Ryan Veeder's Mud Warriors

Having been recently alerted to this remake/adaptation, I moved its inspiration up on my to-play list, and as soon as I had finished that, I loaded this up to compare.

This game isn't really interactive fiction, but it's certainly IF-adjacent, and the fact that it exists at all is pretty awesome. I have nothing but admiration for the skill and determination shown in carrying this idea through from conception to a finished game. Substantial thought was invested in how to translate the original work's mood and mechanics to a different format, and it's clear that the author had a genuine love for Veeder's source material. Thank you to Lance Campbell for sharing this, and thank you Ryan Veeder for supporting the effort.

I'm not sure how well this version stands up when considered purely on its own. Some of the nuance of the original's atmospheric writing is lost in the graphical interpretation, and the not-quite-faux grittiness that makes up the emotional backbone of the original doesn't quite come through. On the other hand, there are many novel bits here that hew closely to the original's dialog and descriptive style, and there are a few touches (like the ending credits sequence) that wouldn't be possible with pure text. There's the hint of a secret side quest of some sort -- (Spoiler - click to show)I found an item that seemed like it was supposed to be part of something bigger, but if so I never found the other parts that went with it. If you know the secret, please provide some clues by comment!

As a reminder, 3 stars counts as "good" in my book, and I would definitely recommend this game to anyone that enjoyed the original Mud Warriors. Both can be played in the time that would normally be spent on a single comp-sized work.