So! I had a particular gripe about this game. That gripe was the scrolling text. I was going to moan about it for a good paragraph or so. But I’ve just gone back and re-loaded the game just to remind myself about it, and, wait! The scrolling text has all gone away now. I look at the update notes. Author! You’re killing me. What am I going to gripe about now?
Mainly because, this is a good game. It’s a fun, lightly written, pleasant dungeon crawler implemented in choice, but with puzzly elements. It’s very well done for the type of game it is. It’s just…well… a good game. This isn’t damning with faint praise at all. Sometime it’s ok for a game just to be there to be played and enjoyed. And I did. I enjoyed my hour with it.
As a novice mage, we’ve got the unenviable job or sorting out a cave-in at the local mine. A cave-in which, as per the title, may have been caused by a dragon.
The interface works nicely. All the bits you’d expect of a modern choice UI are there. The text is pleasantly written. The plot tilts along nicely. The puzzles seem fair and well implemented. I didn’t come across any bugs in particular - a couple of typos maybe. I did get stuck at one point with a spyhole, but then I peeked at the walkthru and grudgingly, I admit, the solution does make sense.
The endgame itself is fun and funny. I particularly liked the final reveal of the causes of the disaster. Kudos. I play for a bit without the timed text…yeah…it’s just better.
This was helpful; I believe I’ve fixed the issue now. Thanks for calling it out! I’ve also changed the link hover color so they don’t disappear - poor stylistic choice on my part.
The start of this game is compelling. We experience a fantastical, surreal, dreamlike opening sequence where questions are posed about the nature of eternity, time and memory. Then we hit the word Nespresso and are slammed into the mundane so hard our eyes rattle. Now that’s a hook.
At this point, I don’t have a goal, or any real direction. I am placed in the kitchen of my apartment. I begin to uncover things. Things that are only hinted at by the text and never explained outright. Opening the fridge raises more questions. Gradually it begins to dawn on me what may be going down. But then I talk to someone in a coffee shop and my assumptions are shaken once more.
After a while, I think I’m getting the gist of what’s really going down. Unfortunately at this point I am completely stuck. I simply can’t think of anything else to do. So I turn to the walkthrough. It turns out I needed to “ask cameraman about queen” to progress the game - I wouldn’t have got this in a million years. I have a quick scout around the other reviews of this game and no-one else is mentioning that they got stuck here. What did I miss? There must have been a prompt somewhere, surely. Of course, there’s always the chance that I did miss something. It’s late at night. I’ve been travelling all day. My plane was delayed. This hotel room is too warm.
The text is really well written - everything is just off - just slightly strange and alien and evocative. Unfortunately, there are issues with under-implementation. Stuff in the room isn’t recognised - even to the point where I can’t interact with people in the room with me. Common actions aren’t implemented. Conversation responses limited to a single ‘guess the subject’. I don’t want to bang on about this, but this is such a good narrative that it’s a shame when issues like this take me out of the text.
I reach a couple of different endings and finish the game. It’s a game of really interesting and imaginative ideas, but, for me, they never fully come together. There are so many thematic and interesting mysteries in this world that are hinted at by the text - some are brought to the surface and partially explained - others are left as narrative dead-ends. In a way, I applaud the author for this - I’m still thinking about them, but it’s still a little frustrating. Even at the end, I am prompted with a possible action, but the crows have gone away now and I’m left wondering.
Totally agree about the contrast between the mysterious and the everyday.
Feel free to disregard this if your question was rhetorical, but at the end of his rant, the barista says “I don’t want you repeating my mistakes. But if you want a starting point, maybe asking around about the queen will help. That’s all I’m gonna say on that.” Which is the only reason I went around asking everyone about that, otherwise it would not have occurred to me.
