like a surprising leap from there.
Here, I'll include a small nudge, the one I wish the game would have provided if you'd typed THINK ABOUT NAPOLEON a second time.
When you THINK ABOUT NAPOLEON, the game says:
I’ve already discovered that plants may be transformed into other objects, and I noticed that several plants were missing from the greenhouse. Perhaps they are hidden somewhere (or in some other form altogether).
That hint means that the plants are hidden in another form. They're hidden somewhere hard to find, in a form that you can transform into plants.
Now, here's my criticism of the puzzle.
(Spoiler - click to show)The floor was an adequate hint that the other plants were missing, but the response to RESEARCH PLANTS was too discouraging.
There are numerous books here on the topic of botany, plants, and gardening. If I narrow my search to the type of garden or growing conditions of the plants I am interested in, perhaps I shall find something useful.
In hindsight, the author intended that to mean that you can research "potted plants" or the "greenhouse," but I think it's hard to read it and not think "you need to research a more specific plant," e.g. RESEARCH SADDLE FLOWER. (That doesn't work, BTW.)
It's hard to imagine how/why you could credibly search hundreds of books for "potted plants" but not find the book you need when looking for "plants."
The puzzle would be "fixed" if RESEARCH PLANTS turned up the correct book, but that would probably make the puzzle too easy. So, I think the appropriate fix is to include the phrase "exotic plants" in the description of the greenhouse. Perhaps something like this:
The greenhouse is designed to contain a collection of exotic plants, but, disappointingly, it is now entirely devoid of greenery.
It makes more sense to me that searching for "plants" might turn up too many books, but "exotic plants" would be a much narrower search.
I'm looking forward to trying more games by this author!
