It seems as though the most common question people ask—perhaps the only question people ask—is “How do I get started playing the beloved Little Match Girl series of games, by Hans Christian Andersen?” Please allow me to help you.
In my opinion, the first Little Match Girl game that you should play is “The Little Match Girl,” by Hans Christian Andersen, which is the first game in the series. It only took a few days to write, and I believe it only takes an hour or so to play. This is also the game where the series first establishes the critical fact that the titular little match girl travels through time and space when she looks at fire, a mechanic utilized in almost all other games in the series.
It is my suggestion that you play that game first, but based on that suggestion, you may wonder: “Do I have to play that game first?” “Do I have to play the games in a set order?” Or, more generally, “Are there any games that I have to play before other games?”
You do not have to play the first game first. You do not have to play the games in any set order. I think it would be wise to play the games in the order they were written (which should be this order?), because that is a little bit like playing them in an “intended order.” You could also play them in the in-universe chronological order, but you shouldn’t expect future games to be released in that order.
Most of the games are fairly safe as introductions to the series. They tell you everything you need to know (the boring stuff), while giving you the opportunity to figure out the rest (the interesting stuff) on your own. I know several people had fun getting started with The Little Match Girl 3: The Escalus Manifold (a cool parser RPG with stats and spells and critical hits). The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls was the first entry a bunch of IFComp judges played, and based on its ratings people seemed to like it a lot.
The little match girl is a little bit like a real person, in that we don’t and can’t know everything about her—and we don’t need to know everything about her to go on an adventure with her. We can pick up her trail and start adventuring along at any point, so long as we trust her (and you can trust her; take it from me).
So I think you could get started playing the beloved Little Match Girl series of games by Hans Christian Andersen with any of these games:
- The Little Match Girl (if you want to start at the beginning)
- The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens (if you want to hit the ground running)
- The Little Match Girl 3: The Escalus Manifold (if you want to play a cool parser RPG with stats and spells and critical hits)
- The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls (if you want to play the biggest one, arguably the best one; or if you have played Metroid Prime)
- How the Little Match Girl got her Colt Paterson Revolver, and Taught a Virtue to a Goblin (although this is very similar to the first game)
- How the Little Match Girl Met the Queen of Vampires (which was inspired by the “Mastermind” puzzle from the castle level in NetHack, among other things)
- The Little Match Girl and her Friend, the Crow (which is meant to be a spooky one)
- The Little Match Girl at the Battle of the Gray Peaks (which was inspired by Fire Emblem and Unicorn Overlord, and has dinosaurs)
- The Little Match Girl and His Holiness Pope Pius IX
But before you play these particular games, I think you should play certain other games first:
- Before you play The Little Match Girl against the Universal Sisterhood of Naughty Little Girls, I think you should play The Little Match Girl 4 (and maybe The Little Match Girl 3) (and maybe The Little Match Girl and her Friend, the Crow).
- Before you play The Little Match Girl 5: The Hunter’s Vow, I think you should play The Little Match Girl 4 (and maybe The Little Match Girl and her Friend, the Crow).
Thank you very much for your interest.
I should add something else before I forget: I remember one IFComp review of The Little Match Girl 4 said something about wanting to wait to play these games until the series was finished. I don’t think this is a very good idea. There are currently no plans to end the Little Match Girl series.